Beautiful Day For Italy’s Paternoster And di Salle At Sail First ISAF Youth Worlds
Defending 420 Girls Champions Ilaria Paternoster and Benedetta di Salle shone in the Cypriot sun on the second day of racing at the 2013 Sail First ISAF Youth Sailing World Championships.
An afternoon sea breeze kicked as 14 knots of consistent wind with gusts of up to 20 knots allowed the 351 sailors from 61 nations to complete a busy day of intense racing.
After five 420 Girls races Italy’s Paternoster and di Salle have recorded three victories to sit on top of the leader board on six points with 2012 silver medallists Carrie Smith and Ella Clark following on ten points.
“Today was a beautiful day,” said Paternoster, “The wind was not too strong and we got a third and a first from our races. We hope we will have a good day tomorrow and then for the next few days.”
“It is a beautiful result and we are happy,” added di Salle.
“The conditions on the Island are perfect, it’s a little bit hot but we are drinking a lot,” concluded helm Paternoster.
Chile’s Nadja Horwitz and Carmina Malsh remain in contention in third place on 15 points with Singapore’s Kimberly Lim and Savannah Liew a point behind in fourth.
The 420 Boys got off the water at 18:45 local time and leading the way is Portugal’s Diogo Pereira and Pedro Cruz. The pair, both from Cascais host venue of the 2007 ISAF Worlds, started sailing together two years and after five races they lead the way.
“Today was cool,” said Pereira. “In the first race we made some mistakes with the shifts but in the second race we were winning and in the last downwind our spinnaker came under the boat and we lost two places and the last race we won so it was a good day.”
Brazil’s Tiago Brito and Andrei Knepp are just three points behind Pereira and Cruz in second. Italy’s Matteo Pilati and Michele Cecchin (ITA) are third overall but have the close company of Sam Barnett and Zak Merton (NZL) as well as Ibuki Koizumi and Tsubasa Arioka (JPN).
Overnight 29er leaders Lucas Rual and Emile Amoros (FRA) continued to fly high in the fleet and got off to an excellent start on the second day picking up two race wins. The pair were OCS in the third race of the day, the sixth of the series, but with the discard kicking in they hold the lead on nine points.
“Yesterday was a great day for us,” said Amoros. “Today we won the first and second race and were OCS in the third so we’re going to keep doing what we have been doing and try to get better.”
Rual added, “It’s going very well as we have been training a lot this year so we have very good speed and tactics on the water.”
With them including an OCS in their scoreline caution is key moving forward, “We are now going to sail with more security as it could change the championship quite a lot. We need to keep our mind on the next day.”
America’s Dane and Quinn Wilson stepped up to second place overall in the 29er with Ida Svensson and Rosengren Rasmus (SWE) in third.
New Zealand’s Isaac McHardie and Micah Wilkinson continue to impress in the SL16 fleet after another consistent day of racing on the glorious Cypriot waters.
Four race wins, a second and a discarded fifth place has given them a nine point lead over Jordi Booth and Lucia Brugman (ESP). Seven races SL16 races remain with it all to play.
The Laser Radial Girls played catch up early on and completed three excellent races. Norway’s Line Flem Host continued to shine winning the fourth race and finishing third in Race 5. As the discard came into play she lost her 11th from the third race and opens up a 15 point deficit between her and Marie Burrue (FRA).
Whilst Host is the runaway leader just five points separates Burrue, Haddon Hughes (USA), Agata Barwinska (POL), Monika Mikkola (FIN), Louise Evans (AUS) and Martino Reino (ESP).
Spain’s Joel Rodriguez is the sailor to beat the Laser Radial Boys after he posted double bullets and a discarded seventh. Rodriguez has been revelling in the conditions Limassol has thrown out so far and was visibly pleased with his performance, “I go very fast in these conditions. I try to race my own regatta and I’ve just had good starts and gone very fast,” said the Spaniard.
Juan Perdomo (PUR) is two points behind Rodriguez whilst Sebastien Schneiter (SUI) is ten points off Perdomo.
Great Britain’s Kieran Martin solidified his spot at the top of the RS:X Boys leader board with two bullets and a second to sit on seven points. Radoslaw Furmanski (POL) follows on 17 points with Evgeny Ayvazyan (RUS) third on 23 points.
The RS:X Girls fleet is wide open as overnight leader Marion Lepert (USA) slipped to seventh overall as Italy’s Marta Maggetti sailed consistently to take a slender four point advantage into the third day. 2013 RS:X Youth European Champion Hadar Heller (ISR) won the first two races of the day and is second on 16 points whilst China’s Lu Yunxiu is third on 17 points. The days other race win went to Sara Wennekes (NED) who is fourth overall.
Racing resumes on 17 July at 12:00 local time across the eight events.
