Danish team Ida Baad Nielsen and Marie Thusgaard Olsen hit the left-hand corner in two races to move up to third in the 49erFX….
After a week of moderate to strong breeze at Kiel Week, day eight of the multi-class regatta brought much lighter winds and a significant change of pace.
With morning postponements out of the way and some late afternoon racing on the media course close to shore, the first two gold fleet races for the 49erFX fleet took place.
While some of the big names struggled, notably reigning World Champions Annemiek Bekkering and Annette Duetz from the Netherlands, some lesser known teams came to the fore. The Croatians Enia Ninčević and Mihaela de Micheli Vitturi won the first race ahead of the experienced Danes, Ida Baad Nielsen and Marie Thusgaard Olsen, who sailed into the left-hand corner of the windward leg all day.
While the Danes repeated their left-hand tactics for the next race, this time they found themselves chasing a Dutch crew,Willemijn Offermann and Elise de Ruijter, who kept the two-time European Champions at bay to take victory across the finish line. While Baad Nielsen and Thusgaard Olsen had the best day on the water, it was a pretty solid set of scores for the regatta leaders.
Germany’s Victoria Jurczok and Annika Lorenz finished fifth and sixth in today’s races to extend their lead to 10 points over the next team, which is now Offerman and de Ruiter. The other Dutch team, the World Champions Bekkering and Duetz, could only manage a 21, 15 from the day, dropping to 9th overall after leading in the strong winds at the start of the week.
In the 49er Men’s fleet, the reigning World Champions from Croatia, Šime and Mihovil Fantela won the first gold fleet race to rise to 7th overall. A 7th for Peter Burling and Blair Tuke was sufficient for the reigning Olympic Champions from New Zealand to maintain their overall lead by three points from Will and Sam Phillips of Australia.
Lin Cenholt and CP Lubeck of Denmark won the first Nacra 17 race of the evening, while Paul Kohlhoff and Alica Stuhlemmer of Germany finished fourth, good enough to maintain their overall lead.
Other fleets were racing late into the evening, the race committee trying to make the best of the conditions. However, the weather for the weekend looks set to be a great finale to the 125th edition of the regatta. Hot weather and good breeze is forecast for the final two days of Olympic competition at Kieler Woche 2019.
Catch all the video, photos, and results from the event page.
Andy Rice
