Day one and a total of 400 nervous windsurfers were on site early
for a 10.30 start. The six groups of Techno 293s were allocated to
the Alpha Course and the 3 groups of RS:X Youth plus the
Raceboard Masters to the Bravo.
The trouble was that the wind was just not co-operating. It was glassy at 100hrs so up went the AP - postponement - flags and we settled into wait
Mercifully, not for long. It was time for action with everyone going out into a buidling onshore breeze. The first starts of the day were in the 9-11 knot range - marginal for the youths with the 8.5m sail and 60cms fin - and the second in the 11 to 13 knot range... full planing and steady. With 3 races on the cards, the race committe sent the fleets ashore after race 2 to wait for the wind to fill in again.
It has backed off after race 2 and looked like it was going to take it's leave but thanks to the sun who made a timely appearance, the racers were called out again for race 3 which was completed in planing conditions.
Over in the Youth men's fleet Pawel Tarnowski - POL182 - continued where he left off just a few weeks ago at the RS:X Youth European Windsurfing Championships putting in a series of bullets to finish the day in top spot having collected just 3 points. Louis Giard - FRA155 - who had fought Pawel all the way in Bulgaria is determined to go one better here at the Youth Worlds. He is just two points back with Sam Sills - GBR60 - in third again just two points off the pace.
Tom Squires - GBR931 - was going well having placed 2nd in the first pair only to spoil his day by plaving 35th in the third. You certainly cannot win a big championship on day one but you can blow your chances or at the very least put unnecesary pressure on yourself. Tom has done the latter and cannot now make another mistake if his hopes of returning the top 5 are to be fulfilled.
Kiran Badloe - NED194 - the super tall Dutch flier had a similar disaster in the third as well so has to put in a consistent performance tomorrow to give the first discard a chance to repair the damage after the 5th race
Over in the RS:X Youth Women's fleet, it was another Pole to showed to a clean pair of heels to the rest of the fleet. This time, Agnieszka Bilska - POL9 - who did the treble. 3 first places on day one now give her the luxury of a 6 point lead over Kamila Smetkala - POL104 - who won in Burgas to take the RS:X Youth European crown by a spectacular 21 points.
It seems that Agnieszka may have been saving her agression for the RS:X Youth Worlds !
Back in third is Jeanne Dantes - FRA4 - She is leading the peleton who are in a tight bunch which includes Noelle Finch - GBR703, Veronica Fanciulli - ITA82, Barbara Dmuchowska - POL118 and Laura Kishon - ISR34.
The forecast for tomorrow is good. A stronger breeze is anticipated so another 3 races are certainly possible. The discard will be taken after the 5th and the top 50% will qualify for the gold fleet tomorrow night. It's game on with 15 races scheduled. The last of which will be a medal race counting double points.
Stay tuned...
Note: The RS:X class regret that the normal micro-site will not be used for this championships so please refer to the Windsurfing Club of Cagliari http://www.windsurfing-cagliari2011.eu/ for results, images and news flashes
RS:X Youth Results: http://www.windsurfing-cagliari2011.eu/RSX/day_one/results