Surprise leaders, new partnerships and home advantage: Day One delivers in Quiberon

49erFX

Suarez and Henke Seize Early Initiative in Shifty Quiberon Breeze

At only her second World Championship at senior level, 20 year old Melania Henke finds herself in the lead after day one of the 49erFX World Championship in Quiberon, France.

Henke is crewing with her skipper Patricia Suarez and the Spanish scored a 6,2,1 in the blue half of the qualifying groups.

Two points behind are the French team Manon Peyre and Amélie Riou. In third are the German team, Anna Barth and Emma Kohlhoff, competing at their second Worlds together. Barth is one of a number of 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17 sailors who are competing on the SailGP global circuit, and she is calling strategy on the German foiling F50 catamaran.

Fresh from a third place finish in Bermuda on the weekend, Barth appreciated the delay to the start of racing this morning while the fleet waited for the wind to settle. “It was almost good for us that we had such a big delay in the racing because we took some time out there to get used to the boat again,” said Barth. “We had a good couple of laps to get back into the boat.”

NACRA 17

Mourniac goes hard left on local knowledge

Great Britain’s Jon Gimson and Anna Burnet have opened the Nacra 17 World Championship with a strong defence of their title won last October in Sardinia. They scored 5,2,3 in the shifty breeze to hold a one-point lead over second placed Swedes, Ida Svensson and Marcus Dackhammar.

Even some of the gusts and shifts were confusing for the local guy, though. “In the second race we were struggling and it was the British who gave us the answer,” said Mourniac, who is looking forward to the strong wind forecast for Wednesday. “We can expect some top speeds tomorrow and I think everyone will have a smile on their face,” he said.

49er

Austria’s Prettner and Flachberger Strike First in Tricky Opener

With flat water and shifty medium-range winds making reading the pressure the decisive skill of the day, it was Austria’s Keanu Prettner and Jakob Flachberger who emerged as the surprise leaders after three races across the three split fleets — posting a composed 1-1-4 to sit two points clear at the top of the overall standings.

It was the kind of opening day that rewards patience and punishes guesswork. The shifty conditions meant the fleet was split into three groups racing simultaneously across yellow, blue, and red courses, and consistency across all three races — harder than it sounds in unpredictable breeze — separated the day’s winners from those who will be chasing tomorrow. Prettner and Flachberger did it the reliable way: a race win, another race win, and a fourth, never putting a foot wrong when the pressure moved.

Hyères winner China’s Zaiding Wen and Tian Liu sit second on 7 points (2-3-2), looking every bit as composed as they did on their way to that breakthrough title last month, and will be among the favourites if the breeze stays light and technical. The biggest surprise of the day was the jump into third from France’s young Hugo Revil and Karl Devaux (3-2-5, 10 points), who will be racing in front of a partisan home crowd all week and clearly relished it — a dream start for French sailing on its own doorstep.

New Zealand’s Seb Menzies and George Lee Rush delivered the shot of the day with a race win in their final race to sit fourth overall, while Palma winner Germany’s Richard Schultheis and Fabian Rieger are fifth on the same 12 points as Menzies — a solid enough start, though the day belonged to others. The bigger German story was the emergence of Jakob Meggendorfer and Andreas Spranger in sixth, their 11-1-2 scoreline featuring a race win that will raise eyebrows across the fleet.

Several of the pre-regatta favourites are lurking just off the pace but within easy striking distance. Bart Lambriex and Floris van de Werken (Netherlands, 10th, 17 points) and Erwan Fischer and Clément Péquin (France, 12th, 19 points) both have work to do, as does Ireland’s Robert Dickson and Sean Waddilove in 40th — a rough opening day that doesn’t reflect what that team are capable of. Hyères silver medallist Dickson will be hoping for more stable pressure tomorrow to find his footing. The 2025 Worlds silver medallists Lambriex are well placed, while 2025 Worlds bronze Jonas Warrer and Mathias Lehm Sletten of Denmark are 35th and already needing a recovery.

With scores this compressed — 25 boats covered by 32 points and many more races to come before the fleet split — the leaderboard should be treated as a loose guide rather than a forecast. But Prettner and Flachberger have served notice that this 49er fleet is as open as advertised.

Text and images courtesy of 49er.org. Read the full release here.