Issue date
A top performance from Chile’s Nadja Horwitz/Carmina Malsch in the 420 Ladies secured them two race wins, whilst best performance of the day in the 420 Open went to Spain’s José Manuel Ruiz/Fernando Davila who scored a 2,3.
Fleets were postponed ashore waiting for the wind to materialize, before racing got underway mid-afternoon averaging about 8 knots, but fluctuating between 6-10 knots with the scheduled 2 races completed for all fleets.
Before heading out to race, all teams, coaches and officials gathered at midday around the half-staff flags on the Championship flagpole to respect a minute’s silence in memory of the victims of the train crash in Galicia, Spain.
420 OPEN
Pocketing a win in race 3 pushed Italy’s Gianmaria Caiconti/Edoardo Portoraro briefly into top spot on the leaderboard, before Brazil’s overnight leaders Tiago Brito/Andrei Kneipp fought back to claim the leader’s yellow bibs going into day 3. Moving up into third overall on the leaderboard are Spain’s José Manuel Ruiz/Fernando Davila who shift up from fifth yesterday.
Tiago Brito/Andrei Kneipp (BRA) © Jose Jordan
Hard to believe that the ISAF Youth Worlds were the first international 420 event for Japan’s Ibuki Koizumi/Tsubasa Arioka who finished fourth in Cyprus and so far are fourth on the leadboard in the 420 Open fleet, after posting two more top 10 results today. The pair have been sailing a 420 together for 18 months and have got very good very quickly, which they put down to many years experience racing on the Optimist and Flying Junior pathway.
“We are lightweight, so the conditions are great for us,” said Koizumi, “but it is very difficult out there.” With a big smile, he concluded, “We want to achieve a medal here.”
Will Logue/Drew Loren (USA) © Jose Jordan
Different winners for each race across the three fleets, including the USA’s Will Logue/Drew Lorenz who were stoked with their win in race 3, although popped out further back to finish 26th in race 4.
“We were really excited with that result. This is my second World Championship and first in the 420, having previously gone to an Opti Worlds. We have been in the 420 six months together and are happy with today and feel that we can only improve from hereon.” Commenting on the their approach to the race, Logue added, “It wasn’t too tough as we could see the wind was going to go left so started as the first boat at the pin and came out at a really nice speed and came across the middle and did 4 or 5 tacks to round the windward mark in 2nd, with the Japanese just in front of us.”
Clearly an admirer of the Japanese pair, Logue added, “They are really good and really strong downwind. The Brazilian team are really, really good too – I don’t think we will be catching them though,” before concluding, “any team in this fleet could win a race.”
To ensure a high quality of racing, entries at the 420 Worlds are limited to 7 teams per nation in each of the Open and Ladies events, and 14 per event for the host nation. Most teams have had to advance through a strict national selection criteria to qualify to the 420 Worlds, ensuring the best of the best young sailors are facing each other on the race course.
420 Open Fleet © Jose Jordan
420 Open – Leaderboard Top 10
1. Tiago Brito/Andrei Kneipp (BRA) – 10 pts
2. Gianmaria Caiconti/Edoardo Portoraro (ITA) – 13 pts
3. José María Ruiz/Fernando Davila (ESP) – 14 pts
4. Ibuki Koizumi/Tsubasa Arioka (JPN) – 14 pts
5. Swann Hayewski/Alexis Thomas (FRA) – 23 pts
6. Sam Barnett/Zak Merton (NZL) – 24 pts
7. Rodrigo Ducasse/Francisco Ducasse (CHI) – 25 pts
8. Sebastien Simon/Pierre Rhimbault (FRA) – 25 pts
9. Santiago Mas/David Mas (ESP) – 26 pts
10. Manuel Cunha/Joao Cunha (POR) – 26 pts
420 LADIES
A rock solid day for Chile’s Nadja Horwitz/Carmen Malsch as they pushed out two race wins in the yellow fleet. An impressive scoreline for this new combination who showed the rest of the fleet the way round the track today.
Nadja Horwitz/Carmen Malsch (CHI) © Jose Jordan
A very happy Malsch said, “It was really good today. We raced relaxed and were not nervous. The first start was very tough and we were really bad, but the second race was better and we were more in control. The changes of pressure are strange, and it is not like the sailing in Chile.”
