Sailing Magazine
RSA Results – Green Flight
30 Matt Ashwell
33 Alex Falcon
38 Jared Tyler
62 Chiara Fruet
68 Karl Hofmeyr
Three races in medium wind on Wednesday saw some shuffling of positions on the leaderboard at the Optimist World Championship 2017, the top of the pack distinguishing themselves, although final results could still change with three more races hoped for on Thursday in slightly windier conditions.
Italy’s Marco Gradoni did not have had the perfect day but his consistent top five placements earlier have him holding onto first place overall with a significant point advantage on challenger Muhammad Fauzi Bin Kaman Shah of Malaysia who slammed home two second place finishes to climb from seventh into second place overall. Interestingly, Malaysia’s star sailor already has a bronze from the 2016 event, at which he bumped the Italian into fourth.
Currently in the top female position is Spain’s Maria Perello who said, “I am happy I got good positions today. Tomorrow, I will try to do better.”
The morning began with some tension on shore as sailors prayed for wind following a post storm calm yesterday which forced the abandonment of all racing. They arrived at the host venue, the Royal Varuna Yacht Club, to find it drizzling, wind almost nonexistent. Within an hour or two, however, the breeze began building, starting at 6 knots when the first races launched and climbing to 10 knots for the last set of races.
The final day of the record-breaking event, which has 281 sailors from 62 countries competing, will see trophies awarded in the evening on Thursday after what organizers hope will be three more races per fleet in great sailing conditions.
Full Results HERE: Optimist Worlds Results – 19 July 2017
