Delivering the Goods at Kona Worlds

Published on October 28th, 2018

Clearwater, FL (October 28, 2018) – Clearwater delivered the goods today at the 2018 Kona Worlds. The forecast was calling for some uneven offshore conditions, but a 20 degree shift at the last minute allowed the breeze to fill in across both courses, and fill in it did: from 10-12 to 18-20 mph in the span of five minutes.

“We were about to get in sequence for the first race of the day, and the wind went whoosh to the left! It stayed there for the whole series too, three races back to back. I don’t think I’ve ever seen more ideal racing conditions!” said Principal Race Officer Hal Smith on the Gulf course.

“The time it took the race committee to reset that course gave all competitors a chance to rerig on the water, add a whole bunch of downhaul and extend their booms to flatten their sails. When it was time to race, everyone was raring to go.”

Recently crowned North American champion Alex Temko showed his form and pocketed a 2,2,1 scoreline that saw him vault over his teammate Noah Lyons, who won the first race of the day but had less consistent results in the other two races.

While these two young hotshots traded places at the top of the leaderboard, the older guys in 3rd and 4th did the same, with three-time World champion Bjorn Holm (SWE) getting the better of Olympian Luke Baldauf (ISV). But it’s down to a single point between these two, with lighter conditions in the forecast to mix things up tomorrow and a strong pack of contenders looking to make their move.

Andree Gauthier (CAN) sailed consistently today to stay at the top of the women leaderboard: “It’s a long regatta, and the conditions are super fun, but really hard too, so it’s important to limit your mistakes out there!”

In the silver fleet, old-school freestyle master Denis Dagenais (CAN) had a similarly impressive scoreline of 1,2,2 to take the helm, but the story of the day is 13-yr old Alex Lee.

Alex is attending the event with many of his teammates from the Toronto Youth Windsurfing Club and won the last two races of the day to jump into 4th position overall. Claire McMeeking (NZL) sits on top of the women’s standings in that fleet, but local teenager Anna Vasta has her in her sight.

The schedule is for racing from October 27 to 31.

Event details – Gold results – Silver results – Photos

Source: Jerome Samson