Order shifts at Nacra 17 Europeans

Weymouth, England (May 16, 2019) – The Nacra 17 Europeans have shifted to the final stage as the top teams in the gold flight battle for the championship, which for three races today was best exemplified by John Gimson and Anna Burnet as they foiled to the top of the leaderboard with solid scores of 1,6,2.

“We’ve finally found some downwind wheels,” said Gimson. “The speed is good and we’ve learned a lot about the right technique for those conditions.” Burnet said things could change significantly now that the wind is dropping lighter for the final three days. “We still hope to be fast whatever the conditions, but a change of breeze could suit some of the other teams and change things around a bit.”

The best performers of the day were the Danish crew of Lin Cenholt and CP Lubeck, whose scores of 2,3,1 have launched them into second overall, just one point off the lead and two points ahead of the previous regatta leaders from Italy.

Slipping to third, Ruggero Tita and Caterina Banti (ITA) scored 4,10,3 for a still very solid – if unspectacular – day out in the waves of Weymouth Bay. There’s 12-point gap back to the other top Italians in fourth place, Vittorio Bissaro and Maelle Frascari, who made amends with a first-race 15th by following up with a race win and a 4th.

The Argentinean crew, Mateo Majdalani and Eugenia Bosco, remain in podium contention in 5th overall. Ben Saxton and Nikki Boniface have been glued into sixth place for some time now, and will rue the missed opportunity to climb up the leaderboard after a mishap at the end of the first race today.

“We were gybing for the finish, in the lead, and I jumped out of the boat,” said Saxton self-mockingly, always able to smile at any situation. “Just as well as I’ve been working on my swimming because I caught the boat up while Nikki was trying to sort out the mess.”

They still salvaged a 12th across the finish line, getting the boat upright quickly but still disappointed to have made the error in the first place.

With the wind set to drop lighter from tomorrow onwards, the Nacras have perhaps had the best of the foiling conditions, and it could be back to low-riding for the remaining days of the Europeans.

The Nacra 17 Europeans are on May 13 to 19 off Weymouth, England.

Day Four Results (Top 5 of 55; 12 races, 1 discard)
1. GBR John Gimson, Anna Burnett 26
2. DEN Lin Cenholt, CP Lubeck 27
3. ITA Ruggero Tita, Caterina Banti 29
4. ITA Vittorio Bissaro, Maelle Frascari 41
5. ARG Mateo Majdalani, Eugenia Bosco 46

Event details – Results – Facebook

North American Results:
Top ten or top position
27th Sarah Newberry/ David Liebenberg (USA)

Competing from North America:
Canada: Allie Surrette/ Max Flinn
USA: Sarah Newberry/ David Liebenberg, Riley Gibbs/ Anna Weis, Ravi Parent/ Caroline Atwood, Nicholas Martin/ Romy Mackenbrock

Source: Port Tack Racing