The fourth day at the 2017 Formula Windsurfing Youth & Masters World Championships was another great day with suitable sailing conditions and a total 5 races accomplished.
Janis Preiss from Latvia still leads the Championships in the Masters division and had the following to say: “The wind at the start of the day was not as light as it appeared, but afterwards it got challenging, the gusts came from different directions and well perhaps I was not that lucky.[more]
“In the last race I surprisingly got a (UFD) – crossing the line too early – but I am not sure why and hope the jury will re-consider. It’s my first time racing in Lago di Santa Croce and it’s all crazy and difficult, which I expected when I arrived here, but I never believed that it could be windy on this lake. However yesterday we had really good winds and I hope the same for tomorrow as it will be a sunny day according to the forecast.
“Everybody is fast here, because it’s so flat and you don’t really need that much technique – You just Fly – especially the lightweight guys, they easily hold their big sails in the gust and at the same time keep quite some speed in the lulls, which is a bit more difficult for me, but I try my best.
“It’s been a good championship so far with a lot of competitors and a lot of races, so all good.”
Local boy in his prime, Ennio Dal Pont, continues to lead the Championship in the Youth division.
He said, “Well I am happy to be racing on my home lake, I prefer strong winds with my 11 square meter sail, because it performs well in the strong winds here. Normally when the sun is out here on the lake you usually get 18 knots with 20 knots gusts and it’s just perfect for me. I know this lake really well and I know how to make use of the gusts and where to tack or jibe on the course area.
“One of the strong youth competitors is the Danish Anders Eliasen, who is a really good upwind sailor. Today he was on his 10 square meters sail and did not perform that well on the downwind reach as he probably lacked some pressure in his sail. But in the last races sailed today he was back on the 11 and we had some really good racing battles. The first days were a bit heavy and tricky with the strange weather here, the wind was unusual and came slightly from a different direction. Today it was the right direction and the usual wind force and I was happy with the 5 races sailed and 5 1st places. That’s a total of 8 bullets now, so tomorrow I continue to focus, try to avoid any mistakes and keep some pressure off.”
Probably 4 more races on schedule for tomorrow and then we will see.
Top 5 Masters after 11 Races
1. PREISS JANIS LAT-23
2. MARTINHO MIGUEL POR-5
3. POLTENSTEIN MARKUS AUT-30
4. LIUTKUS GIEDRIUS LTU-11
5. SJOSTEDT ULF SWE-8
Top 5 Youths after 6 Races
1. DAL PONT ENNIO NED-46
2. ELIASEN ANDERS DEN-48
3. FRANKEN MAURITS NED-35
4. DEBEUF ARNE BEL-96
5. DZIRNIEKS MARTINS LAT-188
Tomorrow is the last competition day in Lago di Santa Croce and two Formula Windsurfing World Champions will be crowned at the end of the day. The first possible warning is scheduled at 11:00.
Things can still change and it’s all in the hands of the magical weather tomorrow.
