Germans continue to dominate

A report from day two of the Soling Worlds

The World Soling Championship continues in Castiglione della Pescaia, after today again confirming itself to be an ideal race venue. Excellent visibility allowed the 43 competing teams to race while admiring the Argentario peninsula, Giglio, Montecristo and Elba Islands.

At the start of the first race given at 12:45, all 43 teams from 13 competing nations squared off under a summer sky with winds from the north east between 8-10 knots. After a nail biting start teams started beating towards the dunes of Le Marze, while on the horizon Mount Amiata dominated the landscape. Koch, Koch, and Jornenann on GER 300 rounded the upwind mark first, closely followed by HUN 77 and NED 25. In tenth position the local Gianni Tognozzi's crew of ITA 243 (Tognozzi, Seri, Soffici) was closely followed by his brother Michele on ITA 194 (Tognozzi, Buglielli, Carotti). During the race a dramatic wind shift (more than 180
degrees) forced the Race Committee to alter the race course, positioning the upwind mark towards Punta Ala - a change that forced crews to alter their tactics completely and split the fleet into two separate groups.

Antoncic, Strakh, Hmeljak on SLO 1 crossed the finish line first, followed by GER 300 and Maschkiwitz, Oehler, Saurbier on GER 304). The 'Maremma Boys' did well ending up in tenth position with ITA 243 (G. Tognozzi, Seri, Soffici) and in eleventh with ITA 194 (M. Tognozzi , Buglielli, Carotti).

In the fourth race the German team Koch, Koch, Jornenann (GER 300) won, followed by the Norwegians Usterud, Ottestad, Goldeng (NOR 133) and in third position HUN 1 (Gyenese, Monus, Vezer). Italian teams fought with honour, with ITA 194 (M. Tognozzi, Buglielli, Carotti) taking 15th place.

Alessandra Sensini, windsurf Olympic gold medal, commented the race form the press boat "A dream of a world championship. Castiglione's race course confirms itself to be one of the most technical and every day competitors measure themselves against very diverse weather conditions. This allows athletes to express their capabilities fully; these are the conditions I dreamt of in Athens..."

Results:

