F18 Worlds 2011: A Perfect Finish at Balatonfured

Photo: Pierrick Contin www.pierrickcontin.fr The CSN Dark Horses:Bissaro-Cesari 3rd

After a 4th day without wind and with no final races completed, plus some crucial protests the mood at Balatonfured was not the best. Previous the Worlds some were saying that the lake wasn´t the best place to have a major event, only due to weather conditions and it was kind of a right opinion.
But you’ll never know, just remember what happened at Knokke, there were days without racing too. Not even to mention the last North Americans.
Sailors would like to have a major percentaje of probalility that the place selected has a good benchmark on sailing days. A balance between promoting new markets for the class and giving wordlwide sailors what they are looking and paying for, is a must.

The better example of this was the ASP, the pro surfing tour in the 80s went to places with lots of crowds but no waves, several stages were a fiasco, and at the end they decided to run events only in the places with the best waves on earth like J-Bay , Teahupo and many others places with high chances of getting excellent waves, focusing on broadcasting live and full promotion of the our and these events on the web and gral media.
This should be the path too follow in my opinion for next venues.

But with this said, Lake Balaton provided perfect conditions for the final day! So excuses… for None. Four final races could be completed, adding one more discard on this stage.
Heemskerk-Tentij fought hard against Bundock-VanLeeuwen ending the two first Final races together, with Mischa just on place ahead on each.

The championship was defined on the 3rd final regatta where Bundy was 2nd and the dutchs 8th. Sadly the gps was not showing Ned007 but for sure they had some great match racing going on.
What I could see was Darren and Jeroen peaking 40kms/h on the reach leg with their C2… and always making the right choices on which side of the course to go.
So it was 1st for Darren-Jeroen and 2nd for Mischa-Bastian. Full results in previous posts and here

Shots above f18photos.com by Aron Szanto

De Koning-Visser didn´t have a good day and were 25 and 13 on the first two, killing their possibilities to a new crown.

Third place for our Dark Horses! The Italian youths, Vittorio Bissaro and Lamberto Cesari were up to the challenge with a great performance on the final races: 4,3,4 (21) .
These guys have a future, I told you so several months ago! A message to Hobie Europe that seems to be disassembling their Pro F18 teams: Take care of these two.

4th place for the already greatest female multihull sailor ever? not mentioning one of the best overall, Carolijn Brouwer and Wouter Samama were on fire, in fact they were the most consistent on the whole championship, only an -ocs took the title from their hands.Photo Left: Andrea Mag
Now that she is back I will try to interview her again.

And the favorite team for many fans (Capitano and me included), Mischa Heemskerk and Bastian Tentij didn´t have any regret or black flag this time, they sailed just like what they are, simply the best racing crew year after year , with a Tiger, or Wildcat or the brand new Cirrus R/SI Sails, that had an excellent official debut at the Worlds , really close on taking the crown, only Jeroen and Bundy with his 13th title could stop them.
Keep racing hard , Phil got his and you guys will get them too, remember that.

Regarding my predictions I name myself the ‘Oracle of San Isidro’ , why? Just look at these nostradamus style omens:
2009: I bet on Rob Wilson and Marcus Lynch, with the new Shockwave/North Sails machine. I really liked that new Loday-White design, plus the Tornado experience, plus the previous excellent results made me betting on them. They were 1st on the water, tied on points with DeKoning Visser who took the crown only on bullets.

2010: The omens said Olivier Backes and Arnaud Jarlegan, after a great 2009 finish, and a super racing and development campaign with Udin and Fischer. Backes and Jarlegan were 2010 Champs at Erquy with the Wildcat/SI combo.

2011: Bundy was third at Erquy with a brand new design, the C2. But after Erquy and with more time on the boat plus his secret weapon (Jeroen Van Leeuwen) he start winning every single race. It was clear they were the candidates on their sailing skills and their equipment, and I bet on them for the crown. Bundy and Jeroen are new World Champs.
I also saw that the italian youth World Champs, Vittorio Bissaro and Lamberto Cesari were charging, saw some video of them racing plus some good results, I liked their style, and named them the 2011 Dark Horses (as all the Italian sailors are calling them) .
Vittorio and Lamberto took 3rd place at Lake Balaton, only behind my highest bet and the dutch Warriors.

Finally a word on the Argie crew, they had a great run at the Nacra Worlds, Texel and finally the Worlds , where they were 8th before the finals and end in a super 15th place overall, having many of the top crews congratulating them on their performance.
I didn´t want to talk much on them and Mischa-Bastian to not ‘burn’ them before the final results, but it seems is better to put them as favorites reviewing my previous bets. Photo left: Worlds Gallery
They told me “kill or die” for the last day and I said: ” just keep on sailing as previous days…”
The Arg power crew of Cruz Gonzalez Smith and Mariano Heuser raced up to that name, representing our new fleet high achieved level, but also Cruz is on his 4th Worlds with an incredible 96,50,23,15 progression on final overall results. Look out for them at the start, like here, they just have an extra gear…

The French armada had LeClainche/Joubert and Vaireux/Petit as best crews on the top ten.
The french youths have a good championship: Hainneville-Fanouillere 10th! , Bellet bros 23 and the not so petit now (the youngest crew and 85kg each), Lecoublet and Flocher 33rd with an great finish on the final day with blowing 20knots, as they like.
Landy was back after 2008 when he was too close to the title with Felix, but surely need more F18 time for Balaton, all focused now for the A-Class Worlds.
Taylor Booth and Mischa de Munck with a solid 12th place on their Wildcat, late entry for Taylor, but it seems his father talent is there. Mischa will campaiginig for 2016 with Froukje Feenstra.