Day four in the Nacra 17 Worlds proved the longest day so far – by far!
Cloudy skies and strong winds with gusts up to 28 knots dominated the race course all morning. The Gold Fleet got ready to go out for the scheduled three races starting at 11:00 hours, while the Silver Fleet sailors prepared for their three races scheduled from 1400 hours.
After an hour of failed attempts to signal the first start for the gold fleet the races were postponed indefinitely. It didn’t take long before it was clear to both sailors and people on land that the stormy autumn-like weather had other plans for the gold fleet sailors.
Frustrated and wind-swept the sailors rolled ashore and all they could do was watch the weather getting worse and the signaling flags being hoisted by the race management repeatedly to postpone the races indefinitely. Soon the wind got stronger with gusts up to 38 knots.
Silver Fleet Races Cancelled
When a change in the weather system finally occurred, late afternoon had arrived and the consequences of the dramatic weather were inescapable; the scheduled silver fleet races were cancelled entirely, leaving the gold fleet sailors with the delicate hope of still seeing through their part of the competition. The silver fleet remains unaltered after fourth day of the championship.
Steph Hudson and Evan Aras (USA 123) are still in the lead (of the silver fleet) followed by the aspiring young Danish team Ida Svensson and Rasmus Rosengren decorate and the New Zealand team Olivia Mackay and Micah Wilkinson.
The Belgian team with Carolijn Brouwer and Morgan Good are also to be found among the Silver Fleet sailors, as are teams like Russian Maxim Semenov/Alina Shchetinkina, Mark Mendelblatt/Carolina Mendelblatt (USA) and the Japanese Hiroki Goto/Wakako Tabata.
Evening sailing: 11 nationalities in the top 11 at the #nacra17worlds
At 1800 hours Gold Fleet received the redeeming message to get ready for racing and at 1900 hours in the evening on day four the first of three races was jump-started. The results of today’s races proved as unpredictable as the Danish summer weather as the Gold Fleet teams shuffled rankings already from the first race. Currently there are 11 nationalities in the top 11 at the Nacra 17 Worlds.
The French world champions Besson & Riou ended up 23, 1 and 1 while yesterday’s no. 15. The Dutch team Mandy Mulder/Coen De Koning made a 1, 2 and 15 and are now in 4th place.
The battle for the olympic tickets is on!
One of the truly shooting stars at the Nacra 17 Worlds, the young German team Paul Kohlhoff and Carolina Werner, came in 8, 9 and 3. For the Germans, racing for medals at the Worlds is not their only aim as Germany – due to their accomplishments – now stands a more than fair chance of winning one of the four remaining spots for the Rio Olympics in 2016.
Another team who stands a fair chance of conquering one of the remaining Rio 16 spots is the Aruban team van der Velden/Visser who came in 5, 13 and 16 and are now claiming the 6th place overall.
The two Danish teams in the Gold Fleet, Nørregaard/Viborg (23, 14 and 4) and Cenholt Christiansen/Lübeck (9, 5 and DNF) were struck by bad luck and injuries leaving both teams a little further down the list than before today’s race.
After tonight’s three evening races the preliminary top ten looks like this:
1. Besson/Riou (FRA)
2. Waterhouse/Darmanin (AUS)
3. Kohlhoff/Werner (GER)
4. Mulder/De Koning (NED)
5. Jones/Saunders (NZL)
6. Velden/Visser (ARU)
7. Bissro/Sicouri (ITA)
8. Nørregaard/Viborg (DEN)
9. Gimson/Diamond (GBR)
10. Matinez/Casanova (ESP)
The weather forecast for tomorrow reports challenging but, at least in the morning, sailable conditions as far as we can see now.
Link to the results of the Nacra 17 Worlds
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