On schedule at Youth Sailing Worlds

Mussanah, Oman (December 14, 2021) – The 2021 Youth Sailing World Championship finished day two of the five day competition, with the 11 events remaining on schedule for the 433 sailors from 59 nations.

Mixed Two Person Multihull Nacra 15
Kay Brunsvold and Cooper Delbridge (USA) had the best day in the Nacra 15 multihull, which Delbridge attributed to having more fun. “We were doing a lot of contemplation last night about our rig and the way we’re positioning ourselves through the waves. And we decided we’re just going to enjoy the racing today and see how things go. Worked out pretty well!”

Where most of the skippers in the Nacra fleet are boys, Brunsvold is one of the few girls steering. Asked why boys tend to make up the majority of helms in the fleet, Brunsvold joked: “Males can be a little bit more stubborn and like to choose where the boat goes. But that’s the way I am too.”

Delbridge laughed and agreed that his helm is probably the most stubborn of the two of them. “But we don’t really have disagreements either. When things go wrong we tend to laugh about it!”

Although the Americans have closed the gap to the leaders, it’s still Thomas Proust and Eloïse Clabon (FRA) who hold the overall lead just one point ahead of Olivier Jaquet and Femme Rixt Rijk (NED).

Female Skiff 29er
It was a very good day for the British 29er team of Emily Mueller and Florence Brellisford, scoring 1,3,1 in 6 to 10 knot conditions that Mueller described as ‘snakes and ladders’. “We finally learned how to start,” smiled Brellisford, trying to pinpoint what made the difference on day two.

“A good start makes life a lot easier, rather than having to fight your way through from the back. But it never felt easy. It was super shifty out there, really hard to read the wind.”

The British girls are enjoying the competition and using one of the many supplied equipment boats that they didn’t have to bring themselves. “The boats are really good,” said Mueller. “They feel fast, everything is new. But you’re not allowed to change anything, all the rope and control lengths are set, you can only add bungee. It’s the same for everybody so it’s very fair racing.”

Four points behind the British crew are Charlie Leigh and Sophie Fisher (USA), who scored two fourth places but then fell foul of the Black Flag Disqualification for starting too soon in the last race of the session.

Meanwhile, life is good as the sailors enjoy the swimming pool and the balmy weather either in the morning or during the afternoon, depending on when they get their break from the racing schedule.

Male Skiff 29er
As soon as the girls had completed three races they sailed their 29ers to the beach near the pool, at which point their male team mates took over the boats for their afternoon session. Hugo Revil and Karl Devaux (FRA) haven’t won a race but then they haven’t finished outside of the top five either.

No other team has kept all their scores inside the top 10, so the French are on a breakaway in the 29er fleet. First day leaders, the Codoñer Alemany brothers (ESP) are in second, although the race wins for the day went to Italy, Finland, and Argentina.

Female One Person Dinghy ILCA 6
Biggest mover of the day in the girls’ ILCA 6 singlehander was Sara Savelli (ITA). After a disastrous opening day when the Italian was penalized for a Rule 42 kinetics infringement, and scores of 39 and 14, the resilient sailor bounced back with a first and a second place today, lifting Italy to within a point of the lead.

Ahead of Savelli, however, are three sailors tied on 16 points at the top of the leaderboard – Anja von Allmen (SUI), Florencia Chiarella (PER), and Marie Jacobsen Lepperöd (NOR).

Male One Person Dinghy ILCA 6
Ukraine’s Oskar Madonich (UKR) continues to lead the boys’ ILCA 6 fleet with Przemyslaw Machowski (POL) rising to second place ahead of José Gomes Saraiva Mendes (POR) in third.

Female Two Person Dinghy 420
Neus Ballester Bover and Andrea Perello Mora (ESP) have seen their lead reduced to just a point ahead of Manon Pennaneac’h and Victoire Lerat (FRA). Vanessa Lahrkamp and Katherine McNamara (USA) are only a point behind the French in third.

Male/Mixed Two Person Dinghy 420
Ian Clive Walker March sailing with Finn Dicke (ESP) continue to lead but are closely chased by Roi Levy and Ariel Gal (ISR) and Florian Krauss and Jannis Summchen (GER).

Female Windsurfer Bic Techno 293+
Manon Pianazza (FRA) is in a class of her own, winning all six races. Behind her a close battle for the next places, just three points between CZE, ITA, ESP, and GBR.

Male Windsurfer Bic Techno 293+
Almost as impressive as Pianazza in the girls’ fleet, Federico Alan Pilloni (ITA) has scored all firsts and is discarding a second. Boris Shaw (GBR) is the only sailor to beat Pilloni in a race and holds second overall.

Male Kiteboarding Formula Kite
Mikhail Novikov (RUS) won the first race of the day, then the next two to Max Maeder (SGP). Leader after day one, Riccardo Pianosi (ITA) fought back with a win in the last race of the day, putting the Italian in a tie with Singapore but retaining the leader’s yellow jersey.

Female Kiteboarding Formula Kite
Gal Zukerman (ISR) continued her perfect scoreline with unbroken victories. Julia Damasiewicz (POL) is second and Héloïse Pégourié (FRA) third.

Nations Trophy
France, Italy, and Spain have separated themselves as the top-performing nations at the Youth Worlds, holding a significant margin over the next group of Poland, Great Britain, Turkey, and USA.

A total of 433 sailors from 59 nations are competing in the 11 events on December 13-17.

Day Two Results
(Event – Number of Entries – Equipment – Top North American)

Female Skiff (18) – 29er: 2nd Sophie Fisher/ Charlie Leigh (USA)
Male Skiff (24) – 29er: 6th Ian Nyenhuis/ Noah Nyenhuis (USA)
Female Two Person Dinghy (19) – 420: 3rd Vanessa Lahrkamp/ Katherine McNamara (USA)
Male/Mixed Two Person Dinghy (22) – 420: 16th Thomas Sitzmann/ Luke Woodworth (USA)
Mixed Two Person Multihull (11) – Nacra 15: 5th Cooper Delbridge/ Kay Brunsvold (USA)
Female One Person Dinghy (46) – ILCA 6: 11th Katharine Doble (USA)
Male One Person Dinghy (50) – ILCA 6: 9th Chapman Petersen (USA)
Female Windsurfer (17) – Bic Techno 293+: 16th Danicka Sailer (USA)
Male Windsurfer (18) – Bic Techno 293+: 11th JP Lattanzi (USA)
Female Kiteboarding (10) – Formula Kite: 9th Caroline Locke (USA)
Male Kiteboarding (16) – Formula Kite: 8th Noah Zittrer (USA)

Event details – Results – Tracking

First held in Sweden in 1971, the Youth Sailing World Championships are World Sailing’s flagship event for youth sailors. The 2019 event attracted 409 sailors from 66 nations for the nine events held in Gdynia, Poland. Spain won the Nations Trophy that year, awarded annually to the top-performing nation at the Youth Worlds, followed by France in second and USA in third. The 2020 event was cancelled due to the pandemic.