Racing together till the end of the tournament
At the Allianz Youth Sailing World Championships there is no medal race on the last day, like they do in Olympic sailing. The best young sailors from all over the world come here to practice, gain experience and learn how to race. Instead of a medal race with only the ten best sailors, at the Youth World Championships it’s tradition to keep them together till the end. So they have the same stories, share the same experience and finish the event together.
First races scheduled for 11 am
For the 420 male/female class only one race was scheduled for the final day. The 29er male/female, de ILCA6 male/female and the Nacra15 had two races planned. The foilers still had some catching up to do. For both iQFOil classes they hoped to do 8 races and for the kiteboarders 5. Except for the female IQFOiling class, all classes got to finish at least one race today. The first new World Champions to celebrate were the 420 sailors from the USA! With one point difference the boys beat their rivals from Israel.
Celebrating together, this is how you make friends for life
To get everyone back on shore in time for dinner, price giving and all other festivities that are part of the event, the last possible time for a warning signal on the final day was set at 3 pm. This is the reason why the committee on race course C decided to send both ILCA6 classes back, so there was enough time left for the Nacra15 class to start their final race(10).
In the photo Eve Mcmahon from Ireland and Roos Wind from the Netherlands are celebrating their respective gold and bronze medals together.
Roos Wind was over the moon winning on home waters: “I really needed to focus on my own race. It was so tight and I’m so happy! The girl from the USA was only one point behind me and the Spanish girl only three points. I’ve never experienced so much stress in a downwind. I’m not the best sailor downwind but managed to keep them behind me. Rounding the last mark I gained two extra spots and as soon as I finished I knew I was on the podium!”
There was more to celebrate for Ireland as in the male class Rocco Wright secured the gold for Ireland.
Axel Grandjean & Noémie Fehlmann from Switzerland, the current World Champions in the Nacra15 class, also secured their win at the Youth World Championships here in Scheveningen!
When the committees on the water decide to finish early and leave the last one or two races, they communicate this with the sailors as soon as possible. The flags showing this message will be visible for the sailors on the finish/start boat. If possible when the sailors cross the finish line, so they know they are done and it’s time to celebrate (or not) and have their winners photo taken if they are on the podium.
Check the final results online!
We were very lucky
Pınar Coşkuner Genç (principal race officer) was happy they were able to run some racing on the last day of the event, even though the window was tight: “Unfortunately not for all classes, but Scheveningen gave us the chance to race every day. For some we could use a few extra knots of wind, but we had no rain, no bad weather, and no difficult or dangerous conditions at all. So I guess we were very lucky. For next year we hope for even better conditions!”
