Laser Radial Youth Worlds, Villanova, Spain Overall

by Jeffrey Martin 28 Jul 2001 21:59 BST

NEW ZEALAND WINS SECOND TITLE

The long waited for wind returned to Villanova for the final days racing. 264 competitors were rewarded with 3 races in 12 to 15 knots and large surfing waves to bring the 2001 Laser Radial Youth World Championship to an exciting close.

Having wished for more wind earlier in the week overnight leader, Michael Bullot from New Zealand was as surprised as everyone else when the flat calm disappeared around midday to be replaced by the Levante wind contrary to all forecasts. Bullot was not expecting any wind and left his hiking pants and boots at his hotel!

In the first start Bullot went hard left to the port tack lay line. “I overstood the mark and rounded in the twenties. Not what I wanted at all” he said. Once again his downwind speed got him out of jail and he recovered to 6th. Out in front Guray Zumbal TUR, Mathieu Murati FRA and John Eloff battled for the top 3 positions with Zumbal taking the gun. Even better for Bullot his nearest challenger Iason Geogaris from Greece could only manage an 18th while Javier Padron ESP and Adam Olechnowicz POL were clearly not enjoying the stronger wind back in 20th and 67th.

Bullot still had to keep scoring good positons and could not afford to be over the start line or receive a third yellow flag penalty. His conservative start in the second race and a more middle first windward leg paid dividends as he rounded the first mark fifth which he held to the finish. Murati, Eloff and Zumbal swapped positions ahead of him with Murati taking the gun.

The third race was very much a repeat of the second at the front, this time Eloff took the gun but attention was very much on Bullot who was content to track Georgaris. The Greek sailor was still in contention having scored an 8th in the previous race. Although improving in the last race he did not have the pace to dominate the fleet and with Bullot only two places behind him the championship was over.

Bullot becomes the first sailor to achieve the double win of the Laser Radial Open and Youth World Championships.

BRONZE FOR TEAM GBR VOLVO YOUTH SQUAD'S CHARLOTTE DOBSON AT LASER RADIAL YOUTH WORLDS

Charlotte Dobson (Helensburgh, Scotland) returns home from The Laser Radial Youth World Championships which were contested at Vilanova near Barcelona with a slightly unexpected but very well deserved bronze medal to cap an excellent overall performance from young and promising sailors from the Team GBR Volvo RYA Youth Squad.

Breezes were predominantly gentle with the exception of the final day which saw a settled 18-22 knot gradient breeze arrive to re-shuffle a form book established over the four previous days of competition.

Best placed of the boys was Lymington's Dominic Hutton who finished in 11th place, while Andy Brooks (Manchester) finished 13th overall and in 15th overall Nick Thompson (Lymington) completed the Team GBR Volvo Youth Squad tally of four young sailors in the top 15.

Overnight into the final day's racing Stephen Broom (Ringwood, Hants) was lying 9th having excelled himself with a very consistent and mature 5,3,16,6,6,3 scoreline but in the brisker winds of the final day he suffered with a 37,48,42 to finish 23rd overall.

Over the course of the whole regatta Charlotte Dobson, Joe Henry (Guildford) and Andrew Brooks all scored individual race wins. As New Zealand's Michael Bullot won the overall Youth Laser Radial title to lead the Kiwis to an overall win in the team event the sailors from Team GBR Volvo RYA Youth squad finished second nation.

The first day of racing was contested in a light gradient breeze which produced a maximum of eight knots, thereafter the following two days suffered still more seriously the effects of the huge anticyclone over the Med with only a very light thermal breeze. Indeed so light were the winds that the scheduled fourth day of racing was lost to near complete calm. Only on the final day did a more serious 18-22 knots of gradient breeze return to give some more physical racing.

"Overall this has been an excellent showing from a very young team." Concluded Team GBR Volvo RYA Youth Squad's Laser Radial coach Ian Clingan.

