Formula 18 World Championships in Italy - Overall
by Formula 18 World Championships 12 Jul 2013 22:30 BST
5-12 July 2013
Besson and Lagarrigue crowned champions
Styles and Booth on the podium
French duo Billy Besson and Jeremie Lagarrigue have taken the Formula 18 World Championship title in the waters off the Compagnia della Vela Grosseto ahead of Brits Hugh Styles and Richard Mason.
Despite the final day's racing delivering less steady and significantly weaker wind than the rest of the week, the race committee still managed to stage three races and whip up plenty of excitement out on the water. In the Gold fleet, French duo Billy Besson and Jeremie Lagarrigue did some fantastic tactical work and put on a massive show of power to become the new Formula 18 World Champions.
Having dominated the first day of qualifying, the French sailor began today at the top of the standings and then proved more than capable of not only controlling his closest rival Hugh Styles in the final three Formula 18 World Championship races but also of taking home one win and one second position, which meant he barely gave the Englishman an inch. This was the perfect ending for the French duo who take home the title after a week that saw them go from strength to strength from day one and ending on 26 points.
That is a good 19 points less than Hugh Styles and Richard Mason (45 points) who, nonetheless, proved their worth on the water by keeping the pressure on the French duo until the very last tack. This earned the Brits a very well deserved silver medal which they made their own with a very steady series of good results.
Mitch Booth and his son Jordi also showed the same kind of consistency in their performances in the final two days' sailing. After a less than brilliant start in the qualifiers, which they finished in seventh position, the father and son team delivered a string of results that saw them move all the way up to the third step of the podium on last day of racing with a total of 61 points. An enormously satisfying achievement for Mitch and 16 year old Jordi who was competing in his first international event.
The leather medal, on the other hand, went to Francois Gabart, winner of the last Vendée Globe, and his bowman Matthieu Vandame. They finished fourth on 88 points, two less than fellow Frenchmen Gurvan Bontemps and Benjamin Amiot who were fifth in the Gold class on 90 points.
The best performance form the Italian teams in the Gold fleet came from Bissaro-Cesari in their clash with De Paoli-Stella. The duo had two not exactly excellent races today but it was still enough to bump them up from 15th to 9th overall on 148 points. De Paoli-Stella, on the other hand, finished 17th.
The Silver fleet, however, was very much an Italian-dominated affair with Vaccari/Meoli taking victory. Mitch and Jordi Booth also won the Masters category while Taylor Reiss and Matthew Whitehead (USA 888) won the Youth and Moana Vaireaux and Manon Audinet (FRA 33) the Mixed.
Much to the delight of everyone involved in working on the event, the sailors, the authorities and the presidents of the international class Olivier Bovyn and the Italian class Gianni Fantasia, the Compagnia della Vela-organised Formula 18 Worlds is already looking forward to the next edition in Ireland in 2014. The organisers, in fact, came to the Maremma for the symbolic passing of the baton between the Compagnia della Vela Grosseto, represented by president Marco Borioni, and Ballyholme Yacht Club represented by Rear Commodore Mark Mackey.
Quotes:
Billy Besson, helmsman FRA 1796: "We are really delighted. Jeremie did an excellent job today and his strategy was perfect. We are delighted with how the week went. The wind was perfect with thermals almost every day, a great course. Fantastic!"
Hugh Styles, helmsman GBR 7: "We've had a great week. Maybe we could have done a few things differently but we were always out in front so we're happy and really delighted with this second place."
Mitch Booth, helmsman ESP 1910: "An excellent week for us with perfect conditions for the team. It was Jordi's first world event and making it to the podium first time is a fantastic experience for him."
Francois Gabart, helmsman FRA 301: "In France, we say you get the 'chocolate meda' for fourth place. You always want to get to the podium but they were just better than us this time. Mitch had a great final and I won't talk about the first two because I didn't even think about trying to get near them in the standings today. But I'm happy. If when I decided to do this event six months ago, you'd have told me I'd be fourth, I'd have signed on the dotted line. I always dream of the podium but there was just nothing I could do about it today."
Vittorio Bissaro, helmsman ITA 13: "Well, our unspoken objective was to get into the top 10 and we did that. We're a bit disappointed though, particularly with today. We could have done better but I'm sure that's how everyone feels inside."
Marco Borioni, president of the Compagnia della Vela Grosseto: "This has been a fantastic experience for sailing in Italy and for the Compagnia della Vela. We have set something in motion that will lead to better and better events, and it's up to us to transform those events into a springboard for our youth."
Olivier Bovyn, president of the International Formula 18 Class: "In all the photos I've seen, the sailors were smiling and enthusiastic, and I think that shows just how well this week went. Everyone did an incredible job – the committee, the measurers, the jury. They all gave their best. I couldn't have hoped for better from this splendid place and the Compagnia della Vela Grosseto."
Mark Mackey, Rear Commodore Ballyholme Yacht Club: "Fantastic days. We saw some marvellous racing and incredible conditions. Now the baton has been passed to us and we can't wait for 2014 to come so that we can try to do just as well ourselves."
Overall Results: (top three)
1. Besson/Lagarrique (FRA 1796) - (devil), 5, 2, 1, 2, 1, 1, 5, 5, (17), 1, 2 - 26pts
2. Styles/Mason (GBR 7) - 3, 1, 2, 3, (7), 7, 3, (12), 1, 2, 9, 5, 9 - 45pts
3. Booth/Booth (ESP 1910) - 1, 8, 6, (11), 6, 6, 7, 6, 2, (27), 5, 9, 5 - 61pts
More information at www.compagniadellavelagrosseto.it and 2013.f18worlds.com
A photo gallery is available at www.sailingandtravel.it/gallery-f18