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29 July 2005, 09:22 am

Idyllic Day One

Optimist World Championship 2005

Lake Silvaplana, Engadin, Switzerland

The beautiful Lake Silvaplana, Engadin, Switzerland was bathed in bright sunshine yesterday for day one of the International Optimist Dinghy Association (IODA) World Championship. 14-18 knots of wind greeted the 260 young sailors and first class race management ensured three races were sailed in the perfect conditions with no general recalls, no black flags and only a handful of protests.

The promised Majola wind blew straight down the lake. Winds at 1,800 metres have less weight than elsewhere so race one was sailed in the equivalent of 12 knots and races two and three in around 14.

The fleet, divided into six divisions to give three successive starts, had to come to terms with thermal effects and subtle shifts but ocean sailors seemed to have had no difficulty in adapting. Elijah SIMMONS (BER), Anthony ALKINS (TRI) and Affizie Muhammed AZRUL (MAS) took bullets in the race one, but then struggled in the later races to fall out of the top ten overall.

China's Jianan WU leads at the end of the day one with finishes of 2,8,1 putting him two points clear at the top of the leaderboard. Tina LUTZ (GER) follows in second place after scoring a second place and a bullet in races two and three. Nicklas DACKHAMMER (SWE) is a further three points back in third place.

Top Ten After Three Races

Pos	Nation	Helm	Group	R1	R2	R3	Pts
1	CHN	Jianan WU	Yellow	2	8	1	11
2	GER	Tina LUTZ	Green	10	2	1	13
3	SWE	Nicklas DACKHAMMER	Blue	3	5	8	16
4	GRE	Alexis KATSIOS	Pink	15	1	3	19
5	TRI	Matthew SCHOENER S.	Blue	4	12	3	19
6	ITA	Federica WETZEL	Yellow	5	9	8	22
7	ITA	Paolo CATTANEO	Green	15	3	5	23
8	PER	Daniela ZIMMERMANN	White	11	4	8	23
9	ITA	Federico Maria MACCARI	Red	16	5	5	26
10	GER	Julian AUTENRIETH	Pink	7	9	11	27