Horwitz added, “Yesterday we didn’t do that good and felt the pressure and were tired from the ISAF Youths. Today we went out and did what we usually and were relaxed, without thinking too much.”
Perhaps they were inspired by the dolphins who made an appearance on the race course just ahead of the race 4 start - an inspiring spectacle as the dolphins accompanied the fleet for a short stretch of the upwing leg.
They paired up in December 2013 and in total had been training for about 25 days in Chile and Barcelona, before the ISAF Youth Worlds. “Our relationship is working really well and working better than expected, but still it is not the same than if we had been sailing longer together. We are not expecting anything here, because we haven’t sailed much together and you just have to see our results from yesterday. We will do the best we can and if the results come that is great. There are a lot of really, really good teams here,” said Horwitz.
Chile’s results accelerates them up to third on the leaderboard, but holding firm at the front of the fleet are Italy’s Carlotta Omari/Francesca Russo Cirillo who finished in 2nd and 6th. Moving up into second overall are Spain’s Paula Barceló/Margarita Alba.
Paula Barceló/Margarita Alba (ESP) © Jose Jordan
Kimberley Lim/Savannah Siew from Singapore are the top ranked 420 Ladies team in Singapore and have come to Valencia direct from a fourth place at the Youth Worlds. Many of the teams who were at the ISAF Youth Worlds have had little time to recuperate, but as for the Chileans, today was a more consistent day for the Singapore pair with a 4,3 turnout. Lim and Siew are intent on securing a podium position, to avenge the bronze medal they lost out on by 1 point at last year’s 420 Worlds.
“Today was good for us, we finished with a 4th and 3rd. A good day, but tricky sailing in hard and choppy conditions. The pressure was moving everywhere and it was hard to sail in the chop as it was pretty messy, but still a good day for us,” said Lim.
Reflecting on 2012, Lim added, “It was really disappointing last year when we got fourth. But it was our first year so we were still satisfied. This year the Youth Worlds were really hard and the competition was really good, but we were happy to get fourth there too. But for this 420 Worlds we are hoping to podium – this will be our one.”
As a former Optimist World Champion in 2011, Lim added a word of congratulation to the Singaporean Optimist Team who have just swept the board at the 2013 Optimist World Championship in Italy, saying “I am really, really proud of them. The Optimist level in Singapore is really high and all of them train super hard so they really deserve what they have achieved.”
420 Ladies – Leaderboard Top 10
1. Carlotta Omari/Francesca Russo Cirillo (ITA) – 10 pts
2. Paula Barceló/Margarita Alba (ESP) – 11 pts
3. Nadja Horwitz/Carmina Malsch (CHI) – 21 pts
4. Sara Scotto Di Vettimo/Vittoria Barbiero (ITA) – 24 pts
5. Kimberly Lim/Savannah Siew (SIN) – 25 pts
6. Annabel Cattermole/Brioin Bennett Yoid (GBR) – 26 pts
7. Carmen Davila/Julia Davila (ESP) – 27 pts
8. Karen Yohana Simoni/Aurora Migani (ITA) – 36 pts
9. Ilaria Paternoster/Benedetta di Salle (ITA) – 42 pts
10. Marta Garrido/Marta Rodriguez (ESP) – 42 pts
Two more races on Saturday 27 July will wrap up the qualification series and decide the teams advancing to the gold, silver and bronze fleets in the 420 Open and gold and silver in the 420 Ladies for the 6 races which will make up the three day final series. Racing is scheduled to get underway on Saturday at 1300 hours.
Video
Daily Highlights will be available on YouTube and via the 420 Worlds Championship website. Rights free footage is also available for media to download via the following ftp server:
ftp.panoramaproducciones.com
User: valencia420
Password: #420/val
File: /valencia4.20/Highlights
Any specific video requests should be sent to Blanca Lopez on: blanca@seaclearcommunications.com
Photographs
Daily photos are available on the 420 Class Facebook page.
High Resolution images from today's racing are available via the following link:
Friday 26 July, Race Day 2 - Qualification
Championship Website - www.420sailing.org/worlds
Twitter - #420Worlds
