Only three medals for FX contenders

The 49erFX made its first Olympic appearance at Rio five years ago. Four teams were tied heading into the medal race, and only three could win medals. The battle for gold and silver remained in the balance until a final Gybe saw Brazil narrowly cross ahead of New Zealand. Denmark took the Bronze and Spain […]

Dutch Olypmic-bound skiff sailors lead both fleets at Allianz Regatta

Annemiek Bekkering and Annette Duetz (NED) held on to their lead in the 18-boat 49erFX fleet and their teammates, Bart Lambriex and Pim van Vugt, advanced to the top of the leaderboard in the 31-boat 49er fleet. Just two out of three races were completed in the 49erFX, and Bekkering and Duetz extended their lead […]

Thrilling medal races produce world champions

Peter Burling and Blair Tuke from New Zealand dazzled to win another 49er world championship, the sixth for the magic combo, which is easily a class record. In thrilling medal race the Spanish 49erFX team of Tamara Echegoyen and Paula Barcelo and the British Nacra 17 team of John Gimson and Anna Burnet owned those […]

Plan for the final day of 2020 World Championship racing

With no racing on Friday February 14 due to summer storms that wreaked havoc with the breeze, Saturday’s final day of the 49er, 49er and Nacra 17 World Championship looks like this: Schedule: Two gold fleet races for all three fleets commencing from 0955hrs Two silver and bronze fleet races immediately following Three medal races […]

“Game on” for national selection

Spanish Redemption Second by two points in the 49erFX is Spain’s Tamara Echegoyen, the 2016 World Champion with a different crew, and Paula Barcelo. The duo sailed through injury at the 2019 worlds and suffered, only managing a silver fleet finish. With the pressure of the Spanish trials on, these champions are in contention for […]

Skiff favourites spin low scores into gold

Reigning 49er world champions and Rio 2016 Gold medallists, Peter Burling and Blair Tuke (NZL), bagged enough low scores in the qualification round to lead at the midway point of the 2020 49er World Championship in Geelong, Australia. The top 25 49er teams go through to gold fleet to fight in the coming three days […]

Temporary Tandem Top Leaderboard in 49erFX

Former German 49erFX teammates combine beautifully to lead on day one of racing – much to their surprise. Tina Lutz’s regular crew Susann Beucke injured herself soon after the 2019 World Championship in Auckland and Lotta Wiemers agreed to step back into the boat to crew for the second half of the Down Under series […]

2020 World Championship day 1 – no racing

A day of waiting disappointingly ended without any racing at the 2020 world title for the 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17 classes in Geelong, Victoria, Australia. The Race Committee monitored conditions on Corio Bay from well before the morning session to late afternoon, 25-30 knots out of the east keeping 49er crews ashore all day […]

Long way to the top at Geelong 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17 World Championship

Half the contenders vying for an Olympic spot know they’ve made the cut and the other half are still aiming for selection, adding extra strain to the make-or-break 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17 World Championship, the last major class title before Tokyo 2020. Big news on the eve of racing is that New Zealand’s Rio […]

Spaniards on a Roll – An Armada In the Making

Tamara Echegoyen emerged as an afterthought in London to claim the Gold medal in the women’s Match racing in 2012.  The pundits all promoted their favorites, some of the biggest names in the sport of sailing but Echegoyen was unflappable and beat them all to claim gold.  Teaming up with Berta Betanzos, a 470 World […]