49er & 49er Fx Championship
On the last day of the 2021 Cascais 49er & 49er Fx Championship, after a stormy morning, the sun timidly appeared and filled Cascais Bay with light. The championship could not have ended in the best way with the Cascais Bay Circuit delivering the best, its fantastic sailing conditions. In these fabulous conditions, the Olympic sailors had the most similar day to the conditions of the sea of Sagami Bay, in Tokyo, with a big and wide wave. The last day was reserved for the medal race for both fleets. This is a unique race for each class, 49er and 49erFx. This regatta is special in that it counted double for the general classification with only the top ten competitors in each division being eligible.
Lima and Coast Magic Medal Race
The first medal race was for the men’s Olympic class, which started at noon as scheduled. The course of the race at that time was with a northwest wind and 14 knots of intensity. Under these conditions, the Olympic sailors’ tactical decision was to go to the left side of the field where the wind was more consistent in pressure, or to run on the right side where the wind direction was more favorable to reach the windward goal. After the starting signal, the fleet was split in half when choosing the side of the course, and on the first approach to the course buoy, both tactical options resulted in a balanced approach, as the fleet of a dozen boats remained compact. The first pass at the windward mark came with Astride Girou’s young team’s French boat and Noah Chauvin leading the medal race. The French team held the lead for half of the first race but lost the championship lead on the second ball to the Irish, who rounded off the last goal of the championship in first. During this front-line show, seasoned locals Jorge Lima and José Costa were making up ground for the front-line opponents. The key point of the Portuguese duo’s career was the choice of the leeward goal they chose to follow the left buoy and thus made the second bow to the left side of the field, which in the end paid off by regaining distance for the leaders. circling in second position. In the last stretch of the course, the Portuguese team once again shows its experience, having changed first than the leader and, therefore, having caught the wind jump first than its opponents, and thus having won the front of this race. After taking the lead in the last stage, Jorge Lima and José Costa did not drop the lead and won the Medal Race. Unfortunately, the victory in the final race was not enough to earn a place on the podium of the Olympic class. Lima and Costa finished this championship in fifth place overall.
The big championship winners in the 49er Olympic class were Americans Nevin Snow and Dane Wilson who led the rankings for a couple of days. Young Irishmen Robert Dickson and Sean Waddilove were vices. At the bottom of the podium were Americans Ian Barrows and Hans Henken.
Lutz and Beucke win the competition in the 49erFx Medal Race
After the men’s medal race, it was the women’s turn to take the stage in Cascais. With the weaker wind that made the wind jump to the right more prominent for the 49erFx class race. After the start, the Dutch team of Annemiek Bekkering and Annette Duetz set off on the side of the show boat, with some advantage for the rest of the fleet, followed by the Danish team Ida Nielsen and Marie Olsen to protect their short qualifying lead. . With a less successful start and nothing to lose, the British team of Charlotte Dobson and Saskia Tidey staked their chips on the right corner of the running field and gained a huge advantage over the rest of their opponents. The English have never left the lead since the first round of the goal, having with this good result in the final race finished the championship in 6th position in the general classification. In the middle of the Medal Race fleet, it was all decided. The Spanish Tamara Echegoyen and Paula Barceló had a race with some difficulties and finished in eighth position. With a less successful result from Spain, the German team of Tina Lutz and Susann Beucke did not give up and it all took place in this medal race. Lutz and Beucke had a conservative race having finished the last race in fourth place, this result was enough to overtake Echegoyen and Barceló by one point and thus conquer the highest place on the podium in Cascais. While Denmark and the Netherlands were happy to compete in the race for the medals
