Jaques and Sign win qualifiers

A reports from the 29er Worlds in Silva Plana, Switzerland.

Russell Coutts opened the championships with the remark: "if I was 25 years younger I'd be sailing a 29er!"

After three days of spectacular racing beneath snow capped mountains in this magnificent venue you can see exactly what he means.

The 87 strong fleet was split into two equal groups, each fleet alternating with the other in 10 windward-leeward races over the three days. Two boats, the British Crewsaver team of Tristen Jaques & Alain Sign and the flying Fins Lauri Lehtinen and Mikka Pennennen in Arcadia have dominated the qualifying series with four and five firsts respectively. Jaques & Sign lead with 16 points from Lehtinen & Pennanans 17 points. These two boats have yet to race each other so the spectators are in for a treat in the three day gold series starting Thursday.

In hot pursuit of these two are the winners of the recent International championship in Weymouth, the Australians Dave O'Conner and Scott Babbage on 23 points who in turn have a massive 26 point lead over last years Worlds runner up from Argentina Pepe Bettini & Frederico Villambrosa.

In the strongest International fleet for years, the gold fleet has 6 British, 5 USA, 2 Argentineans, 3 Fins, 2 Danish, 2 German, 2 Swiss, 2 Australians, and 1 New Zealand boats.

The sky is blue, the mountains white, the wind 15 to 20 knots and the water is emerald green and just above freezing!

Top 50 results

Pos	Helm	Crew	Sail No	R1A	R1B	R2A	R2B	R3A	R3B	R4A	R4B	R5A	R5B	R6A	R6B	R7A	R7B	R8A	R8B	R9A	R9B	R10A	R10B	Tot
1	Tristan Jaques	Alain Sign	GBR619	3		1		2		1			3		2		1		2		1		43	16
2	Lauri Lehtinen	Miikka Pennanen	FIN548		1		1		3		1	6		1		4		1		2		3		17
3	David O'Connor	Scott Babbage	AUS648	1		2		3		3		2		16		3		2			2		5	23
4	Pepe Bettini	Federico Villambrosa	ARG2	8		10		4		4			7		14		8		1	3		4		49
5	John Winning	Sam Newton	AUS982	2		3		1		2			21		17		9		12		5		1	52
6	Dylan Fletcher	Nick Hollis	GBR950		5		4		5		12		11		12		6		3		6		2	54
7	Brooks Reed	Matt Noble	USA973	4		5		6		8		8		28		7		5			7		4	54
8	Edward Chapman	Thomas Peel	GBR6		4		3		2		4		43		9		12		15	1		6		56
9	Peter Graham	Rhys O'Cain	NZL977		2		5		6		19	9		3		20		6		7		2		59
10	Justin Visser	Simon Wheeler	GBR14		3		2		1		3	24		12		13		43		4		1		63
11	Francisco Piccini	Hernan Bento Gago	ARG26		9		7		4		2		25		3		11		16		4		7	63
12	Silja Lehtinen	Silja Kanerva	FIN972	30		8		14		9			6		1		10		6		3		8	65
13	Hannes Wagner	Hannes Peckolt	GER778	6		4		5		7		4		17		10		10		11		8		65
14	Helle Ørum Nielsen	Maria Gade	DEN12		10		9		10		6		2		5		7		7	16		11		67
15	Marcus Bernal	Jonny Goldsberry	USA981	14		17		12		5		7		2		1		7			43		3	68
16	Ben Burns	Guy Fillmore	GBR934		7		8		9		20	21		6		9		3		5		10		77
17	Fabio Müller	Matthias Keller	SUI963	9		6		7		10			5		10		14		13		13		6	79
18	James Stewardson	Tom Morris	GBR781	19		7		43		11		1		5		6		9		8		16		82
19	Myles Gutenkunst	Morgan Gutenkunst	USA974	7		18		11		6		3		43		2		15			14		12	88
20	Cameron Biehl	Graham Biehl	USA980	20		26		9		16			1		4		3		5	21		12		91
21	Dan Brandt	Trevor Bozina	USA880		6		6		7		7	23		27		22		11		6		5		93
22	Simon Jenson	Charles Wright	DEN884		14		16		11		11		20		8		4		10		10		10	94
23	Nathalie Keller	Caspar Buettner	SUI689		12		15		17		5		9		6		13		9	15		15		99
24	Benjamin Friedhoff	Johanna Munding	GER930		13		11		22		8		4		20		2		28		9		11	100
25	Mikael Lindberg	Dennis Paetau	FIN550		17		10		8		13	10		19		19		8		17		9		111
26	Jesper Høeg	Mathias Aggerbo	DEN682	5		11		13		18			24		18		19		19		8		9	120
27	Alain Huggler	Matthew Thorslund	USA597		8		14		14		9		16		16		30		14		18		16	125
28	Maja Stendal	Annelouise Hansen	DEN942		11		13		15		14	16		11		16		26			19		15	130
29	Peter Amundsen	Kasper Giødesen	DEN686	10		22		10		13			18		13		26		18	10		17		131
30	Christian Iversen	Frederik Hallas	DEN842	11		12		18		12		20		18		27		16			11		13	131
31	Sophia Jones	Ben McVeigh	GBR703		21		18		13		10	5		15		18		23		14		18		132
32	Helen Caley	Iain Begg	NZL344	16		20		21		17		22		7		11		12			16		17	137
33	Alberto Busà	Matteo Busà	NZL56	13		15		22		15		27		9		23		4		29		25		153
34	Micael Sielecki	Tomas Wagmaister	ARG433	43		24		APA19.78		43			14		7		17		4	19		7		155
35	Luca Maffesoli	Marco Micheletti	ITA695	15		23		19		19			43		11		16		25	13		14		155
36	Michele Giorgini	Anna Postogna	ITA794		25		29		12		16	15		14		5		19		34		21		156
37	Lukas Bühler	Philippe Manner	SUI795		24		21		18		18	13		10		17		22			43		20	163
38	Jena Mai Hansen	Jonathan Bay	DEN553	17		25		15		14			29		24		23		8	12		27		165
39	Tobias Nørbo	Magnus Nørbo	DEN607	26		16		20		24		18		8		29		14			22		18	166
40	Mark Griesmaier	Stephan Zurfluh	SUI962	24		19		25		22			12		22		5		21	22		43		172
41	Fabian Schreiner	Isabell Maurer	GER798		18		25		28		24	11		23		8		17			23		25	174
42	David Hall	Laura Hall	GBR777	22		30		23		32		14		4		21		21			17		23	175
43	Tine Meyer	Soren Hansen	DEN389		15		12		19		15		27		30		31		17	43		13		179
44	Giovanni Pellicoli	Adriano Guarnieri	ITA888	21		14		16		20		26		43		14		43			15		14	183
45	Carmen Oswald	Roger Oswald	SUI58	27		13		17		25			13		40		34		27	9		19		184
46	Bo Schülein	Rune Rissgaard Petersen	DEN608	12		9		8		27		32		34		33		13			21		43	189
47	Fabio Perez	Martin Hofmann	SUI484	25		31		28		23			17		19		29		11		12		27	191
48	Frederick Vranizan	Blair Sargent	USA978		23		17		16		23		23		28		25		29	18		23		196
49	Ralf von Schorlemer	Felix Schmidt	GER683		16		30		23		17	19		43		12		18		20		43		198
50	Tapio Lehtinen	Vivi Fleming Lehtinen	FIN404	18		21		24		21			30		29		20		32	30		20		213