First day of racing is done in difficult conditions. Light winds caused some delay, but at the end all scheduled races were sailed.
First race scheduled in the morning was the RS:X men, but they got postponed. Principal Race officer Remco de Goederen: “The day started with a light, shifty wind, it made the conditions tricky for the sailors and race comité. The afternoon races also started with very light conditions, but around 3.30 pm there came more wind, enough to end the day pretty perfect.”
In the 49er class there's a strong fleet competing in the Medemblik Regatta. The Argentinian Yago and Klaus Lange will start the second day in second position. Yago Lange: “It was a good day, specially for a first day at a regatta. There's a strong competition with the Danish, Aussies and the Americans guys. The pre starts were really important today, left side was favorite, so got really crowded over there. But happy with our 3, 1 and 3 for the first day.”
The Australian team, with David Gilmour and Joel Turner, have been practicing in Medemblik for a few days before the regatta started. “The conditions over here are pretty nice, it's good to see the sun out over here. I've seen that wind conditions will be better tomorrow. Really looking forward to the racing this week, it's a big fleet so good practice for us. In Australia we don't have many 49ers, here we are used to race with 15 boats. To have 52 49ers at the starting line is a good preparation for the coming events.”
Dutch girls in the 49erFX Annemiek Bekkering and Annette Duetz, are at the Medemblik Regatta to perform the best they can. “There is a strong competition in our fleet, some very good light wind sailors and some good heavy wind sailors. We just want to sail really well and perform the best as possible.” These Dutchies leading after this first day, their teammates Dewi Couvert and Jeske Kisters come in one point behind them and another point behind are British Charlotte Dobson and Saskia Tidey. So it's close racing in the top 3!
The RS:X men were scheduled as the first class to start today, but due to a lack of wind, their first start was postponed. In the end they managed to race their 3 scheduled races, but conditions were difficult. Kiran Badloe is on seventh place: “After a first day, everything can still happen. Today we had light conditions, you notice the younger, smaller guys provide from that. They are working hard to prove themselves. Tomorrow there's more wind predicted, let's see how that goes!”
The RS:X U19 is competing for the first time at the Medemblik Regatta. Fabien Pianazza (FRA) is making a strong impression finishing all 3 races in first place. Aleksander Przychodzeń (POL) is in second place and Max van der Zalm (NZL) is one point behind him in third. It was Dutch coach Aaron McIntosh (NZL) and his team that suggested to invite the youth: “It's good for them to give them a boost. They never compete in big events like this. The Europeans and Worlds, that's about it. But it's good for them to get more practice with big events like this. For the Dutch 'beloften' (red: promise) team it's close by home, for the women it means a bigger fleet and for the event it's good to have more people at the event. Hopefully more events will add the RS:X U19 in their event.”
Close racing in the RS:X women, the Polish girls Maja Dziarnowska and Zofia Noceti Klepacka are leading the fleet, both with 11 points. In third place is Stefania Elfutina with 12 points after the first day.
In the Nacra 17 it was a long day on the water with races just finished in the target times due to the light winds. The Spanish Fernando Echvarri Erasun with Tara Pacheco van Rijnsoever finished a great day, leading the fleet into the second day. Gemma Jones & Jason Saunders (NZL) and John Gimson & Anna Burnet (GBR) are in second and third place. For Anne-Line Lyngsø Thomsen and Jakob Faarvang (DEN) it was a difficult day today. Their starts weren't how they should be. Before the regatta started they mentioned to work on some tactics and strategies this week. “Some tactics and strategics are hard for us to practice at home since we don't have many boats there. For tomorrow we have our fingers crossed for more wind and foiling conditions.”
In the Laser Elliot Hanson (GBR) seems to give a great return after his surgery, leading the fleet with seven points. Dutch Yuri Hummel is in second place with 10 points and Eliot Merceron (SUI) is in third place 13 points.
Maxime Jonker (NED) starts a strong day with two first places. Croatian Elena Vorobeva is in second place with 6 points and another Dutch sailor is in third place with 6 points. Daphne van der Vaart was not very satisfied with her racing today, but she still managed to end in the top 3 after race day 1.
Results day 1
RS:X Men
ISR253 – Yoav Cohen
POL30 – Maciej Kluszcyński
DEN158 – Sebastian Fleisscher
RS:X Women
POL7 – Maja Dziarnowska
POL8 – Zofia Noceti Klepacka
RUS1 – Stefania Elfutina
RS:X U19
FRA312 – Fabien Pianazza
POL893 – Aleksander Przychodzeń
NZL128 – Max van der Zalm
Nacra 17
ESP028 – Fernando Echvarri Erasun/Tara Pacheco van Rijnsoever
NZL22 – Gemma Jones/Jason Saunders
GBR21 – John Gimson/Anna Burnet
Laser
GBR209134 – Elliot Hanson
NED212968 – Yuri Hummel
SUI2120211 – Eliot Merceron
Laser Radial
NED211391 – Maxime Jonker
CRO213363 – Elena Vorobeva
NED212980 – Daphne van der Vaart
49er
FRA195 – Lucas Raul/Emile Amoros
ARG51 – Yago Lange/Klaus Lange
DEN30 – Jonas Warrer/Jakob Precht
49erFX
NED66 – Annemiek Bekkering/Annette Duetz
NED69 – Dewi Couvert/Jeske Kisters
GBR44 – Charlotte Dobson/Saskia Tidey
