Heineken And Leccese Tied On Opening Day Of Kiteboarding Course Racing Worlds

Sister of John, Erika Heineken (USA) leads the way in the women's fleet as a shifty 7-10 knot breeze tested the 200 sailors in the men's and women's fleets.

Heineken and Leccese both scored the perfect day with a trio of race wins as the men's fleet was split up into three fleets on the opening day. And whilst they won't face off against each other on Friday they'll go kite-to-kite on Saturday, a battle Leccese is relishing, "After the three first places I'm convinced I can win the title. I can't wait until Saturday, so I can compete against Heineken in the gold race. He is my only concern."

For some of the big guns in the fleet it was a mixed bag of results as 2010 World Champion Adam Koch ended up in seventh place with a 15th in Race 1 followed up by two third places.

The biggest surprise of the day was Andrea Beverino (ITA) who in his first international competition placed sixth overall on the opening day with a 5-2-2 score.

London 2012 Olympic Sailing gold medallist Dorian van Rijsselberge (NED) took to his first Kiteboarding event and placed 106th overall after the opening day.

Over in the women's fleet, it was an all-win day for Erika Heineken, chased by defending world champion Steph Bridge three times in second. Caroline Adrien scored consistent top five results placing her third overall.

View highlights from the opening day on the ISAF TV Player.

More results, pictures, videos are available at www.kitecagliari.com