Gelato con panna; 2022 Sunfish Worlds

Wavedancer

Upside down?
Staff member
This year’s Sunfish Worlds are about to begin. The competition will be on Lake Garda, near Torbole (Northern Italy), a gorgeous place from the pictures and a well-known mecca for high-level sailing events.

Some notes, which may be off-base (totally).
Originally, Laser Performance had promised 72 new boats, made in Portugal, of course. But the interest from the Sunfish class was apparently so strong that the entry limit was increased to about one hundred. At one point, slightly over 100 were on the entry list, but the latest list has 94 (Yacht Scoring - A complete web based regatta management, administration and yacht scoring program). The (amended) Notice of Race specifies that the Italians have to bring their own boats; perhaps Laser Performance did not agree to supply more than 72 boats? Whatever, this seems an unusual compromise. There have been Worlds where everyone had to bring a boat; their own or a chartered one, but now we have a hybrid model with respect to the hulls. Regatta sails will be supplied to all.
Tomorrow I intend to take a look at the competitors. So many well-known names!
 
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The competition will be on Lake Garda, near Torbole (Northern Italy), a gorgeous place from the pictures and a well-known mecca for high-level sailing events.
That lake setting is gorgeous!
I haven't actually sailed there myself, but I've been there three times as a coach/support guy, and I can say that pictures don't even do justice to the scenery. The first time you arrive at the famous north end of the lake you just don't believe your eyes. It's like a total fantasy landscape.

_
 
09/05: Let’s take look at the entries; thirteen countries if we include Puerto Rico and the (US) Virgin Islands. For some more ‘nations’ intrigue, not too long ago, Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao were all one with respect to government (and part of the Kingdom of The Netherlands), but that’s not the case anymore (What are the different parts of the Kingdom of the Netherlands? | Government.nl)

With respect to the competitors themselves, at least three former World Champions are participating; David Hernandez from Guatemala (who won in 2019), Jean-Paul de Trazegnies (Peru; 2018) and Cor van Aanholt (Curacao; 1980). I put my (meager) dollars on David and Jean-Paul for this regatta. Cor may well win his age group; is there such a thing at the Worlds? Anyway, he should be a proud Dad because all his kids have become outstanding sailors. Three of them are competing in this regatta and I bet that one or more of them will end up in the top ten. The one that is not sailing here (Odile), just won a World championship in the 49erFX class (with her crew, of course).

There are some outstanding women Sunfish sailors participating as well. Caterina Romero (Peru) has been the first woman at this level several times. But she will have stiff competition from Philipine van Aanholt (Curacao), Caroline Young, Nancy Haberland and Gail Heausler (all from the USA) and others.

Who will rise to the top (ten)?
 
I’d add Simon Gomes Ortiz to to the list of possible winners, along with Caterina, JPT and David Hernandez. David Mendelblatt is an outside contender. Juan Maegli hasn’t been in Sunfish in a while but went to two Olympics in Lasers.

Nancy Haberland and Gail Heausler are great sailors, but being in their 60s will probably hurt them if it’s windy.

I only see two Van Aanholt offspring racing. Let’s see how they do!

From the US, I think Doug Kaukeinen could be a top 10 contender. Mike Ingham has a lot of racing success, but I don’t know if he can be top 10 in a small dinghy. But I’d be surprised if he hasn’t raced at Lake Garda before, and if he has that knowledge could help him. Caroline Young is really strong too, but if there is a lot of wind I don’t think she is big enough.
 
The (amended) Notice of Race specifies that the Italians have to bring their own boats; perhaps Laser Performance did not agree to supply more than 72 boats? Whatever, this seems an unusual compromise.

According to my on-prem reporter in total 79 new LP boats were delivered. The Italians indeed sail in their own boats (of course with Worlds sails)
 
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Nothing too unexpected. Last race had some of the top sailors faring worse, and a few who had been a bit deeper near the top. Wonder if there was a big shift at some point?
 
Wonder if there was a big shift at some point?
:D Lake Garda has some of the steadiest and most reliable sailing winds anywhere (which is one reason that makes it so popular). I've watched about 20 races there, and during those there was exactly ONE shift which could have been called "big". Of course, that race was abandoned immediately because of that...

