420 Worlds: Battling the Elements

Fremantle, Australia (December 31, 2017) – The weather forecasters’ predictions were perfect today. A south-to-southwesterly breeze kicked in during the morning on race day 3 at the 420 World Championships and escalated to a steady 22 knots with gusts around 25 knots over the race track off Fremantle this afternoon.

Although the waves had moderated and were not as brutal as they were two days ago, they still required careful handling by teams and there were many capsizes for those who got it wrong.

420 OPEN
Reveling in the conditions on their regular training track, Australian champions Chris Charlwood and Josh Dawson were strong on the course today scoring a fourth and a first from the two races, ensuring that they now hold a clear but narrow lead over Spain’s Carlos Balaguer and Antoni Massanet. Italians Edouardo Ferraro and Francesco Orlando lie third on the points table at the half way mark of the World Championship.

420 Open – Results after 6 Races
1. Chris CHARLWOOD/Josh DAWSON (AUS 54351) – 8 pts
2. Carlos BALAGUER/Antoni MASSANET (ESP 55947) – 9 pts
3. Edoardo FERRARO/Francesco ORLANDO (ITA 56278) – 12 pts
4. Enrique LUJÁN/Pablo LUJÁN (ESP 56331) – 13 pts
5. Albert TORRES/Francisco MULET (ESP 52779) – 15 pts
6. Thomas ANDRE/Justin BARADAT (FRA 55986) – 18 pts
7. Enzo BALANGER/Gaultier TALLIEU (FRA 56030) – 20 pts
8. Andrea SPAGNOLLI/Kevin RIO (ITA 56028) – 22 pts
9. Tristan PERON-PHILIPPE/Yvon LARNICOL (FRA 55086) – 27 pts
10. Otto HENRY/Rome FEATHERSTONE (AUS 56160) – 28 pts

420 LADIES
Out at the front, Australia’s Nia Jerwood and Monique De Vries continue to draw on their year’s of experience together and familiarity with the Fremantle conditions to lead the Ladies pack, striking double bullets today. Joining them to stake claims on the 2nd and 3rd race results were fellow Aussies Laura Harding/Eleanor Grimshaw and Sophie Jackson/Laura Thomson, as the foreign teams still get to grips with the nuances of the local breeze and waves.

Further down the leaderboard, the Japanese crew of Narumi Kobayashi and Minami Kurose suffered a heavy knockdown soon after setting their spinnaker for the first downwind leg during the day’s opening race. Struggling to right their boat, they then chose not to compete in the day’s second race. It was clear today that sailors who had not experienced sailing in ocean conditions such as today were competing at the limits of their capability.

Struggling valiantly, a number were forced to retire after capsizing and no doubt will emerge from this championship vastly better equipped to sail in heavy conditions and big waves.

420 Ladies – Results after 6 Races
1. Nia JERWOOD/Monique DE VRIES (AUS 54798) – 8 pts
2. Laura HARDING/Eleanor GRIMSHAW (AUS 55158) – 13 pts
3. María CABA/Pilar CABA (ESP 56246) – 17 pts
4. Sophie MCINTOSH/Orla MULHOLLAND-PATTERSON (AUS 53663) – 24 pts
5. Sophie JACKSON/Laura THOMSON (AUS 55166) – 26 pts
6. Arianna PASSAMONTI/Giulia FAVA (ITA 56047) – 30 pts
7. Isabel DAVIES/Gemma KEERS (GBR 55517) – 37 pts
8. Olívia BELDA/Elisa VON FRITSCH (BRA 54642) – 39 pts
9. Solène MARIANI/Maude SCHMID (SUI 56274) – 39 pts
10. Clara OLIVE/Solenza MARIANI (FRA 56376) – 40 pts

420 U17
Germany’s Florian and Maximilian Buscher handled the heavy going consistently today with placings of third and fifth, to retain their spot at the head of the points table. Spain’s Pol and Alex Marsans seemed quite at home to win the first race and place second in the other. The Greek crew of Konstantinos Vardalis and Panagiotis Matsades were a little over eager in their start to the final race and earned themselves a U Flag disqualification, the only blemish in what were generally very good starts for all fleets.

420 U17 – Results after 6 Races
1. Florian BÜSCHER/Maximilian BÜSCHER (GER 55660) – 17 pts
2. Pol MARSANS/Alex MARSANS (ESP 55846) – 18 pts
3. Tommaso CILLI/Bruno MANTERO (ITA 56076) – 21 pts
4. Demetrio SPOSATO/Gabriele CENTRONE (ITA 56563) – 21 pts
5. Tommaso SALVETTA/Giovanni SANDRINI (ITA 55951) – 29 pts
6. Jack LEWIS/Charlie BACON (GBR 56091) – 30 pts
7. Martín WIZNER/Pedro AMENEIRO (ESP 55163) – 32 pts
8. Ariadni-Paraskevi SPANAKI/Myrto PAPADOPOULOU (GRE 54484) – 37 pts
9. Carlotta SCODNIK/Camilla SCODNIK (ITA 56272) – 47 pts
10. Konstantinos VARDALIS/Panagiotis Giorgos MATSADES (GRE 54264) – 48 pts

Measurers have been kept busy today too, measuring replacement sails (particularly spinnakers) for those torn beyond repair.

Conditions for race day 4 are forecast to be lighter again.

Event Details – Results – Facebook

About the 2017 420 World, Ladies World and U17 World Championships
The 2017 420 World, Ladies World and U17 World Championships, 26 December 2017-3 January 2018, is hosted at Fremantle Sailing Club, Perth, Australia.288 sailors from 18 nations are competing, with 64 boats in the 420 Open fleet, 39 in the 420 Ladies and 41 in the U17.

The 420 Open teams are split into two fleets for a 6 race qualification series and 6 race final series, with a single race discard coming into play after race three. Teams contesting the Ladies and U17 World Championships race a single series of 12 races.

144 teams from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden and Turkey are competing.

About the International 420 Class Association
The 420 is an established worldwide performance two-person trapeze and spinnaker racing dinghy which holds status as an International Class and Learn-to-Sail boat.

A performance two-person spinnaker racing dinghy for youth, the 420 has been selected as the youth development class in over 45 nations around the world. The 420 is an important choice to develop sailing and sailors’ skills in strategy, tactics, boat handling, tuning and technique and is very accessible, demanding skills easily obtained by sailors in developing nations.

The 420 Class has trained many of the world’s best sailors and is a proven transition class, whatever your next step in sailing, dinghy or multihull, keelboat or skiff.

Source: Bernie Kaaks / Fremantle Sailing Club