Kingston, Ontario, Canada -- Over 200 sailors in their 29ers hit Lake Ontario for a wet and windy start to the 2014 29er Worlds. The rain never let up but brought lots of breeze in the 20 knot range.
Kurt Hansen and Harry Morton (AUS) fresh off winning the North American Championship last week, sailed a perfect day with a picket fence of 1-1-1-1 in the four races held. ISAF Youth World Champions Brice Yrieix and Loic Fischer-Guilou (FRA) are close behind in second sailing a 1-2-3-2.
New Zealand sailors Micah Wilkinson and Jack Rogers sit in 3rd with Wilkinson commenting “We had a good day on the water today with four solid results (5-2-4-2); we had a capsize in the first race which cost us a few positions but all in all it was a solid day on the water.”
Tomorrow’s forecast calls for clearing skies and 12 knot winds, even though Gillies Munroe from Great Britain said the weather was “Just like home.”
At the Opening Ceremonies held the evening before, the Mayor of Kingston proclaimed July 26-Aug 2 “Kingston World Sailing Week” which the competitors from the 14 nations highly applauded.
Racing for the qualification series continues tomorrow through Wednesday followed by the finals which start July 31 and the prizegiving on August 2.
Results can be found at http://www.29erworlds.org/index.php/results/
For more information, go to: www.29erworlds.org for the full entry list and complete regatta details or follow on Facebook: Int 29er Class; Twitter: Int29er, #Int29erWorlds