World Laser Radial Youth Championship 2007 Reports

4th - 11th August 2007 - The Hague, The Netherlands

Final Day, Saturday August 11th, 2007

Light winds lead to nail biting finishes in the final races.

In contrasting conditions to the previous day the final two races in the Laser Radial Youth World Championship were completed in a 6 to 9 knot northerly wind under blue skies. The south going current with the wind in the first race helped keep the fleets behind the line but made the .5 mile windward legs slow. The wind started backing for the start of the second race with a small increase in pressure. The course was moved several times as the wind tracked to the north west where it finally settled although with more shifts than the first race.

By the time the course was re-set the tide had turned 180 degrees and caused several recalls in each fleet, fast windward legs but very slow downwind legs.

Israel's Suffa Ben Horin held off a strong challenge from Anne Haeger USA to win her first race of the Youth Female championship. Behind them series leader, Susana Romero Steensma ESP was having her own private battle with overall third, Sarah Gunni DEN. Steensma passed Gunni on the final downwind leg to finish 7th and still in control of the overall title as second overall, Tuula Tenkanen FIN, was having a bad day in back in the twenties.

Once again there was drama in the last race of the day. Steensma threw caution to the wind in an effort to get a good start and was over the line along with 7 others in a black flag start which meant she could not start in the restart of the race. Tenkanen had to win to to take the title. She gave it her best shot finishing second to Tiffany Brian IRL and was resigned to the runner-up position. On coming ashore she found out that Brian was being protested by the jury for a mark touching incident and subsequently disqualified. That left Tenkanen the race winner and World Champion by .4 of a point!

In the Youth Male gold fleet, Thorbjoern Schierup from Denmark, the overall leader since the first day, had to score 11th place or better in one of the races to be certain of winning the overall title. He struggled in the lighter winds and scored his worst result of the series, a 13th. However he was only 4 places behind his nearest rival, Ioannis Mitakis GRE and still needed an 11th or finish worse but ahead of Mitakis to win. Mitakis could still win with a 2nd place in the final race if Schierup made a mistake. As it turned out all top 4 sailors scored worse than 22nd which gave Schierup the title whilst USA's Andy Philip led the final race home ahead Filip Matika from Croatia.

Day 5, Friday August 10th, 2007

A 20 knot Northerly wind and challenging waves lead to a great day of sailing in The Netherlands.

The disappointment of losing a day of racing yesterday was forgotten as soon as the 280 sailors in the Laser Radial Youth World Championship left the harbour and were greeted with a 20 knot northerly wind and challenging waves. Throughout the week it has been a case of getting a race when you can and today was a good example. Faced with a forecast of light winds for the final day the race committee scheduled and completed 3 races for each fleet and were still ashore before the end of the afternoon.

The youth female start was the only one to be recalled in the first race of the day. Racing was close between Susana Romero Teensma ESP, Mathilde de Kerangat FRA, Sabine Isambert FRA , Chloe Martin GBR and Cushla Hume-Merry NZL. Hume-Merry and Teensma both improved in the last third of the race to finish first and second. In the second race Sarah Gunni DEN had established a big lead by the 2nd upwind that she held until the finish with Tuula Tekanen FIN filling the runner up position. Tekanen's second place put her in the runner up position behind Steensma as the overnight leader, Anne Haeger USA, could only manage a 14th and 17th.

Approaching the windward mark for the first time in the third race of the day Tuula, on starboard tack, was hit by a port tack port. The collision resulted in a large hole in the Finnish boat and she had to retire. The international jury gave her redress and she is now only 5.6 pts behind Steensma who finished 7th in the last race of the day. Out in front De Kerangat scored her first win of the series after an exciting battle with Gunni.

In the male youth fleet the series leader, Thorbjoern Schierup from Denmark was once again the best sailor on the course. Starting conservatively in each race he worked his way through the fleet to win the first and third races of the day and finish 3rd in the second race. The only person near him on the water was Australian, James Burman, who finished second to Thorbjoern in the first race and won the second race. Trying too hard in the third race he capsized at the end of first downwind when lying second to Slovenian Luka Domijan. In spite of a quick recovery he had let Thorbjoern and Gijs Pelt NED through and finished 6th.

Schierup only needs one good result tomorrow to take the male youth title.

Two races are scheduled for the final day

Day 4, Thursday August 9th, 2007

A 26 knot Northerly wind and 2m waves keep sailors ashore for the day.

A 23 to 26 knot northerly wind and forecast to increase throughout the day led to a postponement for the start of the fourth day of racing and the fleet were held ashore. The forecast called for a moderation in wind strength later in the evening. More in hope than belief the sailors were called back in the afternoon for a decision on whether to race in the evening. True to forecast the wind had built during the day and the wave height increased to over 2 metres.

