2024 ILCA 6 Youth and Men's World Championships at Yacht Club Argentino - Day 1
by ILCA/Yacht Club Argentino 14 Jan 19:11 PST
12-19 January 2024
ILCA 6 Youth & Men's Worlds at Argentina Day 1 © Florencia González Alzaga
Strong winds make for tough competition in Argentina
Today, the 2024 ILCA 6 Youth and Men's World Championship began, organized by the Yacht Club Argentino and the International Laser Class Association in Mar del Plata. This exciting event has 181 competitors from 29 countries.
The day started with clear skies and very strong southwest winds. The first race began with intense winds between 18 and 22 knots, which increased to around 25 knots with gusts of 30 knots for the second race.
Argentinian Francisco "Pancho" Renna secured the first two races of the championship in the Open Men's category. The Brazilian Antonio Cavalcanti Rosa follows him in second place, and in third place is the Argentinian Pedro Pinto. "The course was very even, and although under these conditions, it usually tends to favor the right side a bit more, it was very evenly matched," stated Renna after returning to the boat park.
In the Youth Men's division, Italian Antonio Pascali leads with two first-place finishes. The Brazilian Gustavo Canovas Kiessling finished the day in second place, and completing the top spots is Jake Homberger from the United States in third place.
Italians Ginevra Caracciolo and Maria Vittoria Arseni hold the first and second-place spots in the Youth Women's fleet, respectively. Notably, Caracciolo won the gold medal in the ILCA 4 Youth World Championship in 2022. In third place is the Ukrainian sailor Alina Shapovalova.
Tomorrow the championship will continue with two qualifying series races for Youth Men's fleet and two opening series races for the rest.
All information about the event, as well as photos and videos, is available on the official event website and on the social media pages.
Full results can be found here.
Organizing partners are the Yacht Club Argentino in conjunction with the ILCA. Find out more at 2024ilca6youth-men.ilca-worlds.org.