Nacra 17 Worlds 2018 @Aarhus: Iker Martinez gets 35pts penalty before racing starts

Yesterday I was talking with Euge Bosco , who is preparing herself along Mateo Majdalni & Nacra 15 coach Nico Aragones for Aarhus 2018 Nacra 17 Worlds, and she sent me a couple of shots from their traninings. After reading today’s news I looked back and found that one of the pics showed Iker sailing with them.

That’s about what we will see from him this Worlds, as Iker has packed his stuff and returned home as informed by the Nacra 17 Class. It seems the spanish team chopped out 5mm of the top deck insert to gain more rake span.

Worlds will start tomorrow, and already one of the contenders is out of the game. Live streams are likely to be available, we will follow closely this event as it will provide 8 spots for Tokyo 2020.
Below Live Stream form today 49er/49er FX

Details on Iker Martinez penalty:
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Source Nacra 17 Class Assoc Web /nacra17.org/spanish-start-with-dse-35-point-penalty/

“….During inspection, the IM team spotted a modification to the top port bearing. After a night of quarantine, checking against the design and the bearings that the rest of the fleet have, it was deemed 5mm shorter than the rest of the fleets and a protest was lodged.

The jury assigned a DSQ for the infringement and then upped it to a DNE (do not exclude) because it was an intentional modification.

The top bearings on the Nacra 17 can be moved while sailing, and are frequently adjusted by the teams to control the angle of the daggerboards. By making their bearing shorter, the Spanish were aiming to enable a greater maximum pitch, which can help promote foiling earlier than the standard design. This could be used to get into a foiling mode sooner upwind, or up on the foils sooner downwind.

By modifying the port bearing, this advantage would be available off the start line and around the windward mark, two critical areas of the race course.”