Aussie gold

First female winner of 29er World Championships

While heavy currents and varying wind conditions challenged competitors all week, the 6th annual 29er World Championships delivered on the promise of bringing world class racing to San Francisco Bay. With a field of more than 75 boats and 150 competitors, the week-long event hosted by the St. Francis Yacht Club featured a broad range of weather conditions, sailing skills and thrills for both competitors and spectators alike.

Australian Jacqui Bonnitcha became the first woman to win the championship with fellow Australians David O’Connor and Scott Babbage taking second place in the Gold fleet followed by local heroes John Heineken and Matt Noble in third. Other local competitors included Jen Morgan and Anthony Boscolo who finished seventh overall. Britain's best result was with Justin Visser and Simon Wheeler, an excellent performance that gave them the Junior World Champion title.

The overall fleet included more than 150 sailors from almost a dozen countries around the world including Argentina, Australia, Canada, Denmark, England, Finland, China, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland and the U.S.A. Forty races were conducted over the course of the week-long competition. After a qualifying series of 16 races (8 for each competitor) which concluded on Thursday, July 7, the fleet was divided into Gold, Silver and Bronze fleets with the top 25 boats competing in the Gold Class. The final series consisted of 10 additional races for the Gold class (8 for the silver and 6 for the bronze).

“With boats crossing at 20-plus knots, crews hiking out on trapezes and day-glo spinnakers the 29er World Championships brought the excitement of first-class, international sailing to San Francisco Bay,” stated Race Developer Paul Heineken of the St. Francis Yacht Club. “Over the course of the week, the weather varied significantly challenging competitors to showcase a broad range of sailing skill and abilities and attracted significant numbers of spectators to Crissy Field,” he added.

At trophy ceremonies following the completion of racing, prizes were awarded in the following categories:

Gold Fleet

1 AUS 718 Jacqui Bonnitcha, Euan McNicol AUS gold 3 4 1 *8 3 6 4 3 5 *7 2, 31
2 AUS 3 David O'Connor, Scott Babbage AUS gold 7 *8 2 2 *7 5 1 6 3 3 5, 34
3 USA 529 John Heineken, Matt Noble USA gold 6 *13 5 7 11 *12 5 1 1 4 1, 41
4 GBR 5 Justin Visser, Simon Wheeler GBR gold 15 *7 7 1 5 2 2 4 *12 1 4, 41
5 GBR 10 Dylan Fletcher, Nick Hollis GBR gold 1 1 8 *10 2 8 8 *15 10 6 7, 51
6 AUS 769 Jamie Woods, Iain Jensen AUS gold 8 *24 6 *DSQ 12 7 3 7 11 2 14, 70
7 USA 522 Jen Morgan, Anthony Boscolo USA gold 10 5 15 6 14 1 11 2 *19 *21 11, 75
8 AUS 713 James Dorron, Charles Dorron AUS gold 19 *21 10 *17 6 3 9 8 13 8 3, 79
9 ARG 4 Pepe Bettini, Caspar Buettner ARG gold 12 14 4 4 4 *DNF 6 *20 9 16 15, 84
10 USA 52 Ty Reed, Bora Gulari USA gold 22 3 *DNF 3 8 4 7 *DNF 7 11 DNF, 91
11 GBR 6 Ed Chapman, Tom Peel GBR gold 4 *25 21 11 *22 10 12 9 8 5 12, 92
12 USA 19 Cameron Biehl, Zack Maxam USA gold 5 15 *19 14 1 15 13 *17 4 14 16, 97
13 USA 18 Brooks Reed, Brian Malouf USA gold 25 6 3 9 16 *20 *OCS 12 6 12 8, 97
14 AUS 863 Will Critharis, Seve Jarvin AUS gold 2 210.3*RDG *DNF 9 *OCS 18 5 20 18 18, 102.3
15 CAN 291 Marc Farmer, Trevor Parekh CAN gold 20 9 16 *22 10 *DNF 21 11 2 10 6, 105
16 ARG 433 Francisco Piccini, Daniel Pierrard ARG gold 9 *17 17 13 *20 11 17 10 16 15 9, 117
17 DEN 12 Helle Nielsen, Simon Jensen DEN gold 13 11 14 *21 15 9 10 18 18 *24 17, 125
18 ARG 582 Matias Gainza, Eurnekian Ignacio Zapiola ARG gold 17 12 13 *19 17 *19 19 14 15 9 19, 135
19 DEN 682 Jesper Hoeg, Mathias Aggerbo DEN gold 14 *23 11 15 21 13 *22 22 14 13 13, 136
20 GBR 1041 Huw Humphreys, Max Todd GBR gold 11 22 9 20 *23 16 14 *DNF DSQ 20 10, 148
21 FIN 2 Lauri Lhetinnan, Sean Doyle FIN gold 18 18 18 5 13 18 20 *23 *OCS 19 20, 149
22 CAN 450 Stephen Waldie, Louis-Philippe Bougie-Ba CAN gold 24 10 23 16 *OCS 14 15 13 *24 22 21, 158
23 SUI 15 Fabio Mueller, Matthias Keller SUI gold 21 16 22 18 19 *OCS 16 16 17 *23 22, 167
24 AUS 8 John Winning, Tom Anderson AUS gold 16 19 12 *OCS 24 17 *DNF 19 22 17 DNF, 172
25 USA 513 Stu McNay, Graham Biehl USA gold 23 20 20 12 18 21 23 21 23 *DNS *DNF, 181

Silver Fleet
1st Place: DEN 26 Peter Ammundsen & Kasper Giodesen
2nd Place: FIN 7 Silja Lehtinen & Silja Kanerva
3rd Place: ARG 868 Micael Sielecki & Tomas Wagmaister

Junior Division:
Junior World Champion Boy: GBR 5 Justin Visser / Simon Wheeler
Junior World Champion Girl: USA 442 Ashley Simpson/Nina Veggi
Youngest Competitor: GBR 1029 David Hopper 13 yrs & AUS 365 Byron White 13 yrs.

Women’s Division:
1st Place Women’s Skipper - Australia 718: Jacqui Bonnitcha w/crew Euan McNicol
2nd Place Women’s Skipper - USA 522: Jen Morgan w/crew Anthony Boscolo
3rd Place Women’s Skipper - Denmark 12: Helle Nielsen w/crew Simon Jensen
Top Women’s Team - Finland : FIN 7 Silja Lehtinen & Silja Kanerva