It is breeze on for the day 5 of the 49er World Championship. First up are three races for the 49er followed by three races for the FX.
In race 1, we caught a great bit of action on a busy top mark.
Later we saw the Swiss team of Seb Schneiter with de Planta get the layline perfect whereas Barrows and Henken (USA) had to do two quick tacks to make it around the top mark moving them down to second. Catch the Swiss on a beauty downwind and into a perfect gybe as they head to the finish.
We caught up to the Swiss after the regatta, and while de Planta was all business talking about the racing, Schneiter found a moment to wish his cousin well as it’s his wedding day!
In race 2 it was a spectacular start with about half of the fleet running the Port Tack Option and heading right undernear the starboard tackers.
There was a critical set of crosses up the first beat, where regatta leaders Fischer and Pequin narroly crossed the Dutch but then seemed to foul the Germans on their port tack up to the layline. Perhaps the Germans waived them past, but othewise this could be an incident that ends up in the protest room.
Later on the downwind we were treated to a fantastic example of downwind reaching with three teams showing the main three passing techniques, and each holding the others at bay. The leading Polish did a low set with VMG to try and escape. Then right behind them were the French who aimed for a high mode to try and roll the Polish. Meanwhile, the Dutch did an ultra low set and tried to hold the other two boats out.
When the French got into a pressure application area to the Polish, they simply gybed into the middle of the course. Then when it was the French turn to gybe they got gybed on by the Dutch. Both teams did good manouvers, and the French kept clear air. Finally, the Polish got to choose the layline first, and they got the exact right spot for VMG, ultimately holding the French off by just a boatlength to keep their lead.
