F18 Worlds 2021 @Gaeta Day 1: Demesmaeker-Tas lead

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What a racing day at Gaeta. Plenty of breeze for the first day of the 2021 F18 Worlds. As foreseen quite an interesting regatta to follow with all the new designs and talented teams attending.
Short course , 25knots and chop, challenging course where experienced sailors showed their level.

Review Day 1 great action shots selection we published here – Live Tracking at www.metasail.it/incoming/191/

European Champs & Worlds podium team, Patrik Demesmaeker & Gilles Tas, blasted literally (check photo above!) the course scoring 2,1 & 1. The new Goodall Akurra delivered in its first Worlds appearance.
Second place overall the immortal by now Mitch Booth (Scorpion / 1D) and his son Ruben. What a legend this guy is, cannot get tired of admiring him race and with his sons.

Third and fourth overall for the top Argie crews, Agustin Krevisky & Nico Aragones, had complicated day aside first two races as in the last one their mainsheet went loose and they had to recover from 60th to 9th, impressive run for them, along a close finish vs Patrik & Gilles in race 2.
Veterans by now Cruz Gonzalez Smith & Mariano Heuser (3rd Worlds 2019) also pushing the limits with a wrong pointing buoy in the first race upwind and a capsize on the final reach in the last race. Both Argie teams sailing Scorpion / 1D managed damage control for an excellent first day.

Speaking of Immortal Mitch, two more Legends like Helge & Christian Sach (Former WChamps) showed the versatility of the Goodall Akurra as the known light wind performers were flying today in those hard conditions.

Another contender team that had a blasting performance were Jolbert van Dijk & Frank de Waard (3rd 2017 Worlds) , the Dutch crew sailing the new Nacra Evo (with a 1D mainsail) won the first race and were leading the 3rd one but capsize also, missing the chance to score two bullets.

As seen above the new Goodall Akurra and the Nacra Evo were up to the challenge and had an excellent Worlds Championship debut. The French Cirrus 901 did not had a stellar performance in the breeze but surely a complex innovative platforms will need more racing, as is the only new boat that haven’t done a regatta since its inception.

Today was suited for the Aussies, specially Brett & Max who like these conditions, but sadly Aus gov restrictions are still in place for the Austalian teams to attend without much hassle. On the subject note that Argie crews are already in trouble to return, but they went the same.

Photos not available yet, pic above taken from Goodall Design Fb.

Glad we had tracking! Such a mandatory tool for a Worlds event. Follow gps tracking www.metasail.it/incoming/191 –

Top Ten Results below:

Poss	Sail	Helm		Crew	R1	R2	R3	Tot	Boat
1	BEL1	DEMESMAEKER	PATRICK	TAS GILLES	2	1	1	4	Akurra / Goodall
2	AUS1	BOOTH	MITCH	BOOTH RUBEN	3	5	3	11	Scorpion / 1D
3	ARG1	KREVISKY	AGUSTIN	ARAGONES NICOLAS	4	2	9	15	Scorpion / 1D
4	ARG11	GONZALEZ	SMITH	HEUSER MARIANO	6	3	10*	21	Scorpion / 1D
5	GER370	SACH	HELGE	SACH CHRISTIAN	14	6	2	22	Akurra / Goodall
6	NED4	VAN	DIJK	DE WAARD FRANK	1	11	14	26	Evo / 1D DS
7	FRA2044	CHAMPROUX	LÉO	YVON GUILLLAUME	18	8	4	30	Nacra Infusion MKIII
8	GER33	WUNDERLE	MANUEL	WUNDERLE FABIAN	13	7	11	31	Nacra Evo
9	NED77	VAN	DAM	VAN DAM MARIUS	9	26	5	40	Akurra / Goodall
10	FRA2176	BOC-HO	ARTHUR	LEFEVRE LAETITIA	10	10	22	42	Nacra Evo

Results all 3 races Provisional Version 6… :