Britain’s James Grummett and Rhos Hawes put on a high-wind masterclass on day two of the 49er World Championship in Quiberon, France.
Battling through breeze gusting over 25 knots, the British team won both of their heats in the yellow group of qualifying and move into fourth overall.
Keanu Prettner and Jakob Flachberger AUT didn’t have such a strong day as their opening, but an 8, 4, score from yellow group were sufficient for them to keep the overall lead.
In red group Swiss pair Seb Schneiter and Arno de Planta who also enjoyed the tough conditions, winning their first race and second in the next. This was good enough to lift them to second overall. In third are the Chinese, Zaiding Wen and Tian Liu who scored 5 and 4.
Other British positions are: Elliott Wells and Freddie Lonsdale 19th, Fin Armstrong and Richie Thurlby 24th, and Charlie Gran and Ewan Gribben 33rd.
After a difficult first day in lighter breeze, Ireland’s Rob Dickson and Sean Waddilove bounced back with scores of 2, 3, in red group to move-up to 22nd.
“It was turning into survival racing. There were quite a few boats capsizing; it was the kind of day where you could capsize and still get a top-eight finish. It was a classic 49er race.” said Hawes
There was quite a lot of capsizing in the 49er fleet and with the wind picking up throughout the day, the race committee cancelled 49erFX and Nacra 17 racing for Wednesday.
The forecast for Thursday is for wind almost as strong.
49er – Day 2 Leaders after 5 races, 1 discard (82 entries)
1st AUT Keanu PRETTNER / Jakob FLACHBERGER – – 1 1 4 8 4 – – 10 pts
2nd SUI Sebastien SCHNEITER / Arno de PLANTA – – 4 4 9 1 2 – – 11 pts
3rd CHN Zaiding WEN / Tian LIU – – 2 3 2 5 4 – – 11 pts
4th GBR James GRUMMETT / Rhos HAWES – – 8 8 3 1 1 – – 13 pts
5th GER Jakob MEGGENDORFER / Andreas SPRANGER – – 11 1 2 5 5 – – 13 pts
6th FRA THeo REVIL / Gaultier TALLIEU – – 4 9 3 3 5 – – 15 pts
7th NZL Seb MENZIES / George LEE RUSH – – 6 5 1 4 10 – – 16 pts
8th FRA Hugo REVIL / Karl DEVAUX – – 3 2 5 6 21 – – 16 pts
9th GER Richard SCHULTHEIS / Fabian RIEGER – – 3 4 5 4 6 – – 16 pts
10th NED Bart LAMBRIEX / Floris van de WERKEN – – 6 4 7 3 4 – – 17 pts
