Been there, done that

Sunday, 12 July 2009, 10:00 GMT

The value of experience was underlined on the opening day of racing in the 2009 Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championships in Buzios, Brazil.

After two races completed across all seven events, the overall standings were dominated by sailors who had been there and done this event before in Arhus, Denmark last year.

Seven different nations currently occupy the top spots - France, Germany and Great Britain got the European challenge off to a strong start; Australia and New Zealand head a class apiece, while Hong Kong and Singapore are at the forefront of the Asian challenge. The hosts Brazil also made a strong start with four of seven crews holding top-10 positions.

Weather-wise it was a challenging opening. Racing began in conditions similar to yesterday’s practice race, with a mid-range northerly wind around 10-15 knots, but as the day progressed the breeze got lighter and shiftier.

The two Windsurfing fleets were the first to return to the boat park after zipping through their scheduled races. Oliver-Tom Schliemann, bronze medallist in 2008, is the early leader in the boys’ RS:X, while Hong Kong’s Hei Man Chan, competing in her fifth Youth Worlds, leads the girls’ fleet.

The first race of the 39th edition of the championship was won by Israel’s Asulin Ron in the boys’ RS:X event, ahead of defending champion Michalis Malekkides (CYP).

Schliemann was fourth, battling back through the fleet after a bad start. In contrast, race two “was pretty much perfect” according to the 18-year-old from Berlin, with victory lifting him to the top of the leaderboard. Schliemann leads a three-way tie on five points with Joseph Gueguen of France and 2008 gold medallist Malekkides.

In the girls’ Windsurfer fleet, Hong Kong’s Hei Man Chan leads the way with second and first place finishes today. lzzy Hamilton (GB) shone in the opening race held in her favoured mid-range conditions, but Chan took over the show as the wind dropped for race two.

Chan has been competing at the Youth Worlds since 2005. In her fifth and final edition, she is desperate for the medal that has eluded her so far. Even though the leaderboard points to a near-perfect start, she wasn’t happy with her performance. “I made several mistakes,” she said. “I fell into the water and bumped into a mark. Izzy was really good and had great speed. I’ve got plenty of room for improvement and I’m sure I’ll do better tomorrow.”

Hamilton is just one point behind Chan after a 1,3 start, with third place Leonore Bosch (FRA) just one point further back.

One of the standout performers of the day was Sam Meech in the boys’ Laser Radial fleet. After winning bronze last year, Meech has set an early course for gold with two wins yesterday, both by huge margins. The New Zealander has an 11-point lead after the shifty conditions in race two left the reminder of the fleet counting at least one high score already. Yan Chekh (RUS) and Valic Matej (SLO) were best of the rest and are tied on points in second and third respectively.

In the remaining fleets the shifting wind resulted in the late finish as the second races were all restarted. Mathilde De Kerangat (FRA) was the major beneficiary in the girls’ Laser Radial fleet, as she was struggling in the second race before it was abandoned and then went on to win the restarted race two held in the lighter, shiftier breeze. “I was sailing really fast, took good decisions and read the shifts well,” was her summary of an excellent opening day.

Heidi Tenkanen (FIN), like De Kerangat, a top-10 finisher at last year’s Youth Worlds, scored a win in the opening race but dropped to 13th in race two to lie second overall. Another trio of experience Youth Worlds campaigners, Isabella Bertold (CAN), Elizabeth Yin (SIN) and Michelle Broekhuizen (NED), complete the top five.

Great Britain won gold in both the two person Dinghy fleets last year and yesterday Philip Sparks and Ben Gratton showed they’ll be tough to topple this time around.

On the back of their recent win at Kieler Woche, the young Brits sailed two great races to top the leaderboard with a 1, 2 scoreline. More unexpectedly, Chile occupy second place, with Benjamín Grez Ahrens and Carlos Vergara Infante following a fourth with a narrow win over the Brits in race two.

After a big shift during the upwind leg, the Chilean pair rounded the top mark in first place and while Sparks and Gratton used their speed downwind to close the gap, Grez Ahrens and Vergara Infante just held on to take the gun.

“We came here with a lot of hours of training,” said Grez Ahrens of the team’s surprise showing. “We had a very good day, but it could have been better.” He says they alternate their training between Chile and Argentina and although they don’t get to as many international events as they’d like to, they’re happy with their preparations. “Even though we’ve got a low profile, we were planning a good championship and now, after today, we’re really happy.”

The Singapore crew of Griselda Khng, 2006 Optimist Worlds runner up, and Cecilia Low lead the girls’ 420 fleet. A fifth followed by a win in race two puts them three points ahead of the Italians Camilla Marino and Claudia Soricelli. The Brazilian team of Martine Soffiatti Grael and Kahena Kunze also started strongly and lie third overall with 2, 7 scores.

Australian cousins Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin made a perfect start in the Multihull – Hobie 16 event, winning both of today’s races. Waterhouse won bronze two years’ ago in Canada, before teaming up with Darmanin and finishing sixth in Arhus last year.

Matthew Whitehead, silver medallist last year, and Calene Loubser (RSA) lie second with the Dutch team of Rob Sprij and Mathijs Pauli, competing in their fourth and final Youth Worlds, in third.

At this early stage France lead the Volvo Trophy standings for the top-performing nation, ahead of trophy holders Great Britain, Italy, Brazil and New Zealand.

Last night all the competitors have the opportunity to attend the first post-race debrief hosted by ISAF coach Santiago Lange (ARG). As a double Olympic medallist and veteran of America’s Cup and Volvo Ocean Race campaigns, the Argentinean is one of the biggest stars of South American sailing, but is looking forward to taking up this new challenge.

“It’s a big pleasure for me to be here but it’s also a big responsibility,” he says. “It’s something new for me but it’s a great opportunity and I’m really looking forward to working with so many sailors from all around the world.”

Racing continues in Buzios on Sunday with three races across all events.

See day one results here.

Footage and images of the first day of racing are available on our Facebook fan site.

Related Links

• ISAF Youth World Championships website