Early leaders and stable winds on day two

Stable, but strong, winds during the first two days of racing in Workum. All scheduled races have been sailed so far and an initial balance can be made in the result. But there still two days to go, two days with slightly lighter winds predicted.

Before launching the boats, sailors were excited to go out and start racing. The Optimist sailors have the first start this morning, A group of 353 kids are patiently waiting at their boat before they get the signal to check out and head to the water. Meanwhile, the Splash, Laser, 29er and Nacra 15 sailors are preparing their boats on the beach. Hanna Cromwijk (NED), is sailing the Splash starts in second place, only two points behind fellow Dutchie Mark Immenga. She’s determined to take over the lead today. “I’ll pay attention to where Mark is on the course, but I’ll not sail any differently. Will just try and sail as fast as possible.” 

Immenga creates a small buffer
At the end of the day, it is still close in the top 3 of the Splash, but Immenga did manage to stay in the lead. Mark: “Happy with racing today, pretty stable races. I really want to win this event, last year I finished second overall. I was leading the fleet but lost my first place in the last race of the event. So really want to win the Regatta this year, my strategy is to stay focus on my own racing. Last year I started counting the points and lost my focus.” 
The current World Champion feels the pressure but knows exactly what to do. “Tomorrow less wind is predicted, and I am in favour in stronger winds. My goal was to create a buffer in these first two days, and just keep focusing on racing the next days.” He created a buffer of 8 points with numbers 2 (Zeger den Boestert, NED) and 3 (Cromwijk). 

Good competition in Optimist
The big Optimist fleet knows some strong competition. There’s only an eleven-point difference between number 1, Martin Atilla (LAT) and number 10, Josip Tafra (CRO). Boris Hirsch, from Switzerland, is in second place after seven races: “My races are good, and the competition is good as well. I really like the stronger winds, kind of hoping they stay on tomorrow. I don’t mind if the big waves disappear though.” Two points behind the Swiss is the Danish Magnus Heegaard.
In the Benjamin class, Belgium Vic Rossel takes the lead and creates a gap of 5 points with Marijn Brinkert (NED) in second place and Peter Jessop (HKG) in third place.

Showing what you got in Laser Radial
Willem Wiersma goes off in leading position and extends this today. “I’ve had two good days of sailing so far. With a stable wind and good starting positions from my side. My goal was to show what I’ve got. The Dutch sailors are doing really good here at the event, I do see the sailors from other nationalities, but I manage to stay ahead of them. Less wind tomorrow means I have to focus on my start, when you win the start in lighter winds, you’re already halfway towards a winning race.

Competition between top 2 in Laser 4.7
The competition is on between the Dutchies Ties Wijbinga and Peer Noordanus in the Laser 4.7, with just a small gap of 3 points between these two, they are leading the fleet. Number three after seven races is Adriaan Ouwerkerk (NED).

29er strong top 3
After two days of racing, it looks like the top 3 in the 29er will have a strong battle in the following races. Still in the lead are the Australian Archie Cropley and Max Paul. Only 1 point below them are the Norwegian Mathias Berthet and Alexander Franks Penty. Aristide Girou and Noah Chauvin (FRA) drop one place to third, with again 1 point difference to number 2. 

Leaders extend the lead in Cadet
The Belgium leader, Thibaud Dirix and Thomas Winand, are extending their lead on the second day of racing with 11 points. Isabelle Dompas and Casimir Muylle (BEL) are in second place, the Dutch Pol Klein is sailing to a third place today with his little sister Bloeme.

Different top 3 in Nacra 15
It’s tough racing in the Nacra 15 today, compared to day 1 we see a completely different top 3. Jesse Lindstädt and Lisa Rausch (GER) climb from second place to the lead. Silas Mühle and Levke Möller (GER) are in second place with two points difference. Aussies Georgia Payne and Nathan Bryant manage to end in the top 3 during the last race of the day. 

Unbeatable duo in RS Feva
Winning every race, Imme Rijk and Bente Zuidema (NED) are unbeatable until now. Only the last race they finish second, but they can discard this result immediately. Laura van den Acker and Femke van den Berg (NED) finish that last race in the first place and climb to the second place overall. Abel and Emma Jansen have equal points, but with a worse score in the last race, they’re in third place now. 

Racing on Saturday
On Saturday, racing continues with the first start at 9.55 hour for the Optimist fleet. The other classes start at 10.55 hour. The wind will drop some more to a stable 10 knots.