Nail Biting Finish To Raceboard Worlds

Drama and excitement prevailed over the final two days of the Raceboard World Championships in Blanes.

Ivan Pastor (ESP), dominated the final series of races by taking the bullet each time ahead of defending champion, Maksymillian Wojcik (POL), who was forced to retire from the third race of the penultimate day with a broken boom. The two Latvian ladies, Vita Matise and Ilona Grinberga, were certain to take the gold and silver but in the end it came down to the discard to separate the two.

As every other day, patience was a virtue, as everyone waited for the wind to appear on the final day. However, Pastor knew he could not afford a slip-up since he was carrying a DNF into his final results. Eventually race 13 was under way in 11 knots and Wojcik took the win. Game on and into race 14 and Pastor pulled one back, finishing ahead of Wojcik. And then it appeared the wind was dropping, the wind gods were packing up and going home – no more racing.

Pastor was subsequently declared the Raceboard Men’s World Champion, Wojcik finished second and Nicolas Huguet (FRA) took a well-deserved third place as well as first Master. The Grand Master title went to Franck Loup (FRA) who finished 10th overall. The First Veteran was Rafael Ros-Pardo (ESP) whilst the Youth Champion is Fernando Lamadrid-Trueba (ESP).

In the women’s fleet, Grinberga had an amazing finish to the championship with two bullets to add to her arsenal and ended on equal points with her team mate Matise. However, she lost out on the top spot with her DNC in race 11 coming into play. Matise was declared Raceboard Women’s World Champion with Grinberga second and Joanna Sterling (AUS) in third place.

Men’s Results

Women’s Results