Curtain goes up on Laser Masters World Championships 2013

Mussannah Sports City, Oman (December 1, 2013) – Just a week after the curtain came down on an action packed Laser World Championships, a new set of starting signals for 184 sailors from 34 were sounded in Mussanah Beach today to mark the opening of the Laser Masters World Championships 2013.

A handful of sailors dominated the action when the flag went up on the first day’s racing with Edward Tam of New Zealand, Sweden’s Bo Johannisson and Ian Jones of Britain reveling in the light airs to go undefeated after two Radial races.

In the Standard fleets, the Australians were at the top of their form with former Flying Dutchman and Soling World Champion Mark Bethwaite from Sydney dominating the Great Grand Masters for sailors over 65 and Greg Adams recording two straight wins in the largest fleet of the regatta, the Grand Masters.

Arnoud Hummel, the father of Dutchman Yuri Hummel who finished in 25th place at the Laser Worlds last week, was top of the Standard Masters leaderboard while a tussle between New Zealand’s Scott Leith and Orlando Gledhill of Great Britain was taking shape in the Standard Apprentice class. This promises to be one of the most absorbing battles of the 2013 Laser Masters World Championships.

It was also a good day for the women sailors after Kimberley Couranz, the former Yngling sailor from the USA, achieved a fifth and a third to lie in third place overall in the Radial Apprentice class and Vanessa Dudley from Australia sitting in third place in the Radial Grand Master fleet.

The Laser Master World Championships are raced in eight fleets, which are divided into the Laser Standard and the Laser Radial fleets then further classified according to age. All fleets are open to men and women.

Laser Standard Apprentice: Aged 35-45
Laser Standard Masters: Aged 46-55
Laser Standard Grand Masters: Aged 56-65
Laser Standard Great Grand Masters: Aged 65 +
Laser Radial Apprentice: Aged 35-45
Laser Radial Masters: Aged 46-55
Laser Radial Grand Masters: Aged 56-65
Laser Radial Great Grand Masters: Aged 65 +

Complete results: http://omanlaserworlds2013.com/eng/championship.php?id=24
Event website: http://omanlaserworlds2013.com/eng/index.php

Source: Event media