Finals set at Youth Match Racing Worlds

Swinoujscie, Poland (September 18, 2015) – On the fourth day of the ISAF Youth Match Racing World Championship, as always in sailing it’s about the wind and today the Southwest direction was perfect for the racecourse to be in the channel. It held a steady 10-12 knots throughout the early afternoon during the Quarterfinals with gusts of up to 20 knots. By the start of the Semi-finals it started to ease up but there was still plenty to race with at about 8-10 knots and for once it didn’t rain in the late afternoon for the completion of the Semi-finals.

Matches for the Quarterfinals were:
Robin Follin (FRA) vs. Markus Ronnberg (FIN),
Annabel Vose (GBR) vs. Sam Gilmour (AUS),
Jelmer van Beek (NED) vs. Nevin Snow (USA),
Jakob Klitte (SWE) vs. Joachim Aschenbrenner (DEN)

In the Quarterfinals there were four matches with eight teams. Flights were raced by match with the first team to gain three points being the winner of that match. Each team left no holds barred in efforts to beat their opponents physically and mentally exhibiting incredible skill at maneuvering these TOM28s. Skippers must know the rules inside out and back-to-front in order to use them to their advantage and timing is everything. Luckily there were only a few minor contact penalties. During the Quarterfinals Follin & Ronnberg raced five flights with Ronnberg winning 3/5 moving Team Finland into the Semi-finals. Vose, not just the only female competitor but also skipper for Team Great Britain, held her own but Gilmour won in the three consecutive flights ending their match and moving Team Australia into the Semi-finals. Van Beek, noted as one of the most improved teams, beat Snow in the first flight but Snow won the following three moving Team USA into the Semi-finals. Aschenbrenner took three back-to-back wins against Klitte moving Team Denmark to the Semi-finals.

Matches for the Semi-finals were:
Nevin Snow (USA) vs. Sam Gilmour (AUS)
Joachim Aschenbrenner (DEN) vs. Markus Ronnberg (FIN)

Semi-finals were an intense display as the pressure mounted and confidence came into play. Match 1 was Gilmour vs. Snow. During Flight 1 Snow was given a ‘Black Flag’ early on and the flight ended giving Gilmour the win. In Flight 2 after a well sailed battle along the course by Snow, Gilmour was given the ‘Black Flag’ over a very short period of time with a cluster of penalties at the end of a downwind leg so Snow won. Snow was leading until the last leg of Flight 4 until Gilmour got past them and took the third win. In Match 2 between Ronnberg and Aschenbrenner they kept each other close up and down the racecourse. Aschenbrenner won the first flight, Ronnberg won the second, and then Aschenbrenner took the deciding match Flight 4.

Tomorrow Gilmour and Aschenbrenner will compete in the Finals for 1st & 2nd Place, Snow and Ronnberg will compete in the Petit-Finals for 3rd & 4th Place. Wind is predicted to be much lower tomorrow at around 7 knots, let’s hope the direction will be good for racing in the channel!

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