Race Day 3 - RS Feva Worlds

The PRO wasted no time in releasing the sailors off the beach on race day 3 of the RS Feva World Championships. The breeze was good, 12-15 knots from the east, as the sailors headed out into the Gulf of Mexico for another fantastic day of racing in this beautiful part of the US.

Unfortunately, the breeze moderated to around 6 knots at the beginning of the first race of the day (race 8 in the series). In the light conditions CZE6965 Jakub & Veronika, seemed to excel as they lead the fleet to the windward mark. Just behind them was GBR6974 Joe Slipper & Tea Sirolla, who also seemed to enjoy the lighter conditions as they appeared back in the top 5 for the first time since race day 1. On the final run GBR7063 Ben & Abi, punched through the fleet making up an impressive 10 places on the final run, to finish 2nd behind CZE6965. GBR6972 Joe & Tea, finished 3rd recording their 3rd top 5 finish of the championships. USA6851 Dieter & Conrad manage a 4th in the tricky light conditions. 

As the final boats crossed the finish line the PRO was keen to turn them around quickly but the wind faded away leading to a frustrating 1 hour postponement. All support boats mingled within the fleet to ensure all sailors had access to water and sun cream. Eventually, the wind shifted 45 degrees to the south and started to build again. The course was quickly relayed and the race team did a brilliant job of getting race 9 underway. 

Race 9 was a GBR7064 Tom & Rupert, master class as they lead the race from start to finish. GBR7063 Ben & Abi gave them a scare with some great pace down the final run. The finish was so close that the pin end boat could not call it and the committee boat needed to replay the footage to confirm Tom & Rupert had just hung on for the win. 

In race 10 it was time to shine for the all-female team CZE6962 Anna & Nela, they lead for most of the race. GBR7063 Ben & Abi, again found pace on the last run to grab the bullet, Anna & Nela finished 3rd just behind USA6951, Dieter & Conrad. As the boats headed home after another amazing day of racing only 4 points separated the top 3 boats. It looks like this championship will stay alive until the final races. A protest against USA6951 would see them take a 30% penalty leaving them in 3rd overall. 

At this year’s World Championships the female sailors make up 46% of the fleet and the Ladies World Championship title is looking like a tough battle between NED7028 Femme Rijk & Silke Zuidema, CZE6962 Anna Justová & Nela Višcorová and CHN6970 Ooynag Huiyun & Ouyang Huixin. With only a few points between them this title will go down to the last day. GBR7030 Annie Hammett & Emma Wells should not be ruled out, they will be right in the mix when the 2nd discard comes into play.   

Once again Clearwater and the race committee delivered a fabulous day of racing. This championship is very much alive with a lot of sailor still in the hunt of titles!

Watch the video from day 3 here!

Overall results at the end of day 3
1st – GBR7063 Ben Hutton-Penman & Abi Jayasekara     
2nd – GBR7064 Tom Storey & Rupert Jameson     
3rd – USA6851 Dieter Creitz & Conrad Miller         
4th – CZE6965 Jakub Dobry & Veronika Cibulkova
5th – GBR6985 William Caiger & Becky Caiger     

See the full results here.