American, Irish And Spanish Teams Hold Early Advantage At ISAF Team Racing Worlds
The ISAF Team Racing World Championship commenced in Schull, Ireland with twenty teams battling it out in the Youth and Open Championship.
Teams from Australia, Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Spain, Thailand and the USA are all in the Irish Village for the Championship and locals greeted them on Sunday in traditional manner with a parade of nations. Twelve teams contest the ISAF Open Team Racing World Championship and eight compete for the Youth Championship.
The first day of full competitive racing took place in perfect conditions with a strong easterly breeze, which gradually swung southeast, allowing for a full round robin of 96 scheduled races to be completed on the day. At this early stage of competition, the top four places in the Open Championship are occupied by American and British teams.
The American first team, NYCC Team Extreme, this year’s winners of the Wilson Trophy British Open Team Racing Championship, dominated exchanges with ten wins from eleven races.
Two British teams, the British University Sailing Association (BUSA) team and West Kirby Hawks share the second and third spots with nine wins from ten races and USA team, The Rockets from Newport, Rhode Island, are in fourth place on the round robin table.
In the Youth section of the event, the Spanish team showed their strength on the first day, winning all their races until defeated by the Irish Youth Champions, Schull Community College, in their final race. This resulted in both these teams jointly topping the table at the the end of the first day’s racing.
Every member of the Spanish team recently sailed at the ISAF Youth Sailing World Championship in Zadar, Croatia. Carlos Robles and Florian Trittel won gold in the 29er and Jordi Xammar and Alex Claville picked up gold in the 420 Boys. Adriana Rhodes and Lucia Brugman came tenth in the 420 Girls. With the team knowing what it takes to win they will certainly be up there come the end of the championship.
The Official Opening of the Championship took place on Tuesday Evening, performed by ISAF Vice President Tomasz Holc (POL) with the hoisting of the ISAF flag and the flags of the competing nations.
The World Youth Finals take place on Saturday and World Open Finals and Prizegiving Ceremony on Sunday 4 September.
ISAF Team Racing World Championship
The 2011 ISAF Team Racing World Championship is the ninth edition of the ISAF Team Racing World Championship.
The Championship includes two competitions – an open competition and a youth competition.
Each team consists of three crews of two competitors and each team must include a minimum of one female competitor. All team members entering the Youth Competition must be under 19 years of age on 31 December 2011.
