Discard Day
Tides turning, winds changing – come up with the cliché but today was
definitely discard day on day 3 of the RS:X Youth World Championships.
Cagliari has certainly come out to challenge the competitors and from
yesterday’s wind and waves, Sardinia served up clear blue skies, sunshine and a distinct lack of wind.
With a scheduled start time of 1040hrs, the RS:X Boys and Girls fleet were sent out in a very light 4-5 knot North Westerly. The runners from the previous days planing conditions were looking distinctly nervous as the light wind specialists warmed up the shoulders ready to work their magic around the course.
However the game was going to have to wait as halfway up the first beat the wind died completely and the race was abandoned. With a variable up/down, left/right wind, the Race Committee sent the sailors back to shore to wait for some sailable wind.
The wait was a long one and it wasn’t until 1530 before the sailors were sent back out into a 6 knot building sea breeze. In the men’s Gold fleet it was Yann Dupont (FRA 972) who managed to come out on top and notch up the race win. Italian Mattia Camboni (ITA 88) edged his way into the top ten overall with a solid second place and the top three was rounded out with Mateo Sanz Lanz (ESP 36) scoring another top ten finish with a third place and sits sixth overall.
Pawel Tarnowski (POL) - who went into today with only race wins, and his fellow podium occupiers of Louis Giard and Fabian Pic struggled, all picking up high scoring discards of 9, 13, and 21 respectively. Sam Sills, in fourth overall, also had a day to forget with a 23 place in today’s race – now his discard. Consistency is definitely going to be key here but whether todays races will have an effect on the overall title we will not know until the medal races on Friday.
In the Under 17 boys fleet the discard brackets have again come out with yesterday’s leader Joe Bennett scoring a 29th to slip to second U17 boy and into 15 overall. Camboni is his target if he want to win the title for the U17 Class Championship but he will also need to keep an eye out on compatriot Martin Kiran in third and the potential to move up.
In the Silver Fleet, new names also had a chance to shine and Cypriot Antonis Charilaou (CYP 3) took this with both hands to record the race win after a run of 30’s places in the previous days planning races.
The RS:X Girls did not have the chance to get around the race course today. Being last in the flights as they were working their way up the first beat when the wind decided to move on and left the girls out of time before they got to the top mark. A let off for the fleet leaders as both Poles Bilska and Smektala were well down in the pack as the race was abandoned.
For tomorrow, an increase in wind is forecast which may see the leader board resume normal business. However with the medal races looming on Friday the curent top 3 in both fleets will be making sure that they don’t have a repeat of discard day.
RS:X Youth Results Gold Fleet Boys: http://www.windsurfing-cagliari2011.eu/RSX/results
RS:X Youth Results Silver Fleet Boys: http://www.windsurfing-cagliari2011.eu/RSX/results-silver
RS:X Youth Results Girls: http://www.windsurfing-cagliari2011.eu/RSX/results-girls
RS:X Youth Worlds photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/14887359@N06/sets/72157627984760478/
