Tornado Worlds 2013 @IBIZA

Report sent by Andrew Dowley — Day One of the 2013 Tornado World Championships in Ibiza was set to be a windy one. The practice races yesterday had already been blown out but the sailors were keen to get out into the turquoise seas to test their boats.

Although the breeze was building throughout the morning the signal was raised at 12.30 for a 1.30pm start, the wind was coming from the west and still a little shifty moving between 20 degrees. Once out on the race course the competitors were met with 20 knots of breeze with big gusts.

Race 1 of the Championships got off to a clear start with the Greek Red Bull team taking an early lead followed by Roland and Nahid Gaebler. With many wind shifts the race committee shifted the course and direction by moving the upwind marks throughout the race. Some of the gusts were too much for some sailors with plenty of spills and action across the race course. The Greeks managed to hold onto their early lead with second place taken by fellow Greeks Nikolaos and Alexandros, both in Open category. The third place was the German team of Roland Gaebler and Nahid Gaebler who are leading the mixed category.

Race 2 was started soon after the first with lighter conditions at the start which didn’t last long. The fiesty, gusty conditions kicked in as the wind funneled down the side of the island. After 3 laps it was the other Greek Open team who took the victory followed by Nikolaos Maures and Alexandros Tagaropoulos, again Roland and Nahid Gaebler took 3rd place.

With these results, Nikolaos Maures and Alexandros Tagaropoulos are holding the lead with three points, the same as their fellow countrymen Iordanis Paschalidis and Konstantinos Trigonis while Roland Gaebler and Nahid Gaebler have six points. There is a double tie for fourth place, with the German team of Nikolas and Makus Betz (6-4) and Australians Brett Burvill and Faris (4-6).

Two more races are scheduled for Tuesday in what looks to be similar conditions for the 30 teams representing ten countries: Greece, Germany, Australia, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Great Britain, Austria, France, Italy and Spain.

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