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470 General Event News

RACE DAY 2 SET TO BE ANOTHER LIGHT AND SHIFTY WIND DAY

03 Jul 2019

Today’s second racing day began similar to yesterday’s. The start was initially scheduled for 1pm, but since the sea breeze was late again, the AP flag went down at around half past 12. The three fleets sailed to the racing course, positioned a bit deeper in the Piran bay than yesterday. 

This news belongs to
2019 470 Junior World Championships
ALL EVENT INFORMATION

 

Bojan Gale, the race officer: “The decision today was to go to the inner racing area, partially because of the estimated nice sea breeze, and partially because this part of the bay will only be available for us until Friday, since over the weekend it gets too crowdy due to heavy traffic of tourist yachts. The forecast for tomorrow is bora wind (NE) so we’ll go to the outer area fo sure.”

 

Three races were scheduled for the women’s fleet today and two for the men & mixed. The wind conditions were similar to yesterday’s, only without the significant drop at the end of the day, and with a bit lighter wind during the whole day. Bojan Gale: “Maybe we expected the sea breeze to be a bit stronger, but it finally stayed below the 8 knots, averaging 5-8, so there was no free pumping allowed. The wind was shifting slightly, for around 10 degrees, but all normal and within limits, so all the races were sailed in fair conditions. We had to make a couple of adjustments, we prolonged the second upwind leg for the men & mixed fleet in the first race. The intention was to change the course for the girls, who were sailing the inner loop, as well, but we were just a bit too late, so their first race might have been a bit short, while the second and third were ok. As an interesting fact - there were 12 girl’s teams starting on the Papa flag, which is not so common, and we had a German team over the line, who could then return and continue racing.” 

 

The girls saw their first start in light wind, and while the majority of the fleet went to the left, towards the middle of the bay, JPN 9, USA 1819 and GER 20 decided for the right, close to the Portorož coast, hoping for some stronger breeze closer to the shore. Unfortunately the decision didn’t pay off, since the left, outer part of the field, was the place to be today. Bojan Gale: “Normally, in the sea breeze conditions, the left part of the bay works better, and this is why the starting lines were not set perpendicularly to the wind direction, but with the pin set a bit lower - or the pin end would be hugely favorized. To be honest, I expected more boats on the right side in the first race, but the wind was shifting from 260 degrees towards 250 and then 240, so yes, the left was better.”

 

This is why the majority of the fleets spent today sailing in that area, and the teams who didn’t, normally didn’t join the fight for the first positions. The championship is warming up, and not only because of the 30+ degrees Celsius. We have a couple of protests still going on, but with the unofficial ranking in mind, it’s safe to say the Italian vice champions from the 2018 junior worlds, Italian team ITA 757 Giacomo Ferrari and Giulio Calabro, who scored two bullets today, are on a great way to win the title (5 points total). We have a big change on the second position, unfortunately the Slovenian team SLO 21 Rok Verderber and Matej Planinšič, second after the first day, scored 17th and 11th today and dropped to the 9th overall, while FRA 78 Jerome Demange and Luc Guimbertaud sailed really well, finished 2nd and 3rd, and moved to the second overall with a total of 11 points. The best ranking mixed team ITA 54 Maria Vittoria Marcesini and Bruno Festo, stayed in third place after today’s 5th and 4th, with 13 points. Just a point behind on fifth place is another mixed team, POL 13 Sewervn Wysokinski and Hanna Dzik, who won both today’s races in the blue group, as well as the last from yesterday. 

 

In the women’s fleet GER 69 Luise and Helena Wanser strengthened their lead with today’s 2nd, 1st and 7th (discarded) and 6 points total, followed by FRA 77 Solenza Mariani and Yona Blacher in second place (11 points) and the bronze medalists from last year FRA 19 Paola Amar and Marine Riou with 12 points in third.

 

We’re expecting a completely different wind situation tomorrow with the gusty and stronger bora wind from the NE, the setting being more favorable to the heavier teams. The men and mixed fleet will be split now in gold and silver groups. 

 

The start of tomorrow’s first of three races is scheduled for 10 am, and the BIB ceremony for 8:30 am.

More photos available on 470 class Flickr account


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