2024 Youth Worlds: Two Kiwi crews in top four after opening day at Garda
by Richard Gladwell/Sail-World.com/nz 16 Jul 2024 17:38 NZST
iQFoil - Day 1 - 2024 Youth World Championships - Lake Garda, Italay - July 15, 2024 © Martina Orsini
New Zealand crews got away to an encouraging start on the opening day of the 2024 Youth World Championships being staged at Lake Garda, Northern Italy.
The Ora thermal breeze arrived, and racing was conducted in all classes.
Zach Stibbe was the best performed of the Kiwi team, in the ILCA 6 Male Singlehanded Dinghy event. Scoring two 6th places, Stibbe lies in second overall, on the same points as Alexandros Kyfidis (GRE) who had 3rd and 9th places. Both competitors finished with 12 pts, but for some reason the Greek sailor was listed ahead of Stibbe. They were the only two competitors in the 62 boat fleet who did not record a double digit placing.
At the end of Day 1, Tessa Clinton and Jessica Handley were listed as second in the Female Two Person Dinghy event (420). They were in a bracket of three competitors on the same total points. However the Kiwi crew were listed as DSQ after an incident in Race 2, with a Croatian crew in what was described as a "Windward-leeward situation between boats on opposite legs with contact." The Croatian crew were not given redress. Despite the protest room outcome the result shows Clinton and Handley are on the pace in the 19 boat fleet. They were listed in second place in Race 2. They were listed in a bracket of three competitors all on 9pts after two races.
Will Leech and Sean Kensington lie in 4th overall in Male/Mixed Skiff event (29er). They were part of a group of four competitors in contact at the top of the 29 boat fleet. The Kiwis scored 3,4 and 6th places from three races - a discard place is already in effect after three races.
Hugo Wigglesworth is 8th overall in the Male Kiteboard, on equal points with the 7th placed competitor. Four races were sailed on the first day. Surprisingly the competitors were very consistent in their places with Wigglesworth scoring 7,8,8,7 for his 7th overall
Cam Brown and Alex Norman lie in 9th place in the Male Mixed Two Person Dinghy (420). They are in a three way tie on points for places 9 - 11, and the group is only 1pt out of 8th place and 4pts out of 5th overall. There are 24 entries in the event.
Bella Jenkins and Nicola Hume are 11th also out of 24 entries in the Female Skiff (29er). They sailed four races on Day 1, but finished 21st in race 4, which became their discard. They are only 1pt out of 7th place - so are in contact. The top six overall have nearly a 10pt margin on the crews that are in 7th-11th overall. That's a big margin to pull back.
Chloe Turner scored two 18th places in the two races sailed in the Female Dinghy (ILCA 6), and lies 19th in the 52 boat fleet.
Jack Parr is in 25th overall after four races in the Male Windsurfer (iQFoil) scoring 25, 19, 21, 17th places and was able to discard the worst.
Sofia Currie is in 22nd overall Female Windsurfer (iQFoil) out of a fleet of 26 entries, scoring 23, 21, 19, 19 in the four races sailed and was able to discard the worst performance.
There are no New Zealand sailors in the Mixed Multihull (Nacra 15) which has attracted 12 entries.
There are no New Zealand sailors in the Female Kiteboard which has attracted only 6 entries.
For full results in all classes worldsailingywc.org/2024-results-centre