Huge Scrap for the Gold Rush
The end of the Qualifying Series in any Olympic-class World Championship is always a fraught scramble to make it through to the Gold Fleet Finals. Scrape through to the final 25 and you live to fight another three days. Fail to make the cut – and the best you can finish is 26th overall. Add […]
Left is Best – Analysis of Day 2 Racing at the Worlds
The pin end of the line is proving a popular place to start, with the 49er and 49erFX race tracks of day two often yielding an advantage on the left-hand side. Despite the left paying, some of the race leaders at the bottom gate were still opting for the right-hand side, only to lose out […]
USA veteran finds her feet in the FX, and Austria 1 point ahead of Kiwi 49er legends
Day two of the 2019 Hyundai 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17 World Championships brought solid breezes across all courses, still with plenty of wind shift and surprise to keep the 400-odd competitors on their toes. After being held ashore on day one due to too much breeze, today was the first opportunity for the 49erFX […]
Germany emerge unscathed from a brutal opening day
Erik Heil and Thomas Ploessel opened day one of the World Championships with a stunningly consistent performance while some of the other big guns failed to fire. Two 49er races were completed after wild weather lashed the race areas off Auckland, New Zealand. With wind speeds up to 37 knots recorded on the race course […]
49erFX: Brazil win, but Dutch survive pressure to win ticket to Tokyo
Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze won the Open European Championships, the Olympic Champions from Brazil in a different class this week in Weymouth. The greater interest for the Medal Race was which of the chasing pack would succeed in taking the silver and bronze. There were six teams in contention for the minor medals, but […]
49erFX: Scandinavians deliver while the leaders falter
On the penultimate day of gold fleet racing, after a brief postponement the 49erFX gold were up first in the harbour course, to battle in the light winds for positioning going into the medal race. It was a day for the Scandinavians to shine, with the Danes having led from the left to round in […]
Kiwis are mortal, but still hard to beat
The legendary New Zealanders, Pete Burling and Blair Tuke, displayed some chink of mortality in the last race of the day by finishing 19th. However, their other scores of 3,6 put them in a strong position going into the final day of 49er European Championship on Sunday. The reigning Olympic Champions hold a 17-point advantage […]
49erFX: Kiwis make a move on the podium
The Brazilians have shown remarkable consistency throughout the week, although even Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze put a slight blot on their pristine copybook with a 12th in the middle of three races on Friday. The other scores were a 5th and a 7th, however, which means the reigning Olympic Champions continue to hold a […]
49er Men: Heil and Ploessel master a random day in the Bay
The conditions for the 49er gold fleet were full power all day, 10 to 14 knots of easterly breeze out in Weymouth Bay. However, there were significant lines of gust and lull across the lumpy course, with a few wind shifts thrown in for good measure. Peter Burling and Blair Tuke managed to negotiate the […]
49erFX: Race wins for Denmark, Britain & Sweden, but Brazil still leads
The usual suspects were hard to find in the first race of the 49erFX gold fleet. With the wind lighter than expected and the teams struggling to power their skiffs through the choppy swell of Weymouth Bay, some different names came to the fore. Anne-Julie Schütt and Iben Nielsby seized the initiative and read the […]