Issue date
New Zealand youth windsurfer Xanthe Bowater has finished top female and 6th overall in the Techno293Plus (open) fleet at the 2013 Techno 293 World Championships which has just wrapped up in Sopot, Poland.
The Canterbury sailor was in Sopot together with her sister Fenella as part of a six strong New Zealand contingent to compete.
New Zealand’s results…
1st girl (6th overall) Xanthe Bowater
50th Coral Headey
56th Fenella Bowater
57th Lauren McKenize
56th Finn Croft
91st Harrison Hill
Xanthe reports; “It has been a fantastic regatta where both of us are pleased with our results. Fenella finished 56th overall (19th in silver fleet) and I finished 1st woman and 6th overall (against the men)! I am very excited to be bringing home some silverware!”
“The regatta was great, with a range of testing conditions. Day one was windy with some big gusts coming down the course, it was really important to sail smart in these conditions as the advantages were huge in the pressure. Fen's regatta started of really well in these conditions as she got a 13th, her best race in the regatta.”
“Day two became more of a survival day for most of the fleet as there were some severe squalls coming down our courses, I managed to do better in these conditions as they are more alike to what we get to train in at home. Day three was my best day with a 3rd and a 6th in my ideal conditions - about 10-12 knots, that day I moved up in the fleet to 5th overall.”
“Day four was light winds, conditions that I used to really excel in but for some reason I seemed to have lost my knack for it on this day. I was quite disappointed with my performance with placing 10th and 11th in our two races and dropping back to 6th place overall. Fenella also struggled in the light airs and dropped back a place or so.”
“Day five was yesterday and I went into the day with a very comfortable lead over the other women and only a few point to catch up to the 5th placed man. It was light wind again but with a short, sharp choppy sea, very tricky conditions to keep speed on. Fen's racing went well, especially in the 2nd race where she rounded the top mark in about 10th place after a fantastic start. I had an average day with an 8th and a 6th but both of these places kept me ahead of the other women in the overall points table but I didn't manage to catch 5th place unfortunately.”
“All in all, it was a great regatta where we both performed well, enjoyed ourselves and met some amazing people. We have really appreciated the support we received from everybody, especially our sponsors, and family, in particular Mum and Dad! We have learnt so much not only at the worlds but at the Europeans in Brest too. It has really been invaluable to our windsurfing and I am sure we will take the knowledge we have gained over here and use it to help improve our fleets at home. It has been particularly inspiring to see such big fleet sizes over here and we can't wait to start encouraging people to get into our sport back in NZ.”
