Laser World September 2009 Laser Radial Produces Record Entries in Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF Worlds Donico Brown at the Volvo Youth Donico Sailing Brown ISAF at World Youth Championship the 2009 Volvo © Dave Ocean Kneale/Volvo Race Laser around the World From Brazil to Japan World 4.7 World Radial ISAF World European Youths Women Cup Radials Light Winds in Exhilarating Penultimate Men, Women Búzios Conditions in Japan Leg in Kiel & Youth COPYRIGHT AND LIABILITY No part of this publication may be reproduced without prior permission of the publishers. The articles and opinions in LaserWorld may not represent the official views of ILCA. The publishers do not accept any liability for their accuracy. 2 LaserWorld September 2009 Victory for Martinetti & Kosir at World 4.7s, Brazil The 8th World Laser 4.7 Youth Championship, In the girls’ fleet, Urska Kosir took the bullet girls’ fleet. Despite coming 11th in the only in Armação dos Búzios, Brazil, had a after a great sailing performance, followed by race of the day and weaker winds in the latter frustrating start due to the lack of breeze. Marina Mandic (CRO) and Nazli Hilal Karadeli stages of the event, her impressive perfor- With the wind moving from south to east, (TUR) in second and third. mance at the beginning of the championship saw her end the day on an advantage of 12 reaching a maximum speed of just 6 knots, Búzios awoke to perfect sailing conditions on the fleet of more than 140 boats from 27 points above second placed Wakabayashi. day three. With a 10-12 knot wind from the Patricia Leveque (ESP) won the day’s race, countries, launched around 11:30am and east, three races were held during the five waited until 3:00pm for conditions to improve. seeing her move to fifth place, 3 points behind hours the sailors had on the water. Jonathan fourth-placed Pletikos. Unfortunately, the weather was not kind to the Martinetti (ECU) flew into the lead winning sailors and races were eventually postponed all three races in his fleet and discarding his Racing in the boys’ fleet was intense, with a until 12.00pm the following day. 23rd position from the day before, while Juraj strong performance from championship star Day two appeared to be another day of Divjakinja (CRO) came second after scoring a Martinetti. Despite Tono Alcazar winning the waiting with weak and fickle winds. The third and two second places during the day. race, Martinetti was always in the leading starting gun eventually sounded after the pack and he came in second. His impressive Kosir continued to lead the girls’ fleet after sailing throughout the championship saw him sailors had spent more than 3 hours afloat another impressive performance. She won waiting for the breeze to pick up. At 3.30pm end the day at the top of the leaderboard with two races and discarded her second place, just 21 points. His direct rival Tomasgaard the racing started after the south/south east which she scored in the third race. Karadeli wind had reached a steady 8 knots. came ninth, meaning he ended ended the day in second the day in second place on 27 “Today we held a race because we were very place, while Kim Pletikos I feel at points, while Divjakinja was third insistent. I always worry about the return of (SLO) came in third. home here on the leaderboard with 33 points. competitors to the land, which cannot be Competitors had to deal with in Búzios and the With a forecast of east winds of done after sunset. We were lucky and the unstable sailing conditions on up to 12 knots the fight promised wind, which was swinging from the east to the conditions were day four, with fickle and weak “good for me to be intense until the end. south, fixed in the southeast and let the three easterly winds of 7-14 knots. groups finally run a good race”, said Nelson The World Laser 4.7 Championship Horn Ilha, the Principal Race Officer. Hermann Tomasgaard (NOR) came to an end with no duels on and Martinetti had a fierce battle for the top of the final day. After being on the water for A strong southerly current and rising tides the leaderboard. Martinetti won the second over 4 hours under a lot of rainwater and meant that the race was very difficult and race of the day, but his 15th place in the first fickle winds of between 2 and 6 knots, the demanded the attention of the young skippers. ” race meant he was denied the top spot and athletes, judges and technicians returned to Divided into three groups (boys in yellow and pushed into second by Tomasgaard. With the club, frustrated but happy with the ending blue, and girls