Cadet Class World Championships in Nieuwpoort, Belgium after Day 3
by Andy Shorrock 31 Jul 2013 22:12 BST
28 July - August 2013
Wind and waves in Nieuwpoort
The 2013 International Cadet Class World Championship is being hosted by Belgium in beautiful and historic Nieuwpoort.
An impressive and colourful flag-filled opening ceremony featured all nations including strong teams from the southern hemisphere – Argentina and Australia, as well as the recent winners of the championship from the Ukraine and Poland.
After 3 days of exhilarating sailing, the competition is really close. Winds have ranged from 15 to 20 knots from the South West enabling the Nieuwpoort waters to present the mix of tide and large waves to challenge the sailors.
Consistency will prove to be critical to the sailors' success. Many are capable of producing a race winning performance but to do this race after race in such a competitive field is extremely difficult.
Heading the leader board are 2 boats Danyl Martinov/Yehor Samarin (9855) and Artem Honchar/Andrey Semenko (9905) from the Ukraine, each showing impressive downwind speed and boat handling to have a good set of results, despite being with only 1 race win between them.
Darcy Branowski/Dominic Randall (9523) from Australia lie 3rd with 2 other teammates in the top 10.
Heading the GBR challenge is Arran Holma/Lucie Offord (9753), currently lying 5th, whilst Alex Phillpott/Harry Fitzsimmons lie 8th after a strong performance on day 3 scoring 7th and 2nd.
Sailors from the Ukraine, Belarus, Argentina and Poland complete the top 10 in a truly international field.
Other UK placements are 8513 Jack & Lucy Hardie (14th), Lucy & Cally Terkelsen in 8352 (15th), Alex Warrington/Ellie Wootton in 8541 (18th), Alex Page/Aaron Chadwick in 8521 (23rd) and Sam Yale/Harry Chatterton in 9369 (32nd).
Alongside the World Championship an open entry competition is run for up and coming sailors as the 'Promotional' regattea. Again this has enjoyed close racing in the international 40 boat field. Thomas & Sophie Alexander from Australia(9616) are current leaders but now look less fallible following capsizes in race 7. Ben Shorrock/Ellie Watling (8441) lead the GBR challenge in a close battle with Henry Stone/Hatty Collingridge (9374), Ed Harris/Faye Chatterton (8514) and Jess D'Arcy/Amy Gault (9400).
Competitors and supporters alike are enjoying a brilliant event in very challenging conditions at a wonderful venue. The result in both fleets promise to go right down to the wire.
More information and full results at www.cadet2013.be, on facebook GBR Cadet or Twitter @GBRcadets