Light Winds Continue at Youth Match Racing Worlds

Corona del Mar, CA (August 2, 2017) – The second day of the Youth Match Racing World Championship endured more light winds as the 12 teams seek to complete their double round robin qualifying series.

Two southern hemisphere skippers, George Anyon (NZL) and Harry Price (AUS), the later who is the #6 ranked match racer in the world, maintained their perfect records going 2-0 on the day and are now 7-0 for the regatta.

Italy’s Ettore Botticini was the only skipper to lose ground on the leaderboard today, but with 5 wins yesterday, Botticini still remains in third place after seven flights.

While Price and Anyon are leading the pack and are clear favorites to advance to the next stage for the semifinals, there are a number of competitors who could still join them.

Botticini is one point ahead of two American teams led by Greiner Hobbs (Tampa, FL) and local favorite, Charlie Welsh (Newport Beach, CA) who both have four points, as does Matt Whitfield from Great Britain.

Whitfield provided the most exciting moment of the day with a penalty turn at the finish line in his match with Botticini. Whitfield had built a ten boat-length lead over the Italian skipper, and elected to take the penalty by doing a painfully slow circle around the “pin” end of the finish line as Botticini quickly closed in thanks to some breeze from behind. As Whitfield completed his penalty turn, Botticinitried to squeeze between Whitfield and the pin, incurring two penalties in the process. Race over, win to Whitfield.

In other races, Cyril Fortin from New Caledonia and representing France had a good day, winning his two races including knocking Botticini from the undefeated ranks. Johanna Bergqvist and her all-female crew from Sweden won her first race of the series, defeating fellow Scandinavian Felix Jacobsen (DEN).

Monsoonal conditions over Mexico today caused unusually warm and humid weather with lighter than usual winds. It made for challenging conditions as the shifty breeze never exceeded five knots.

With only seven flights of the scheduled 22 completed after two days, it may be necessary for Principal Race Officer Anne Malledant (FRA) to shorten the double round robin to just one round to assure completion of the semifinals and finals by the regatta’s end.

Event details: www.sailing.org/regattainfo.php?rgtaid=19840

Background: In its fourth year, the Youth Match Racing Worlds has provided a pathway for the best young match racers to test themselves against the best in their age group (under 23 years old in 2017). Joachim Aschenbrenner (DEN) claimed the inaugural title in 2014, followed by Sam Gilmour (AUS) in 2015 and Will Dargaville (AUS) in 2016.

Racing in custom Governor’s Cup 22s on August 1 to 5, the 12 teams representing 9 countries will sail a double round robin qualifying stage to determine the top four teams to advance to semi-finals with the top two advancing to the final to crown a 2017 World Champion.

Competitor List
Australia – Harry Price, Angus Williams, Tara Blanc‐Ramos
Australia – Clare Costanzo, Jessica Angus, Emma May, Hannah Lanz
Denmark – Felix Jacobsen, Sebastian Pieters, August la Cour
France – Cyril Fortin, Jeremy Picot, Kim Goetz
Great Britain – Matt Whitfield, Sophie Heritage, Ellie Meopham
Italy – Ettore Botticini, Simone Busonero, Arianna Botticini, Lorenzo Gennari
New Zealand – George Anyon, Matthew Hughes, Taylor Balogh
New Zealand – Josh Wijohn, Tim Snedden, Nick Egnot Johnson
Switzerland – Mathieu Cadei, Romain Defferrard, Matthieu Ravussin
Sweden – Johanna Berqvist, Isabelle Bergqvist, Ellinor Hansson, Fanny Edgren
USA – Grenier Hobbs, Noah Barrengos, Colton Carnevale
USA – Charlie Welsh, John Horton, Robert Garrett