Radial Worlds underway

Light winds suprise competitors at the Laser Radial World Championship in Brazil

A record 39 countries from six continents took to the water today for the first two races in the Laser Radial Men's and Women's World Championships in Fortaleza, Brasil.

For the women this championship is the first time all the top sailors have met at one event since the class was selected as the women's single-handed dinghy for the 2008 Olympics. As a result there was an excited anticipation amongst the spectators to see who would be going quickly in the women's fleet.

After two weeks of windy training the light 9 to 12 knot winds were unexpected and caught a number of sailors in all the fleets by surprise.

Jennifer Spalding from Canada led defending champion Krystal Weir AUS, Charlotte Dobson GBR and European Champion Sarah Steyaert FRA at the first mark. Steyaert went furthest right on the second windward leg and took the lead which she held to finish first ahead of Spalding and Weir.

In the slightly lighter winds of the second race Steyaert took places on both downwind legs to recover from 12th at the first mark to third at the finish behind Gea Jutens NED and Petra Niemen GER who both held the same positions through out the race.

In the second women's fleet Sarah Blanck had a similar day to Steyaert coming from fourth at the first mark to finish first and then pulling through to grab a fifth in the second race behind race winner Karin Soderstrom SWE.

Steyaert has a two-point lead on the field with Blanc sharing the runner up spot with Larissa Nevierov ITA who was pleased with her result after spending the day in bed yesterday feeling unwell. Number one ranked, Paige Riley USA posted two consistent fourth places to take fourth overall two points ahead of Spalding. Riley said, "I'm pretty happy. I was surprised by the light wind because I thought it would be 'nukin' but I think it is good because it makes the whole regatta more interesting."

In the men's fleet, which is also split into two groups, Carlo de Paoli ITA led Andreas Perdicaris BRA and Max Andrews NZL. On the downwind Perdicaris and Andrews pulled though to first and second which they held to the finish.

Place changes were a lot more dramatic in the second group when Brad Funk USA dropped from third to 13th as the young Russian Igor Lisovenko came from nowhere to win from Daniel Jacobsen and fellow Brasilian Eduardo Couto.

Couto was again at the top in his second race rounding in second he passed Tiago Rodrigues to lead home Dany Stansic CRO who recovered from a poor first windward leg and Funk who this time climbed from fourth to third.

Brasilians were also cleaning up in the other group as Fabio Dutra Pillar mirrored Couto's race. Peruvian Gonzalo Barclay was the only person able to spoil a perfect Brasilian top nine with a second place finish. A lighter day is expected tomorrow before the trade winds slowly build for the remainder of the championship.

Reults:

Women:

1-Sarah Steyaert FRA 4pts
2-Sarah Blanc AUS 6pts
3-Larissa Nevierov ITA 6pts
4-Paige Riley USA 8pts
5-Jennifer Spalding CAN 9pts
6-Karin Soderstrom SWE 11pts
7-Anna Tunncliffe 12pts
8-Sara Winther NZL 13pts
9-Penny Mountford GBR 14pts
10-Florencia Cerutti ARG 16pts

Men:

1-Eduardo Couto BRA 4pts
2-Daniel Jacobsson BRA 6pts
3-Alexandre Tinoco BRA 7pts
4-Andreas Perdicaris BRA 9pts
5-Tiago Rodrigues BRA 9pts
6-Fabio Dutra Pillar BRA 12pts
7-Gonzalo Barclay PER 12pts
8-Igor Lisovenko RUS 13pts
9-Dany Stansic SLO 13pts
10-Max Andrews NZL 13pts