Optimist World Championship
This Thursday was another great day in the framework of the World Championship of the Optimist Class that is being held off the coast of Mar del Plata, organized by the Mar del Plata Yacht Club (CNMP) and the IODA and with the presence of 225 competitors from 51 countries.
During the morning, while the competitors were setting up their boats, a heavy rain fell and medium NE winds blew. With this wind of about 12 knots the first race was run with the fleet already divided into gold, silver and bronze. The 75 best are in the gold fleet, among them the five members of the Argentine team.
The leader of Brazil, Arthur Back, and his teammate Eduardo Essinger, started the day very inspired, finishing in third and first place respectively.
For the second race, the wind increased strongly, reaching about 25 knots and leaving a very rough sea. Back was in the lead group in the second race but a wave broke his boat and made him fall back to 45th place, from there he had to make a great comeback to finish 21st, which for now is his discard.
Those who shone again with the thread were the Uruguayan Máximo Ortiz Bertoletti who won the race, and the Spaniard Iker Mujica who was his escort, while the Rosario native Lucas Vogt, who started as leader of the championship, was also a protagonist with a fourth place.
Thus, the first two places in the general classification are for Brazil and the next two for Spain: 1st Arthur Back with 15 points. 2nd Eduardo Essinger Backheuser with 23 points. 3rd Joan Domingo with 31 points. 4th Mateo Carbonell with 32 points. 5th the Greek Iason Paganopoulos with 38 points. The first lady is the Brazilian Joana Freitas, who is in 10th place with 58 points.
For this Friday, the forecast is for less wind from the same quadrant, but more rain. While Saturday will be the final day and the awards ceremony at the Club Náutico headquarters.
Results: https://2024worlds.optiworld.org/en/default/races/race-resultsall