"Charlotte's result was way beyond our expectations but she is a fantastic prospect and sailed exceptionally well and with the ISAF Youth Worlds being sailed in Byte dinghies next year I can foresee some excellent racing etween her and this year's bronze medallist Natalie Lloyd as they compete to represent GBR. Otherwise there have been some very promising performances from our sailors here, most of whom are very young and will do very well with more international championships experience.

It has been a very difficult championships for some of them with a lot of sitting around in the dinghy park waiting to race, and even more milling about on the water, so they have done very well indeed."

Overall Results:

Pos	Sail No	Helm	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	Pts
1	NZL 171101	Michael Bullot	1	1	3	3	(dnf)	1	6	5	9	29
2	GRE 167996	Iason Georgaris	3	6	6	4	1	2	-18	8	7	37
3	FRA 170152	Alexandre Monteau	1	9	2	(dnf)	5	6	16	6	3	48
4	FRA 169828	Mathieu Murati	6	7	7	(ocs)	12	12	2	1	2	49
5	TUR 169907	Guray Zumbul	8	13	18	8	7	-23	1	2	5	62
6	CRO 165674	Karlo Krpeljevic	7	2	1	11	7	-36	13	9	13	63
7	GRE 163401	Alexandros Rizos	3	4	7	6	1	-22	17	19	6	63
8	RSA 165610	John Eloff	16	3	16	24	-36	4	3	3	1	70
9	NZL 167126	Chris Kitchen	19	7	-33	24	13	6	4	4	4	81
10	POL 165763	Karol Porozynski	4	1	13	-22	10	3	19	13	21	84
11	GBR 171987	Dominic Hutton	16	9	10	20	3	-22	15	11	10	94
12	ESP 168868	Javier Padron	1	2	4	1	12	(bfd)	20	24	34	98
13	GBR 171667	Andy Brooks	6	6	9	27	1	14	24	-28	11	98
14	POR 171431	Francisco Lobato	8	5	21	12	16	(bfd)	9	16	15	102
15	GBR 161644	Nick Thompson	7	12	13	5	15	-26	21	14	17	104
16	FRA 167758	Yann Rocherieux	25	11	12	14	8	7	10	18	-38	105
17	POL 171259	Patryk Kuczys-Lutomski	2	2	15	18	-37	4	25	21	20	107
18	BRA 160830	Philipe Nottingham	2	4	(dsq)	7	1	dnf	7	7	18	111
19	CRO 167833	Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic	18	10	-27	21	10	19	11	10	14	113
20	NZL 155392	James Bilkey	7	17	8	14	-30	17	5	23	23	114
21	NZL 158879	Jake Bartrom	12	3	-35	31	10	17	22	12	8	115
22	GER 165778	Jens-Hendryk Thiele	10	13	16	24	5	5	26	17	-29	116
23	GBR 169986	Stephen Broom	5	3	16	6	6	3	37	-48	42	118
24	FRA 168807	Corentin Pruvot	5	11	10	10	13	11	31	31	-47	122
25	POL 161650	Karol Gorski	24	6	10	3	3	24	-43	35	19	124
26	GBR 170426	James Gray	20	36	5	25	13	9	8	-53	12	128
27	GRE 166225	Michalis Sideris	21	1	2	(dnf)	14	18	23	20	31	130
28	GER 166282	Erik Schlaaff	10	3	5	14	3	1	-54	45	52	133
29	FRA 156369	Damien Cozic	22	10	14	3	11	21	29	-43	27	137
30	USA 161117	Charles Fulmer	3	21	3	13	9	10	-49	39	41	139
31	USA 162476	Ryan Shaughnessy	9	29	1	15	3	2	41	-54	40	140
