F18 Worlds 2012: Backes & Vandame Champs

Image by Jasper Van Staveren – This was one of the most competitive Worlds ever, confirmed by many and also by just looking at the results and the level of the top 30. event. When you have Bundock.Van Leeuwen on a 7th overall you know about the level of the fleet. Olivier Backes grabs his 2nd F18 title after Erquy 2010, this time with Mathiew Vandame.

My bets for this year were: Caroliljn-Wouter , that led the event but fell down. Then Oskar Zeekant & Karel Begemann that were 2nd on a speedy C2 and the Dark Horses Styles-Sighs, were the fastest of the fleet on their Phantom (this said by one of their close competitors) but have some bad luck with a daggerboard damaging the dagger case. Just a pity for Hugh, after being hit at Erquy, but I hope with Alan they continue to race together.

Saying that Olivier or Bundy were going to be champs was easy so I always look to some guys performing in previous events. Oskar and Charlie proved me right again, although this time I missed the Champion.
Also the ones ‘surprising’ were Besson-Lagarrigue, just for racing on a lent standard Infusion picked up at the

Great event at Long Beach hosted by the Alamitos Bay Yatch Club. Will make a more complete wrap up later on the week.

Full results https://www.abyc.org/upload/F18_World_Championship1.html