New Zealand sweeps 29er Worlds

Hong Kong (January 8, 2018) – New Zealand’s Francesco Kayrouz and Jackson Keon took the title of the 2018 29er World Champions today with top 4 results in all races and a 9 point cushion separating them from their closest competition. New Zealanders Crystal Sun and Olivia Hobbs, who were the only girls to make the cut into the gold fleet, finished 21st overall and took the title as top female team.

David Eastwood and Samuel Merson (USA), finishing seventh overall, were the top North American team.

Today racers were met with no breeze and a heavy fog as they descended on the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club Middle Island Clubhouse. Racers were initially held onshore with Race Officer Charlie Manzoni commented “We couldn’t launch you into nowhere with no wind and no visibility.”

After the 8-race qualifying series, only one race over the previous two days was completed for the gold and silver fleets. Today racers were met with no breeze and a heavy fog and were initially held onshore. However, by around 11:30am, a cold northerly had started to fill in and steadily built, compressing the fog into a more wet but transparent light drizzle.

The gold fleet was sent to their race course in Stanley Bay where four races were sailed. The breeze for the beginning of the first two races race was at the top of the 29er wind limit, however, changing gears was critical as the breeze tapered off in the second lap of both the first two races. The breeze moderated for the remaining two races of the day.

The results from the Silver fleet remain the same from yesterday as the race committee decided to hold them onshore due to the breeze being in the upper class limit.

Racing for 58 teams from 11 countries was held from January 3 to 8.

 
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Gold Fleet Results