After Wednesday’s storm, the sun returned, bringing blue skies and a light breeze of around eight knots – perfect spectator weather for the pod of dolphins that gathered to watch the first day of racing.
Race officer, Michal Jodlowski, couldn’t keep the crackle of excitement out of his voice as he announced a short postponement to racing over the radio.
In the men’s fleet: 17-year-old Kosta Gladiadis from New Zealand, revelled in the light conditions at his first major WingFoil Racing competition. Gladiadis claimed an impressive six wins from eight races.
Ernesto De Amicis of Italy proved equally consistent today, finishing in the top three in all but one race to sit just behind Gladiadis in the standings. Michele Capitani (ITA) is in third.
In the women, Claire Tian Yu Tse of Hong Kong, the newly crowned Asian Youth Champion, handled the tricky conditions best, taking two victories to end the day at the top of the leaderboard.
In the Masters fleet, it was a day of highs and lows for Alberto Cocchi, who dominated the morning session to take the overall lead but faltered badly in the afternoon.
His misfortune opened the door for Great Britain’s Chris Rashley, who now sits just two points adrift of Cocchi.