An updated forecast gave the wind moderating even later than previously forecast so the Race Committee postponed all racing to the following day. The race instructions for the youth male fleet provide for a change to Gold, Silver and Bronze Finals fleets after 4 racing days.

Three races are scheduled for Friday due to a light wind forecast for the final day on Saturday.

Day 3, Wednesday August 8th, 2007

A 16 knot Northerly wind and good surfing waves

A good gradient produced a steady northerly air stream of 16 knots across the course area at the Laser Radial Youth World Championship in the Netherlands. Starting on time the first fleet away was the youth female who had a clean start after a general recall. A strong current against the wind gave a new set of conditions for the sailors and some good surfing waves. Annalise Murphy from Ireland made the best of these to lead Cushla Hume-Merry NZL home to give them both their best result in the championship so far. Murphy was unable to maintain her momentum in the second race dropping to 18th. Out in front Finland's Tuula Tenkanen was on fire. She went from 8th at the first mark to 2nd at the end of the second leg. By the time she got to the bottom of the downwind she was a comfortable first and then extended her lead to win by the biggest margin in any fleet. With a big smile on her face her coach said "Today was ideal conditions for Tuula. She is very fast off wind."

Overnight leader, Anne Haeger USA, held on to her shared lead with a consistent 8th and 9th now that she can drop her worst result. In spite of scoring the best result of the day with a 4th in the first race, Tenkanen drops to third 3 points behind the other joint leader, Susan Romero Steensma from Spain.

The best result of the day went to the most consistent sailor in the championship, Thorbjoern Schierup from Denmark in the youth male championship. His two first places helped him extend his overall lead. He currently discards a 4th place and counts four first places to lead Alex Mills-Barton GBR and Iannnis Mitakis GRE who are both on 9 points. Mills-Barton led his fleet from start to finish in the first race. There was drama in his second race. Rounding the last mark he had a narrow lead over Malo Leseigneur FRA and Thomas Willis GBR. Willis got through to first place on the short upwind leg to the finish with Leseigneur dropping to third behind Mills-Barton. However the show is never over until last song ends. For Willis it ended with a yellow flag penalty from the jury immediately after the finish for an infringement just before crossing the finish line. This gave Willis an 8 point penalty to add to his score.

Tomorrow (Thursday) is the last day of qualifier races before the fleet is split into gold, silver and bronze.

Day 2, Tuesday August 7th, 2007

Held ashore for 6 hours waiting for wind!

After a long day on the water resulting in only one completed race on the first day the 280 competitors were held ashore for 6 hours on the second day waiting for wind. Their patience was rewarded when finally sent afloat at 1500 into a building 7 knots knot NW breeze that was averaging 12 knots by the time of the first start at 1630. A cross course current meant that the course had to be offset 20 degrees to maintain a good windward leg. It also helped keep the fleet behind the line so there were less recalls. Throughout the afternoon the wind built to 15 knots and slowly veered 30 degrees to end up in the north. The great conditions enabled the Race Committee to complete 2 races that were very close. Even the sun co-operated by providing a beautiful sunset as the fleet planned back to the harbour!

The fleet is split into 1 female group and 3 male group starting in the same order. In the female race a number of the leaders from the previous day mis-read the current and dropped down the result list but learnt their lessons well for the second race of the day. In the men the results over the 3 races were much more consistent resulting in the overall points being lower.

Day 1, Monday August 6th, 2007

With a total of 205 boys and 70 girls it was busy at the slipway

Today was the first day of the Youth World Championship Laser Radial 2007. After a wonderful opening with snacks, drinks and a great band it was now the time to get serious. With a total of 205 boys and 70 girls it was busy at the slipway but our beach master Jeen Bouwmeester made everything go smoothly.

The sailing weather seemed to be good, blue skies and good wind but didn't last long. The wind dropped and dark clouds were on their way to the racing area at the coast of Scheveningen. The first start of the day for the ladies was at half past one.

The youth had a lot of trouble controlling their boats with the strong current, particularly at the start. A total of 58 sailors started too early, of which 16 girls. Each starting group needed about 5 tries before finally starting the race, due to a lack of experience of the youth. The current came from behind which carried them over the start line.

Around five o'clock it was decided to send everyone home due to lack of wind. First 3 groups had sailed a full race but the last group of the boys was shortened at the second mark.

Winners of the day in the boys fleet were Thorbjoem Schierup (DEN), Coadou Antoine (FRA) en David Jessop (GBR) and they share the first place. Anna Haeger from the USA won the first race in the girls fleet.

Two races are scheduled for tomorrow. The forecasts are 10 to 15 knots in the course of the day.