13 February, Miami, USA
Yngling Women World Championship
Thunderstorm racing at the Yngling Worlds
The Blue skies and moderate breeze of Miami were all gone this morning and the sailors faced low clouds, rain squalls and 20-25 knots. Warnings for thunderstorms had been issued and the Race Committee and the sailors knew already when leaving the harbour that this would be a tricky day.
The Yngling is described as a heavy weather boat that can handle a lot of wind. In fact it is probably the Olympic class that can sustain the highest wind forces and still conduct racing without damages. The comments among sailors and coaches were that these conditions are good for racing but we are getting closer to the limit.
The Yngling doesn’t have a set maximum wind limit for racing. Being raced worldwide the conditions are very different from lakes to open ocean and it is at the discretion of the Race Committee to decide when the conditions are not suitable for racing.
The race got underway and after a close start the fleet fought the elements and each other for the first laps of a three lap upwind and downwind course. The Race Committee were keeping track of a thunderstorm closing in via radar and decided to shorten the course for a finish on the second downwind. The squall hit the fleet going down towards the finish and the wind increased substantially and shifted about 40 degrees. The teams showed there skills in boat handling in extreme racing conditions taking down their spinnakers on the final run for the finish.
Sarah AYTON, Sarah WEBB and Pippa WILSON (GBR) protected their lead and the German team of Ulrike SCHUEMANN, Julia BLECK and Ute HOEPFNER remains in second.
In the fight for the Olympic nation qualification spots Norway, France, Greece and Italy is currently having an advantage over Denmark, Canada, Japan and Ukraine. The fight for the medal race is also exciting with less than 20 point between rank 10 and 15.
Tomorrow is the final day of the opening series and with three races scheduled it is the moment of truth for many of the crews.
Full results can be found at the Event Website.
Note: This text and images can be used with reference to yngling.org