12mR World Championship – A Beautiful day

An early wake-up call for the 224 sailors present in Porquerolles for the 12mR World Championship, with a briefing at 8am and the first competitors joining the race zone at 8.30am. As planned, at 9:30am, the race committee was able to launch the start of a course built in ideal conditions, with a north-easterly wind oscillating between 12 and 20 knots. The fourteen 12mR boats then sailed two races in quick succession. As the wind ran out of steam during the third race, it was cancelled for Group 2 and restarted as soon as the wind picked up again at 14:34 by the race committee.

In the overall rankings after four races, the leaders are : Group 1: Kookaburra II (KA12) and Group 2: Jenetta (K1).

A third day that began in the rain and ended in the sun! Conditions were ideal this morning in Porquerolles. Long tacks under coloured spinnakers, fine manoeuvres as they rounded the buoys, close-hauled crossings, against a backdrop of grey skies and slightly heavy seas, the fourteen 12mRs put on a show today in the harbour of Hyères. Of particular note was the magnificent America’s Cup-style duel between Kookaburra II (KA12) and Kiwi Magic (KZ) in the first race of the day.

As planned, the race committee was able to launch the start of three constructed courses for Group 1 and Group 2.

With four races completed in two days, the 12mR World Championship organised by the Porquerolles Yacht Club has been validated.

Group 1: A clear round for Kookaburra II (KA12), which has won every race since the start of the World Championship. The Italian team takes first place in the overall standings ahead of Kiwi Magic and French Kiss.

Matteo Plazzi – Kookaburra II (KA12): “It was a great day’s sailing with a good breeze of between 12 and 20 knots. There was some good competition with Kiwi Magic in the first race. So far, so good, we’re having a very good World Championship.”

Marc Bonduelle – France I (F1): “Our aim is to get off to a good start and in the third race, we got off to a good start. We found the right setting between the mainsail and our genoa, and we were able to take out French Kiss and Kiwi Magic. It was exceptional… We’re still not perfecting our spinnaker manoeuvres, but it’s only the second day of racing and we’re making progress every day. We know we can’t fight because we’ve got old sails, we’ve got a propeller… so when we’re in front and we manage to play around and after two laps we’re still there with them, we’ve arrived behind Kookaburra III, three lengths behind, which is fantastic!”

Group 2: hard-fought battle in the vintage class, where the finishes were very close between the top four finishers. At the end of the four races and by winning the last race of the day, Jenetta (K1) takes the overall lead ahead of Northern Light (US14) who won the first two races of the day and Nini Anker (N15).

Martin Bach – Nini Anker (N15): “It was a very tiring day, the conditions were really difficult, it was hard to make the right sail choices, we had to make a lot of sail changes during the races. It was a challenge, but a challenge for everyone. With our competitors, we know each other well because most of them sail in the Baltic Sea like us”.