Splash World Championship at Carnac, France Overall
by Steve Harvey 30 Jul 2001 22:03 BST
The Splash World Championship was held at Carnac, France from July 22-27 and attracted over 180 youth sailors from 9 countries including 15 from Great Britain. Weather throughout was hot and sunny and although it was often necessary to wait until late afternoon for a light sea breeze to fill in from across the Quiberon peninsula, racing was possible every day.
After practice races on Sunday, 3 qualification races were held on Monday with 4 flights each racing each other once. With no discard and the black flag in operation, a cautious approach was necessary!
The favourites (mostly from the Netherlands, the Splash homeland where it is the Youth single-hander) were joined in the Gold Fleet by 3 of the British: Ross Harvey (Bowmoor SC), Andrew Friend (Norfolk Punt Club) and Georgie Hill (Ulley SC). A further 8 races (2 per day) were sailed for the Championship proper and in a closely fought high-scoring regatta the eventual winner was Erwin Veldman from the Netherlands who more than made up for his disappointment at the Dutch Championship when he just missed out after being OCS in the final race! His compatriots Erik Jan Tuit and Roelof Bouwmeester were 2nd and 3rd and first girl was Jessica Crul (also from the Netherlands) in 8th place overall. Mark Overington from New Zealand, after being in contention all week, couldn't quite follow in the footsteps of Conrad Gair (who won the inaugural World Championship for New Zealand last year) and finished 6th. The British couldn't match the speed of the Dutch and finished as follows: 53rd Ross Harvey, 62nd Andrew Friend, 72nd Georgie Hill.
In the Silver Fleet, Shandy Buckley restored Kiwi pride by winning (after missing out on Gold Fleet qualification with a leaky charter boat). British sailors Andrew Cresdee (Aldeburgh), Richard Dugdale (Horning) and Louise Clayton (NPC) all recorded excellent top 5 race results and finished 29th, 31st and 34th respectively.
It is planned to hold next year's World Championship in England.
The Flash Eurocup (same hull, bigger rig, no age limit) was held on a separate course with 41 competitors - sole GB sailor Scott Allan finished a creditable 15th.
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