Pos	Sail	Helmsman	Middleman	Bowman	R1	R2	R3	R4	Tot
1	GER 300	Roman Koch	Maxl Koch	Gregor Bornemann	1	2	2	1	6
2	SLO 1	Bostjan Antoncic	Gennadi Strakh	x TBA	2	4	1	11	18
3	ARG 32	Gustavo Warburg	Santiago Nottebohmm	Eduardo Coulon	5	7	9	7	28
4	HUN 77	George Wossala	Nemeth Peter	Kovasci Laszlo	8	11	6	21	46
5	BRA 68	Renato Cunha Faria	Ricardo Ermel	Eduardo Cunha Faria	12	21	7	8	48
6	HUN 1	Balazs Gyenese	Gyula Monus	Karoly Vezer	bdf	1	4	3	52
7	NED 25	Johan Offermans	Hans Zijlstra	Bas Dusee	9	15	5	24	53
8	AUT 124	Markus Schneeberger	Volker Moser	Christian Panek	15	12	20	9	56
9	CAN 848	Peter Allen	Karl Anderson	Scott Norris	4	24	24	5	57
10	USA 842	Stuart Walker	John Standiford	Tom Price	11	16	13	17	57
11	AUT 117	Carl Auteried	Martin Kendler	Udo Moser	bfd	6	8	4	62
12	ITA 243	Giovanni Tognozzi	Fausto Ori	Luigi Seri	10	14	10	28	62
13	GER 308	Karl Haist	Thomas Olbrich	Torsten Postrach	20	3	21	20	64
14	GER 304	Thomas Maschkiwitz	Christian Oehler	Christoph Sauerbier	bdf	8	3	10	65
15	USA 807	Joe Hoeksema	Matias Collins	Rose Hoeksema	14	13	25	13	65
16	ITA 194	Michele Tognozzi	Giuliano Carotti	Marco Buglielli	16	28	11	15	70
17	USA 832	Charlie Kamps	Toby Kamps	Vitas Kasniunas	3	22	31	16	72
18	ARG 34	Martin Busch	Pablo Noceti	Maximo Feldtmann	bdf	5	18	6	73
19	ITA 201	Piero Romeo	Andrea Maramai	Fabio Piccioni	22	17	19	22	80
20	GER 292	Thomas Scherer	Axel Busenius	Andreas Baumüller	19	23	12	27	81
21	NOR 133	Dag Usterud	Arne Ottestad	Eskil Goldeng	bdf	10	26	2	82
22	GER 318	Heino Schuckmann	Markus Marquardt	Tobias Hanke	21	29	14	18	82
23	AUT 127	Michael Felzmann	BJÖRN GILHOFER	Felix Hasch	bfd	9	16	14	83
24	NED 38	Bram Soethoudt	Gilbert Figaroa	Geert Verheij	17	20	23	23	83
25	ITA 203	Bruno Maffezzoli	x Maffezzoli	xx Maffezzoli	13	19	27	29	88
26	NOR 128	Preben Asbjørnrød	Richard Fikse	Bernt Ole Christensen	bdf	18	17	12	91
27	ITA 242	Giuseppe Veronesi	Samuel Meoni	Denis Consolati	18	26	29	26	99
28	ITA 254	Domenico Carducci	Andrea Genna	Gianluca Ferraro	6	dns	22	30	102
29	ITA 213	Virgilio Cadei	mauro bortolotti	pietro cadei	27	30	32	19	108
30	GER 267	Jan Carl Kochen	Deertz Bernd	Alexander Holl	7	dns	30	35	116
31	AUT 119	Maximilian Hoyer	Jakob Urbanek	Peter Schiefer	dns	31	15	32	122
32	AUT 121	Christian Nothhaft	Martin Zeileis	Patrick Wichmann	bfd	25	28	25	122
33	ITA 258	x Viti	Donnini Rinaldo	Saletti leonardo	23	32	40	31	126
34	ITA 255	Fabio Curini Galletti	Massimo Curatolo	Riccardo Turi	26	35	33	33	127
35	AUT 102	Ludwig Beurle	Christian Fischer	Ekkehart Steinhuber	24	27	38	40	129
36	FRA 150	Grenet Grenet	Godest Patrick	Nicolas Baudry	28	36	34	36	134
37	GER 243	Emil Kuchta	Sabine Kuchta	Susanne Kuchta	30	39	35	39	143
38	GER 14	Herbert Balzer	Gerhard Auerswald	Gisela Balzer	29	37	37	41	144
39	GER 312	Gernot Heller	Umberto Valle	Dirk Hensel	bdf	33	36	34	147
40	GBR 164	Derek Priestley	Dave Fish	Shaun Priestley	25	dns	41	38	148
41	ITA 209	Fabio Armellini	Attilia Papini	Nicola Armellini	bdf	34	39	37	154
42	GER 228	Heinz Herzer	Alfred Prommer	Georg Fritzweiler	31	40	43	43	157
43	ITA 241	Luca Montanarella	Francesco Attardo	Carmelo Attardo	bdf	38	42	42	166

The Soling World Championship has been organised by the Club Velico Castiglione della Pescaia, in collaboration with the International Soling Association, the International Sailing Federation, the Italian Sailing Federation (FIV) and the committee Circoli Velici della Costa Etrusca. The Race committee is chaired by Sandro Gherarducci, Councilman of the Italian National Sailing Federation (F.I.V.). The International Jury is formed by Tullio Girali, Italian; Kostas Tsantilis, Greek and Judge at the past Olympics in Athens; Christian Pupien, Belgian; Ilker Bayindir, Turkish; e Henri Peronneaut, French.

The event has the patronage and support of the Province of Grosseto and the Municipality of Castiglione della Pescaia. It has been made possible thanks to the contribution of Consorzio Albergatori Firenze Hotel de la Pace, SLAM, Banca della Maremma Credito Cooperativo di Grosseto, BMW Concessionaria Auto Fratelli Gori di Grosseto, the Chamber of Commerce of Grosseto, Banfi, Ristorante Pierbacco, C.O.A.R.O, Scalambra Service, Casa Vacanze, Acot Castiglione della Pescaia, Studio Trend, La Gardenia Profumerie.