32	GBR 172153	Edward Green	12	6	15	23	19	8	32	-34	25	140
33	ARG 167212	Guillermo Beyrne	15	-28	14	17	18	11	28	22	16	141
34	GBR 170945	Joe Henry	5	20	1	15	6	3	50	-67	48	148
35	USA 167373	Jeffrey Bonanni	3	2	(bfd)	30	26	9	27	25	26	148
36	USA 168453	Carl Horrocks	2	13	25	21	20	16	30	-44	24	151
37	ESP 165689	Carlos De Bricio	(bfd)	1	4	24	26	12	33	30	22	152
38	POL 171348	Adam Olechnowicz	5	4	4	1	4	10	67	58	-68	153
39	BEL 170461	Wannes Van Laer	10	8	32	-51	15	26	12	15	35	153
40	USA 165168	Christopher Branning	11	13	2	18	10	11	42	-52	51	158
41	USA 167246	Reed Johnson	13	10	7	-44	21	10	40	32	28	161
42	FRA 168830	Morgan Aussel	2	38	3	1	2	14	-65	60	45	165
43	POL 159652	Bartosz Andrusiak	4	5	12	25	35	1	-53	37	49	168
44	NZL 170536	Kate O'Brien	4	25	30	22	13	33	14	29	-39	170
45	IRL 170238	Ross McDonald	6	25	23	17	4	12	45	(ocs)	44	176
46	POL 169886	Marcin Zubrzycki	22	11	23	30	27	5	-34	26	32	176
47	GBR 170877	James Tilley	7	9	18	8	23	17	-62	47	50	179
48	ARG 169447	Agustin Ferrario	23	27	4	11	2	1	56	62	-63	186
49	ISR 163304	Guy Iflah	10	17	24	12	29	9	39	46	-55	186
50	GER 171298	Stefan Koppin	(bfd)	11	21	2	9	6	55	55	30	189
51	NED 153968	Sven Bekker	8	18	2	9	9	4	71	-73	71	192
52	MON 171561	Jann Cloupet	14	15	27	15	8	3	47	63	-65	192
53	FRA 171555	Max Bulley	16	8	40	21	31	13	-57	27	36	192
54	ARG 170296	Nicolas Bernardo Schwindt	34	(dnf)	13	9	4	2	58	40	33	193
55	AUS 172231	Krystal Weir	20	14	28	2	11	-58	44	33	46	198
56	GBR 167936	Charlotte Dobson	14	22	6	1	11	13	-73	71	66	204
57	POL 161748	Jakub Szczerbuk	(dsq)	50	20	8	7	8	38	36	37	204
58	ESP 167729	Sergi Olle Medina	1	17	20	dsq	15	2	48	38	(dnf)	206
59	IRL 169202	Debbie Hanna	26	23	24	2	21	13	51	51	-54	211
60	GER 166180	Arne Humpert	15	8	36	5	36	19	-63	49	43	211
61	BEL 171515	Francois Lambert	11	50	20	36	5	4	36	50	-59	212
62	ITA 164468	Marco Lo Bue	8	9	(dnf)	27	20	9	46	42	53	214
63	GRE 120446	Nikolaos Tsivis	(bfd)	35	11	11	31	5	35	41	60	229
64	USA 169319	Robert Noonan	9	15	18	23	40	15	-60	56	58	234
65	POR 161488	Bruno Felipe Luz	11	17	9	dnf	2	7	69	61	(dnf)	241
66	ESP 160490	Hugo Jousseaume	28	37	3	16	7	6	-75	72	72	241
67	MON 167129	Gilles Muracciole	26	47	1	6	9	22	66	(ocs)	70	247
68	BRA 157248	Ugo Fernandez y Fernandez	17	33	17	4	8	34	-72	70	67	250
69	TUR 169925	Deniz Cinar	27	12	(dsq)	8	11	15	52	64	61	250
70	FRA 167742	Anthony Marchand	(dsq)	24	26	7	5	15	59	65	57	258
71	JPN 151791	Yosuke Harada	26	46	11	5	28	20	-64	59	64	259
72	MON 171558	Anouchka Filc	18	36	33	18	4	16	68	68	-69	261
73	FRA 171562	Laure Baudoux	17	25	8	4	24	bfd	-70	69	56	268
74	GER 168715	Tim Weidner	14	55	25	4	37	14	-74	57	62	268
75	IRL 166761	Keir Clarke	bfd	41	8	2	19	19	61	66	(dnf)	281