Paris Olympic preview on Banderas Bay

The 2022 ILCA 7 Men’s World Championship has attracted 126 sailors from 45 countries to compete in 12 scheduled races on May 23-28 in Riviera Nayarit, Mexico.

The championship is widely expected to be one of the highlights of the sailing year, as the world’s top sailors look to make their marks early in the Olympic sailing quadrennium as they prepare for the Men’s One Person Dinghy event at Paris 2024.

Racing will take place on the waters of Banderas Bay, the second largest bay on the North American coast, which has a very mild climate with extremely reliable wind and sea conditions. In the spring and summer, winds are such that sailing is possible every day, thanks to a regular daily thermal wind directions and speeds.

The most famous names in the class will be on hand, which includes Olympic champion Matt Wearn (AUS) along with defending World Champion Tom Saunders (NZL), with pressure coming from Finn Lynch (IRL), Tonci Stipanovic (CRO), Philipp Buhl (GER), and Pavlos Kontides (CYP).

“It’s a great venue for all the contenders,” Saunders said. “A good, solid breeze, nothing too random. I think it’s going to be quite a low-scoring event so I just need to come out and be onto it from day one.

“It’s going to be a bit of a speed trap. Every day is going to be more or less the same so everyone will have the speed. It will come down to execution and keeping on top of all the little things, like the heat, because days four, five and six is when the wheels could fall off.”

Nine sailors from Canada are led by Finn Olympian Tom Ramshaw while College Singlehanded Champion Leo Boucher is among the seven sailors from the USA.

Details: https://2022ilca7men.ilca-worlds.org