Another light wind day didn’t stop the action at the Techno 293 World Championships in Cagliari. Race committee waited for the breeeze to pick up before calling the competitors out, but at the end all fleets except one managed to complete two races. Enough to challenge the top positions in most of the groups.[more]
There was the usual fun and laughter on shore when the sailors waited for the wind. But when it came to racing it was business as usual. The Under 15 boys sailing on the 6.8 sq m sail are now led by Edoardo Tanas of Italy. He’s tied at 14 points with Charalampos Kogias from Greece and three points ahead of NED 600 Jim van Someren. Out of the top ten group is now ISR 250 Bar Navri, fleet leader for the first two days (but only 11-14 in the last two races). Starting today, they will all race together in the gold fleet: after completing the qualification series, both U17 and U15 boys will be split in two groups, depending on their performances so far.
After six races, also the Under 17 boys fleet has a new leader – ISR 253 Yoav Cohen. With a strong 1-2 he took the top spot from Mateo Dussarps of France (OCS and 6). Third position for Itai Kafri, winner of the last race of the day. The 2014 U15 gold medal, Tom Arnoux of France, didn’t have an easy afternoon (13-10) and ended up 11th.
Katy Spychakov from Israel and current European champion Giorgia Speciale are still favourites for the top place in the Under 17 girls fleet but 5 to 7 knots were not enough for them to leave the group behind and both often found themselves in complicated situations at the marks. The home girl Enrica Schirru is now in third, on equal points with Giorgia, and she will not give it up without a fight. The day belonged to another sailor, though: Lidia Sulikowska from Poland got a first and third and jumped up to 5th overall. Like all the other light wind specialists, Lidia will really have to do her best on Thursday, in winds predicted to reach up to 20 kts, if she wants to climb the ranking even further.
The Under 15 girls are still led by Heloise Macquaert of France, who despite a weaker performance managed to defend her top position from her team friend Enora Tanne and Italy’s Gaia Busetta.
The single race for the Techno Plus men was a one-nation show. Japan dominated the fleet by taking the top 9 places. This wasn’t enough however to take over the lead from local sailor Michele Cittadini, who despite his 11th place (discarded) still has a two point margin on Yuta Mori and six on Masanao Komatsu.
The Techno Plus women will also have a hard job to take the gold from 2014 U17 champion Lucie Pianazza of France. Lucie just won her fourth consecutive race, proving that she is solid in all conditions. FRA 889 Jeanne Penfornis and ITA 711 Elena Vacca are still second and third.
The leaders’ lycra ceremony is at 8:45 on Thursday morning, followed by racing at 10:00. Tracking devices will allow to follow the U15 boys races.
