Only two of the four flights completed Race 1 on the opening day of the 29er World Championship at WPNSA, on the south coast of the UK.
Racing was confined to Portland Harbour with average wind speeds of 20-23 knots, and just the blue and Yellow flight races were completed before PRO David Campbell-James sent all fleets ashore to recover for Monday.
Top of the very provisional leaderboard are Ben Crafoord and Jacob Marks of Australia and Zeb Van Dorst and Yannick Van Den Akker of Holland, both teams enjoying the strong wind conditions.
On two points are 2022 champion Maximo Videla and new crew Juan Cruz Albamonte of Argentina, tied with Ireland’s Clementine and Nathan Van Steenberge.
Then on three points are the first British pair Santiago Sesto-Cosby, and Kuba Staite Mateo and Simon Codoñer of Spain.
If these early results are anything to go by, the British teams face a steep road to the World Title podium.
After Sesto-Cosby and Staite placed in the leading group of six, the next Brits are Charlie Gatehouse and Sam Tonks in 35th and Katy Jenkins Amelie Hiscocks in 45th.
When the other two flights get to race, hopefully on Monday, and their results are posted, a clearer picture will begin to appear.
The forecast for Monday is for a continuing strong breeze, so it looks like PRO Campbell-James will have his work cut-out to get the event back on track.
29er World Championship 2023 – Yellow & Blue flights after Race 1 (205 entries)
1st Yellow AUS 3084 Ben Crafoord and Jacob Marks – – 1 pts
1st Blue NED 2896 Zeb Van Dorst and Yannick Van Den Akker – – 1 pts
3rd Yellow ARG 8 Maximo Videla and Juan Cruz Albamonte – – 2 pts
3rd Blue IRL 22 Clementine and Nathan Van Steenberge – – 2 pts
5th Blue ESP 2976 Mateo and Simon Codoñer – – 3 pts
5th Yellow GBR 3214 Santiago Sesto-Cosby and Kuba Staite – – 3 pts
7th Blue ARG 2581 Amparo Stupenengo and Tadeo Funes De Rioja – – 4 pts
7th Yellow POL 3091 Igor Kawa?ko and Fabian Koci?da – – 4 pts
9th Yellow ARG 3030 Tomas Ferrante and Agustin Frey – – 5 pts
9th Blue NED 3208 Lenny Hofman and Rens Van Der Heiden – – 5 pts
11th Yellow ARG 1886 Ignacio Hermida and Franz Menzel – – 6 pts
11th Blue CZE 3086 Lukas Kraus and Ondrej Bastar – – 6 pts
13th Yellow ITA 3262 Massimo Perini and Lorenzo Orlandi – – 7 pts
13th Blue SWE 2543 Felix and Aron Wichert – – 7 pts
15th Blue CAN 2739 Tom Desrochers and Ford Amery – – 8 pts
15th Yellow BRA 3293 João Marcelo Mendes Carlin and Luc Le Corre – – 8 pts
17th Blue BRA 11 Guilherme and Fernando Menezes – – 9 pts
17th Yellow FRA 2704 Jocelyn Le Goff and Jules Vidor – – 9 pts
19th Blue NED 2332 Sophie and Lucas Pieters – – 10 pts
19th Yellow AUT 3069 Laurenz Haselberger and Leo Uebelhör – – 10 pts
21st Yellow NED 24 Caroline Pennetier and Benjamin Benhayoun – – 11 pts
21st Blue HUN 2759 Tóth Attila and Levente Borda – – 11 pts
23rd Blue FRA 2930 Nolann Huet Des Aunay and Titouan Gresset – – 12 pts
23rd Yellow FRA 13 Tom Goron and Mael Clochard – – 12 pts
25th Blue POL 3092 August Sobczak and Krzysztof Królik – – 13 pts
25th Yellow SLO 3303 Alja Petric and Caterina Sedmak – – 13 pts
27h Blue SUI 3327 Constantin Higgs and Itay Geller – – 14 pts
27th Yellow HUN 3226 Luca Kis-Szölgyémi and Joao Maria Graca – – 14 pts
29th Yellow SWE 2527 Tea Zeeberg and Cornelia Widestam – – 15 pts
29th Blue ARG 3035 Lola Trueba and Hernan Paulucci – – 15 pts
31st Blue NED 3002 Kylian Van Den Akker and Pelle Reijers – – 16 pts
31st Yellow USA 15 Tyler Lamm and Andrew Lamm – – 16 pts
33rd Yellow ARG 3033 Juana Escalante and Santiago Palkin – – 17 pts
33rd Blue SLO 3290 Svit Dujmovic Sterpin and Maj Petric – – 17 pts
35th Yellow POL 3237 Ewa Lewandowska and Leon Sapijaszko – – 18 pts
35th Blue GBR 2545 Charlie Gatehouse and Sam Tonks – – 18 pts