in red), the fleets alternated just one point between these two sailors, the of another great sailing event. between inner and outer loop courses. At final two days of racing were predicted to be “We tried to have at least one race today. the end of the day, Ben Robinson (GBR) exciting. was victorious in the yellow fleet, followed We even could set the course in the 200º by Eduardo Viteri (ECU) in second and Toni “This winter here is fantastic. I usually heading, but the wind dropped a lot and when Banovac (CRO) in third. spend the winter in -4 degrees Celsius”, we were 20 minutes close to the time limit of said Tomasgaard, the new leader of the 3pm we called it off because it was very cold Juan Ignacio Biava (ARG) led the blue fleet, tournament. and uncomfortable for everybody. In the end followed by Simon Laganis (SLO) and David we did 7 good races from the 12 scheduled Grant (GBR) in second and third respec- Among the girls, the highlight was Tomoyo and had a high-level competition that made tively. Wakabayashi (JPN) who won both everyone happy”, said the Principal Race races and ended the day in third Officer Nelson Horn Ilha. overall with 26 points. Pleitkos was just one point behind her in second, However, for two sailors the day was perfect. © Gonzalo Arselli while Kosir maintained her overall The leaders of yesterday, Martinetti and lead by 15 points, despite a 4th and Kosir, celebrated when the Race Committee a 6th (discarded). cancelled the races for the day and brought the world title dream closer to them. “I feel good sailing here, the weather is very good. I intend to keep the “I used to sail in weak winds in Salinas. same strategy until the end of the With 8 to 10 knots, I feel at home here in competition”, said Kosir. Búzios and the conditions were good for me”, said the young champion with modesty. The penultimate day of racing His parents, however, explained the secret was rainy with weak winds, but of success: “He always was watching his anticipation was high with a virtual older brother sailing. As the difference in age champion among the girls and a between them is great, as soon as he could favourite among the boys. go to water, Jonathan began to sail almost Kosir kept the overall lead in the every time. It is common to © Gonzalo Arselli see him practicing alone in © Gonzalo Arselli the waters of Salinas”, they said. Kosir intensely celebrated her victory, “I am proud to have reached it, I still cannot believe that I won so well, with so many points of advantage. This is the first time I’m sailing in the Americas and to go home with the world title is very, very good”, Urska said. For full reports, results and more images, visit: www.laserinternational.org. Tomoyo Wakabayashi (JPN) www.laserinternational.org LaserWorld September 2009 3 Multala Wins Radial Women’s Title in Japan The light winds which welcomed the start of the The course moved slightly west to World Laser Radial Women’s Championship counter the apparent right hand eventually built up and two races were completed advantage. With some port end in light and shifty NNE winds on the first day. bias, the fleet was more spread The waves were bigger than the wind, making down the line at start time and all the conditions challenging, but some sailors starts were clear. worked out the shifts and gusts early on in the In the first race of the gold fleet, race. Veronika Fenclova (CZE) followed the race 7, Evi van Acker (BEL) pattern of the wind and led the fleet and Anna rounded mark 1 first, ahead of Tunnicliffe (USA) followed her in second place, Annalise Murphy (IRL). Multala showing her speed through the waves. Lucia came from behind with some Reyes (ESP) finished fourth, but there was a good downwind sailing to finish in protest by Sarah Steyaert (FRA) for an incident first place ahead of Tunnicliffe in at the start. Reyes was subsequently disqual- second, van Acker third and Murphy ified and dropped from fourth to 49th. Yukiyo in fourth. Overnight leader Xu did not Saiki (JPN) showed her light wind skill and raced have a good race but came second well to manage ninth overall. in race 8 and ended the day in 4th © Junichi Harai However, the second day of racing was a tough place overall. Bouwmeester used the one on the water for the sailors. After being conditions well to lead race 8 from kept ashore because of concerns about thunder start to finish. At the end of the day, storms, a clearance was given to head to the Multalia headed the leaderboard with water and racing started at 12:05 in 11 to 12 24 points, followed by Tunnicliffe, just knots.