The two person dinghy class was the first to start racing this morning, followed by the Nacra 15’s and the 29er girls. For all classes their 7th race. The iQFOilers and kiteboarders again had to wait a little… But then, finally, after all the waiting, it was foiling time.
On to the last race day tomorrow
The 29er girls from Japan managed to get a 4th, 7th and 5th in today. This made them sneak into the top three and red bibs tomorrow! France got disqualified (UFD) in the last race because they crossed the start line too early and will need to swap their yellow leader bibs for the blue bibs (second). With one point difference Amparo Stupenengo Pefaur and Julia Pantin from Argentina are the current leaders wearing the yellow bibs tomorrow.
Finally foiling!
With only 4 finished races on the scoreboard the windsurfers had a busy day ahead! Close to 1 pm the first iQFoilers went out. And came back in again not long after. Not having been able to compete for the last two days we prayed all morning that today was not going to end in another beach day. Between 2 and 3 pm finally the wind picked up. In 11-12 knots they managed to get 6 of the scheduled 8 races in. After all the slalom racing the wind even allowed them to do a course race today.
Principe race officer Pınar Coşkuner Genç is really happy to see the windsurfers and kites foiling today. “Also for the ILCA6 class I’m very happy to get some more racing in. Because they share their race course with the Nacra 15’s they were a bit unfortunate earlier this week, she explained.
Inspiration for tomorrow
This evening after dinner Dutchies Dorian van Rijsselberghe and Jelmer van Beek are going to inspire the young sailors with their stories and get them even more motivation to give it all they got on the last day tomorrow!
From Laser sailor to Ocean Race skipper
Jelmer van Beek was sailing in the Laser for 5 years when he decided he loved sailing on slightly bigger boats and joined the Heiner Talents. In ten years time he grew into offshore and ocean race sailing. He’s now 27 years old and skippering the VO65 for Sailing Team Next Gen: “I’m really excited to see all these young sailors in my hometown Scheveningen to compete at the youth worlds. It’s a great stepping stone for a future career in sailing. Whether it is in Olympic sailing or ocean sailing.’
On to the finals!
With enough breeze on Wednesday afternoon it was a good day to catch up on the race schedule. The ILCA’s had some more luck with their race timing today and were able to sail two nice races. After some delays also the kiteboarders squeezed all six planned races in this afternoon and got back just in time before dinner. Maximilan Meader from Singapore and Ricardo Pianosi will battle for the win tomorrow! In the girls class Julia Damasiewicz from Poland and Héloïse Pégourié from France are fighting for the gold.
