RS Venture report from Para World Championships at Sheboygan - Day 1
by RS Sailing 19 Sep 2018 17:41 BST
16-22 September 2018
RS Venture at the Para Sailing World Championship on day 1 © RS Sailing
After a few days of training, the RS Venture racing finally got under way at the Para World Championships on an overcast day on Lake Michigan. Six races were scheduled and race management wasted no time in getting the fleets underway.
The new format for the RS Venture racing has two fleets (A and B) racing for the first two days. The winner of each fleet will advance directly to the final. On day 3 the knock out stage will start, the remaining boats will race in round robin heats with the winner advancing to the final. The boat in last position at the end of the day will be eliminated. This process is continued on day 4 for the remaining boats, progressing to a 'winner takes all' final on the last day.
RS Venture World Championship Format:
| Day 1 / Day 2 | Day 3 – Knock Out Stage | Day 4 – Knock Out Stage | Day 5 (Final) – Before Final Race |
| 2 Fleets (A, B) | 2 Fleets (A, B) | Heat of the remaining 6 boats sailing in a fleet of 5.
Example:
1,2,3,4,5 (6)
2,3,4,5,6 (1)
3,4,5,6,1 (2)
4,5,6,1,2 (3)
5,6,1,2,3 (4)
6,1,2,3,4 (5)
| Heat of the remaining 4 boats sailing in a fleet of 3.
Example:
1,2,3 (4)
2,3,4 (1)
3,4,1 (2)
4,1,2 (3)
|
| Winners of fleet A and B directly to the final | Winner directly to the final | Winner directly to the final |
| | Last eliminated | |
Boat in bracket is the boat not sailing in that race
In fleet A, the two GBR boats of Alex Rickham/Hannah Stodel and Will Street/Jonathan Currell spent most of the day battling hard at the front of their fleet. Alex and Hannah clearly just had the edge and finished the day with an outstanding four firsts which will see them leading the results over night. Will and Jonathan ended the day in second but they will need to work hard on day 2 as it was clear that the Spanish and Swiss teams, Enrique Vives/Gabriel Barroso de Maria and Matteo Balbo/Olivier Bollmann, were improving fast, leading to Enrique and Gabriel finishing the day with a well-deserved bullet.
Fleet B was very competitive with only one point separating the first three boats at the end of day 1. The Italians, Gian Bachisio Pira/Gianluca Raggi lead the way with the Canadian pair, John McRoberts/Scott Lutes, less than a point behind. Eli Workman/Cindy Walker from the USA had a very consistent day leaving them third overnight, with their bullet in the last race leaving them full of confidence going into day 2. The Japanese team, Shinya Yamamoto/Rie Ariyoshi complete fleet B and although they are at the back of their fleet, with the points being so close they are not out of it yet.
With pizza and drinks waiting for the sailors, the RS team welcomed the fleet back to the dock. With a buzz on shore it was clear that these sailors are loving the RS touch at the event.
Full results at yachtscoring.com/event_results_cumulative.cfm?eID=4621
Video from day 1 of racing can be seen below. And the full playlist can be found here.