Ireland's Graeme Grant has taken third in the Standart sandyacht class at the land sailing world championships in Northern Germany.
Grant representing Ireland in his first Landsailing World Championships claimed a very tight third place with 13 points separated on count back from an ever-present French challenge. First was Kevin Mingot (France) on 5 points. Second was Dominic Pageot (France) on 6 points.
Five classes took part in the 2018 World Championships, the “worlds” take place every four years the previous event in 2014 was held in Nevada and the 2022 event will be hosted by Argentina.
The Irish success this year was at St. Peter Ording, northern Germany.
Graeme Grant in his green Class Standart sand yacht IR 361 leads the fleet for Team Ireland during a race in the World Landsailing Championships
The very low scoring regatta was due to the extremely challenging weather conditions presented to the event organizers. The Standart class managed only 4 races from a potential 18, competition being possible on only 2 of the scheduled 6 days.
Day 1 west south west 16-18 knots onshore winds would be consistent over the day but the soft inner beach surface left for some slower than expected speeds with no one pushing through 90kph. The ever helpful French man Ben Martin helped with setup for the Irish team giving great advice on setup for the challenging conditions.
Race 1: Ireland’s Graeme Grant with a start number of 10 on the grid front row. A strong push saw the sparkling green Standart yacht out in front but working to weather cost Graeme several places and finishing the first race in a very respectable 11th. Alan Watson with a starting position of 4 on the 36 grid had a superb start to the regatta for Team Ireland finishing in 6th. The strong start from the three member Irish team buoyed them for success
Race 2: With grid position 3 giving Graeme a good opportunity to continue the Irish charge.
Another strong start from Grant saw him in second place for much of the race, a small mistake in the second from last lap cost 2 spots but Graeme finished the day with a 4th and 3rd overall. Irish Team members Colman Billings and Alan Watson both having some great racing further back in the fleet. Extremely stormy conditions lead to the unfortunate loss of the next 3 days from the racing schedule.
After three days stood down races 3 and 4 were held on the long sweeping outer sandbanks of Sankt Peter Ording in difficult conditions. Changing sand conditions and shifting winds proving extremely challenging for both organisers and competitors. Grant shone in these difficult sailing conditions and in a hard-fought fourth race sailed through the fleet to gain a clear lead and a win leaving him in overall 3rd position going into the final day.
The final scheduled day for racing brought sunshine and warmth and light airs as other classes finished their championships in tacking races.
With the top four pilots in the Standart fleet close on points, the race starts were anxiously awaited, however, as the fleet waited on the grid for their start the wind disappeared and never returned before the scheduled Championships finish time.
The Class Standart, World Landsailing Championships Podium (left to right) 2nd Dominique Pageot (France), 1st Kevin Mingot in centre and Graeme Grant 3rd for Ireland
The fifth day's standings became the final results and Graeme Grant was confirmed as the bronze medalist at the World Landsailing Championships for Ireland in class Standart.