_
 
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With respect to the standings after day 1, it's very close at the top with only 1 point separating the top four. However, one or two bad races and someone currently in the top twenty (roughly) could make a major move up.

I recommend watching a short video posted on the Facebook site; it's amazing how aggressive these boats are being sailed upwind in the chop (short waves) of the lake.

PS: It looks like beldar and I weren't too far off with respect to the top ten, but we did miss :(
Stefano de la Torre (Ecu), Marco Teixidor (Pur) and Juan Canizalez (Gua).
No gelato con panna for us!
 
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Looks like just two races today (Day 2). They started pretty late (2:30 PM). I guess the famous wind (Ora) took a cappuccino break in the morning and came in later than usual.
 
The results after the second day show no change for the top two (Jean Paul de Trazengies and Caterina Romero). But Juan Maegli (Guatemala) made a major move up by finishing second twice. Beldar deserves credit for including him among the favorites! As he mentioned, Juan competed twice in the Laser class in the Olympics.
As a sidenote, 180 lbs. is considered the optimal weight for the Laser which could be a bit of a handicap compared to typical Sunfish racers, except when it blows. But today saw only medium breeze (~15 knots). On the other hand, it shows that skill is most important and what a versatile boat the Sunfish is.


There were seven requests for redress (probably because of equipment malfunction) after day one, but none today. :)

A few Rule 42 infractions (excessive 'athletics') were noted by the Jury so far, but they were all resolved on the water (two penalty turns).
 
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Four races scheduled for today (Thu Sep 8), but it looks like the wind is not cooperating...
:(
 
A little wind (5-10 mph) kicked in around 2 PM, enough to get race 6 started (at 3:54). When that race was over, it was probably too late to start another one and the wind wasn't promising either at that point. I am not at the scene, so that's a bit of a guess.

A number of protests were filed against the Race Committee (RC) related to 'improper RC action for course board direction' but they were rejected. Would love to hear the complete story on this, although I doubt that would be of interest to those angels who are actually reading my report.

With six races completed, all competitors could drop their worst score, but Jean Paul de Trazengies, Caterina Romero and Juan Maegli are still 1 ,2 and 3.
More in general, to be competing at this level requires excellent skills and is worthy of congratulations no matter where you are in the standings!
 
Today (September 9) was a catch-up day; definitely needed because (only) six races have been completed so far.
The wind prediction was for light winds, but two races were completed.
Jean Paul de Trazegnies and David Mendelblatt traded first and second in these. This allowed David to move up to ninth in the standings. David has a long and very successful record in Sunfish Worlds history. He was second twice (2006 and 2010) and third four times (2005, 2009, 2013 and 2016).

Even though racing is scheduled for tomorrow (the last day), it looks like Jean Paul will be World Champion once again. Caterina Romero is way ahead in the Women's division but her second overall is by no means secure.
And who will get third is an open question as well, but it's likely to be someone from Guatemala.

PS: SailFlow predicts very little wind...
 
I see racing tomorrow starts at 8:30 am. Not sure how late they can go but boat return is scheduled to begin at 3 pm.
 
Another championship for Jean Paul de Trazegnies!

The last day brought significant changes in the standings, but Jean Paul held off all competitors with two fifth place finishes. However, Caterina Romero didn’t have a particularly great day and both David Hernandez (with a first and a second) and Juan Maegli (with a first and a sixth) jumped ahead of her. As mentioned earlier, Caterina finished way ahead of all other women.
Complete results:
2022 Sunfish World Championship on Yacht Scoring - A complete web based regatta administration and yacht scoring program

If one takes a look at the complete results (top to bottom) one might wonder what all those (about 15) TLE (Time Limit Expired) scores are about. It usually indicates that the wind was so light that these sailors didn’t make it to the finish line on time. The wind report did show around 5 mph on Saturday morning. Often this is considered too low for serious racing, but I guess the Race Committee was desperate to get more races on the record.

One can also see that quite a few decided to forget about the tenth race and go ‘home’ instead to pack up the boat ahead of the majority.

Buon Viaggio to all!
 
The report in Sailing Scuttlebutt indicates it was a very windy day on the last day. It was gusting into the 20s. Apparently some of the people just couldn’t sail fast enough in that kind of breeze.
 

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