High wind, big waves and monster current required some inventive sailing techniques on day three of the 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17 World Championship in Quiberon, France.
At one point in the 49er racing it was so windy that the fleet was unable to turn downwind at the windward mark. The boats kept on sailing upwind, looking for an opportunity to make the daring bear-away manoeuvre downwind. Eventually two daring teams made their move; the rest of the 49er fleet had their answer. Don’t even try.
It was one example of many moments in a wacky day. “In 15 years of shooting the skiffs, I have never seen anything like today,” said Sailing Energy photographer Jesus Renedo. “I saw so many crazy things today.”
He shot a sequence of photos of the 49erFX fleet coming downwind with colourful gennakers when the white Dacron sails of a cruising yacht ploughed across the race course, seemingly unaware of the obstruction it was about to create. Two teams were caught up in the subsequent melée, with France’s FRA84 putting a hole in their mainsail and Spain’s ESP73 damaging their daggerboard.
CURRENT BUN FIGHT
Later on, towards the finish, the current was so strong that it was kicking up the waves in the bay, making it very difficult to get safely downwind without pitchpoling. Even the reigning 49erFX World Champions, Paula Barcelo and Maria Cantero, were not immune. “We did all the hard things right, but just going in a straight line downwind, we couldn’t do it without pitchpoling. Maria was flapping the kite but it wasn’t enough to stop us capsizing. I think we must have done it five or six times today.”
In Race 7 of the yellow group, Freya Black and Saskia Tidey (GBR) crossed the finish line first ahead of Paris Henken and Helena Scutt (USA). But behind the front few the wind picked up another level, making it even harder to get cleanly downwind. Sailing downwind in conventional fashion was proving impossible, and getting down the waves with just mainsail and jib was no easier. Some teams resorted to reversing their skiffs across the finish line while others couldn’t get there at all and were forced to retire from racing.
CHICKEN
In the 49ers some teams have been ducking out of a spinnaker gybe, instead opting for the much slower but safer option to get the kite down and round up to a 270 spin including a tack. “We did that yesterday, a bit of a chicken move,” admitted Keanu Prettner, who with his fellow Austrian Jakob Flachberger, took the overall lead in the championship despite their conservative manoeuvres. “We have capsized plenty of times going for the gybe and not making it, and yesterday it felt like the right decision to go for the ‘chicken tack’,” he said.
49er
Only one race was completed for the 49ers whose three qualifying groups went out after four races of 49erFX and Nacra 17. The Austrians continue to hold the lead as the top 25 progress to Gold Fleet racing on Friday. Just a point behind are the Chinese crew, Zaiding Wen and Tian Liu, in second, two points ahead of Sebastien Schneiter and Arno de Planta from Switzerland in third. In fourth on equal points are Seb Menzies and George Lee Rush. Next week Menzies, 21 years old, will be jumping in to co-steer Emirates New Team New Zealand’s AC40 at the America’s Cup preliminary regatta in Sardinia. His co-helmsman and skipper will be Nathan Outteridge, a former 49er World and Olympic Champion from Australia.
© Sailing Energy / 49er and Nacra Class
49erFX
After four races in the 49erFX, Black and Tidey take the lead for Great Britain, winning two of their four heats in yellow group. Top performers in blue group were Johanne and Andrea Schmidt, the Danish sisters scoring three third places and a win to move to second overall ahead of Germany’s Anna Barth and 18-year-old crew Emma Kohlhoff. She’s racing in school holidays, although said she would have jumped school anyways.
Nacra 17
Australia’s Brin Liddell and Rhiannan Brown sailed an incredible day in the strong winds to score 1,1,4,2 in four Nacra 17 races. This moves the Aussies up to fourth overall, although still eight points behind Britain’s reigning World Champions John Gimson and Anna Burnet. The runners-up in last year’s close fought Worlds – Italy’s Gianluigi Ugolini and Maria Giubilei – are in second, 10 points behind local sailor to Quiberon, Tim Mourniac, crewed by Aloise Retornaz. The French leaders are counting all their scores inside the top four, currently dropping a 10th place from day one, and looking very solid on home waters.
© Sailing Energy / 49er and Nacra Class
