Leaderboards take shape at the Hempel World Cup Series – Allianz Regatta
The second day of racing at the Hempel World Cup Series – Allianz Regatta saw the leaderboards take shape in the ILCA 6, ILCA 7, Men’s and Women’s RS:X and the Nacra 17.
For the ILCA 7, it saw an end to their qualification phase with the top half of the pack progressing to the gold fleet and the lower half settling for the silver.
Thursday’s racing played out in a stronger breeze than the day before with 7-10 knots prevalent across the two racing areas in Medemblik, The Netherlands.
Sailors looked to play some of the shifts on the water to maintain their position in the fleet as they target the Medal Races this coming Sunday.
Although the Nacra 17 fleet only features four teams, they are all young and hungry to learn more about how to race the boat.
Italy’s Andrea Spagnolli and Alice Cialfi have only recently made the step up from the Nacra 17 from the Nacra 15 but their careers on the smaller multihull brought them great success.
Spagnolli represented Italy at the Youth Sailing World Championships in Corpus Christi, Texas, USA in 2018 and clinched silver. That same year he gained his first Olympic experience at the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games, finishing ninth.
Spagnolli and Cialfi partnered up shortly after with an eighth at the 2019 Youth Worlds following before a hard earned bronze medal at the 2019 Nacra 15 World Championship. Medemblik marks their first competition together in the Nacra 17.
On moving up to the high powered Nacra 17, Spagnolli commented, “The first difference is the speed. In the downwind it’s different. In the upwind we have good speed because it’s similar to the Nacra 15 but we have a lot to learn downwind. It’s very tricky. You have to be very confident.
“The crew has to trust the helm and the helm has to trust the crew. It’s hard to be a tactician because you can’t keep your eyes off the boat for one second. You’ve got to keep your eyes on it and push it to the limit.”
Home favourites Laila van der Meer and Bjarne Bouwer won all three races on the opening day and the Italians broke their run by claiming the first race win on Thursday. The Dutch hit back in the next race and Germany’s Jesse Lindstädt and Jill Paland took the final win of the day.
The Dutch lead on six points followed by the Italians on 10 and the Germans on 11.
The seven-boat Women’s RS:X fleet is compiled of seven Tokyo 2020 athletes, all of whom who have their eyes on a medal at the Olympic Games.
Katy Spychakov (ISR) snapped up two races wins and leads on six points. Marta Maggetti (ITA) won the days other race and is second on seven points.
Tokyo 2020 will be Patricia Freitas’ fourth Olympic Games. She is using Medemblik to continue her Games preparations and is currentlyin fourth, two points off the third placed Lilian de Geus (NED).
“It was tricky and not my best day,” commented Freitas on her 4-5-4 scoreline. There are a few Olympic medal contestants in the fleet. Yesterday the fleet were closer but today, because it was so gusty some girls flied away so we were more spread out. It is a good regatta for everybody.”
In the Men’s RS:X, Piotr Myszka (POL) held on to his lead despite a 17th in the final race of the day. He is six points clear of Mattia Camboni (ITA) and Thomas Goyard (FRA).
The qualification phase in the ILCA 7 has concluded after four yellow and blue fleet races. The pre-race favourites all safely made it through to the gold fleet and four further fleet races are ahead of them before Sunday’s Medal Race.
As it stands, Lorenzo Chiavarini (GBR) tops the leaderboard on eight points following a yellow fleet race win and an eighth.
He is followed by Spain’s Joel Rodriguez who took a blue fleet race win and a seventh.
The remaining race wins on the day went to Benjamin Vadnai (HUN) who is third overall and Pavlos Kontides (CYP) who is fifth.
Consistency is at a premium in the ILCA 6 fleet with every competitor discarding a significantly high-score after two days of racing.
A pair of twos on the opening day gave Marrie Barrue (FRA) a perfect foundation to start the competition. She maintained her lead with an eighth in the third race but a 48th in the fourth followed. She discards the 48th and holds the lead on 12 points but will have to tread carefully for the remainder of the competition.
Paige Railey (USA) is second on 15 points following a 2-5 but she also discards a high-score, a 25th from the day prior. Meanwhile, the third placed Agata Barwinska was black flagged in the third race and discards the 58 points that came with it.
For the remainder of the competition, one bad score from any of the frontrunners could see them drop significantly so they will be aiming for consistency to stay at the top of the pack.
Racing continues on Friday 4 June from 10:30 local time.
