Laser Radial Womens Worlds: Fabulous Sailing on 1st August

by event media

The Laser Radial Women World Championships are set for an enthralling last day to decide the new world champion.

Karatsu in Japan turned on another fabulous sailing day with NNE winds of 12-16 knots. There were more oscillations today and good gains were made on the downwind legs. Racing was tense with the sailors pushing the start line to cause a general recall for each fleet in race 10 and a subsequent black flag for the next attempt. Three sailors in the gold fleet and one in the silver fleet will need to be more cautious tomorrow after OCS and BFD today.

With two drops now allowed Sari Multala from Finland maintains her lead in the gold fleet. She recovered from 6th around mark 1 in race 10 to win the race. Despite a boat to boat protest in race 10 which resulted in a disqualification for Lijia Xu of China, her win in race 9 combined with the second drop has her in third place. Anna Tunnicliffe from USA climbs back to second 9 points behind the leader with Sophie de Turckheim of France in fourth after a BFD in race 10. Annalise Murphy from Ireland impressed today with a second and fourth to improve to tenth. It is all on for some exciting racing in the gold fleet tomorrow.

In the silver fleet Ashley Stoddart of Australia maintained her lead with a good win in race 9 and a consistent third in race 10. Claire Dennis of USA, is one point behind now the redress points for damage that occurred in race 7 have been included. Jennifer Spalding of Canada is a further 11 points behind in third place. Joanne Prokop from Canada won race 10 today. Rosie Chapman�s good result of second in race 10 was spoilt by an attempted port start at the pin end that resulted in an OCS.

The Japanese Race Management team under PRO Matsuyama Kazuoka provided great courses again today and maintained the high standard of organisation to ensure starts are on time and course lengths meet the target time. There is a very strong team approach across the whole team and everyone appears to have an absolute desire to achieve excellence.

Karatsu citizens have embraced this contest in so many ways from providing bicycles to friendliness and hospitality all around the city. Every day about 130 volunteers assist with the day to day running of the event. On the water there about 60 volunteers in 24 boats including race management boats, rescue, patrol, spectator and press boats. Last night Hiro Kawano from the Japanese Yachting Federation hosted the midweek party. Sailors were able to experience a tea ceremony, Japanese cuisine and take part in some games. Hiro also took the time today to speak to the coaches and the race management team.

The last two races are scheduled for tomorrow with conditions expected to be similar.

Laser Radial Womens Worlds