A-Cat Europeans 2014 Day 3: ‘Bordeaux Wine’ Sailing

 

 

 

 

Images: Gordon Upton for Ashby one. Rest Paula Kopylowicz / Exploder.info – Full Gallery Day 3 by Paula at facebook.com/exploder.info —
Today the racing was delayed and the CVB nailed it. Perfect sailing conditions, +15-17knots steady breeze. It was airtime for the newer foils equipped boats and full speeding for the floating fleet.  Best day so far of the Europeans at Lake Hourtin.

Glenn Ashby continued his usual bullet collection to lead the championship by 5 points over Jason Waterhouse (3,3).
Ashby is sailing a Dna with latest stepped + asymmetrical section foils.
Jason has the latest production Exploder foils with longer T rudders.

In 3rd place my good friend Sandro Caviezel on the flying Scheurer G7. Hat off to him, Daniel and specially to Andy Scheurer for the excellent work done in so little time.
I congrats Andy, he was really happy and after many compliments he told me “Ok, yes, I did a good work”… Bet you did Andy.

From all the top boats the Scheurer was the last to develop flight mode. Only months ago they implemented their first sets of daggers developed by Daniel and Sandro, and now they are at the top of a fully talent packaged Europeans, with the best boats and best sailors in the World.

Landy keeping his average low scores to hold 4th and Barker gain 13 spots from yesterday with a 5 , 2nd for a 5th overall.

The German Nikita 
Light wind specialists, Matthias Dietz & Georg Reutter, were 3rd & 4th overall yesterday.  They lost some points today but still 7th & 13th overall.
Both sail the legendary Nikita built by Nils Bunkenburg. I spoke with them, and their attitude on the foilers was pretty practical. Matthias is learning on a Exploder and Georg sails in a light wind Lake, their opinion on the fighting boats passing them in the breeze: “Well, all ok, we have to accept it , all good” .
It was really good to see that attitude and them concentrating on excelling in their favorite conditions.

Fleet B
On the B fleet Philippe Presti , Oracle sailing coach, got 1 & 1. Abdon Ibañez scored 2,2 and 2013 French Champ, Hervé Ledue with 6 & 9th is leading the Siver fleet.
Thibault Laudren with the Askell floating mode is 4th in the same fleet. Tibo got me pushing today in the breeze when we crossed at the gate in race 2.
The Argies improved and our two best sailors, Rodger & Mehl were getting in the breeze and followed Presti around the course. Ian foiled and was top ten when he capsized hard on a downwind airborne run, receovered for a 16 , and a 5th in the last one. Mehl was in the top 5 and capsized at the off-mark. Next year they will be on the Gold fleet for sure.

Personal Experience
5th day for me on the As and it was one of the best racing/sailing days ever, perfect conditions to finally push the Scheurer G6 / Saarberg / Landy around.
Upwind it was a real weapon, I couldn´t believe how I was passing others on the angle and speed, of course in each tack and maneuver I lost every meter the boat gave me! but I was really impressed.

Downwind I didn´t trapeze as I wanted to be conservative and finish the races after several dnf/dns. In the breeze I never felt pitch risk, although the bows were submerging a bit at times, with a smooth transition.
The breeze was full on overpowered for moments, and it was a blast sailing the A around the Course.

The last race we did 4 rounds or 8 legs, and it was hard to keep focused. I was fast but I need to improve my tacks and transition / maneuvers. The biggest achievement was finishing both races in that breeze,  got 26 & 25 and I will aim for more for the rest the event.

To end a perfect day , I went trapezing downwind to the Club to find out that the G6 with standard curved boards / winglets  foils no effort in those conditions.
Just putting the foot on the strap made boat boat airborne, just like that I was foiling to my surprise, made some meters but got back heeled every time as I didn´t knew how to react, didn´t expect that on this setup and it is a final closure for any possible discussion on avoiding foiling with this same set up.

– Image Gallery by Paula Kopylowicz at facebook.com/exploder.info
– Official Website cerclevoilebordeaux.com/classeA/home.htm
– Top sailors Gold & Silver below
– Top Gold & Silver below: Full Results at cerclevoilebordeaux.com/classeA/resultsA/resultat/european-final-bis_s.htm

GOLD FLEET

Pts Sail Crew Net Tot 1 2 3 4 5 6
1  AUS   1 ASHBY Glenn 5 8 1 3 1 1 1 1
2  AUS  133 WATERHOUSE Jason 10 15.00 2 5 1 1 3 3
3  SUI   19 CAVIEZEL Sandro 25.00 40.00 15 4 3 8 4 6
4  AUS  308 LANDENBERGER Andrew 27.00 43.00 4 16 9 3 7 4
5  NZL   8 BARKER Dean 29.00 51.00 8 22 6 8 5 2
6  NED   3 HOEKSTRA Sjoerd 29.30 38.30 9 RDG
6.3
7 3 6 7
7  GER   3 DIETZ Matthias 31.00 49.00 6 2 4 4 18 15
8  POL   1 NOETZEL Jacek 34.00 47.00 10 7 13 2 2 13
9  NED  108 STRAAKENBROEK Jaap 38.00 64.00 2 8 10 4 26 14
10  AUS  902 ANDERSON Scott 41.00 60.00 10 9 2 19 10 10

SILVER FLEET

Pts Sail Crew Net Tot 1 2 3 4 5 6
1  FRA  446 LEDUE Herve 86.00 116.00 24 30 30 17 9 6
2  ESP   74 IBANEZ Abdon 88.00 142.00 18
18.0
BFD
54.0
44
44.0
22
22.0
2
2.0
2
2.0
3  FRA  500 PRESTI Philippe 91.00 130.00 32
32.0
32
32.0
25
25.0
39
39.0
1
1.0
1
1.0
4  FRA  222 LAUDREN Thibault 97.00 139.00 25
25.0
DPI
42.0
26
26.0
32
32.0
11
11.0
3
3.0
5  SUI   44 HUBER Michael 102.00 143.00 30
30.0
22
22.0
41
41.0
23
23.0
DPI
17.0
10
10.0
6  FRA   83 GAUTHIER Pierre 108.00 144.00 27
27.0
36
36.0
31
31.0
25
25.0
18
18.0
7
7.0
7  SUI   33 MAIER Heiko 108.00 146.00 38
38.0
38
38.0
25
25.0
23
23.0
10
10.0
12
12.0
8  DEN   22 LAVRSEN Frank 112.00 153.00 40
40.0
24
24.0
15
15.0
41
41.0
DPI
18.0
15
15.0
9  POL   2 ZEBROWSKI Marek 113.00 167.00 22
22.0
31
31.0
33
33.0
21
21.0
6
6.0
DNF
54.0
10  ESP  123 SANTIAGO Estevez 114.00 153.00 39
39.0
30
30.0
34
34.0
38
38.0
3
3.0
9
9.0
11  NED   96 COLE Mark 118.00 172.00 DNF
54.0
18
18.0
40
40.0
35
35.0
21
21.0
4
4.0
12  ARG  666 RODGER Ian 120.00 174.00 37
37.0
17
17.0
DNF
54.0
45
45.0
16
16.0
5
5.0
13  GER   37 KEMLER Johannes 124.00 178.00 33
33.0
16
16.0
50
50.0
DSQj
54.0
8
8.0
17
17.0
14  ESP   9 LADRON Juan-Antonio 127.00 181.00 34
34.0
11
11.0
39
39.0
36
36.0
7
7.0
DNF
54.0
15  FRA  470 LE PLUART Dorian 128.00 182.00 DNF
54.0
DPI
20.0
37
37.0
37
37.0
DPI
20.0
14
14.0