#420 – After four qualifying races Lizzy and Cara McDowell of Malahide Yacht Club are 19th from 60 at the 2015 420 World Championships in Castle Bay Karatsu, Japan with a third placing their best result to date. Howth boys pairing of Douglas Elmes and Colin O'Sullivan, who also scored a third, are 31 from 72 having sailed just two races so far.
Up until this morning the fleet had only two races after two days racing, in poor conditions.
All change on day 2, with two races now completed for all fleets, helping the programme recover a bit from yesterday's disarray after the effects of last week's passing typhoon.
The Italian teams had their mojo on fire and came out of day 2 sitting pretty in headline positions in each of the three World Championship fleets; 420 Open, 420 Ladies and 420 U17.
The qualification series for the 420 Open and 420 Ladies will continue tomorrow, with fleets re-seeded based on today's leaderboard positions. After 6 races, the 420 Open and 420 Ladies fleets will be split into gold and silver groups for the final series of 6 scheduled races. The 420 U17 World Championship fleet is sailing a single series of 12 scheduled races.
420 Open
Giovanni Pizzatti/Anna Poli (ITA) maintained their winning form from yesterday, clocking up another win in the yellow fleet. Two races for the blue fleet, and Japan's Hiroaki Kato/Takuma Youshinaga matched the Italians and are on tiebreak with back to back wins. Greece's Nikolaos Brilakis/Giorgos Karadimas are in third.
Usually Kato/Youshinaga can be found lake sailing to the north of Japan, which most probably helped them in today's light conditions.
"It is quite a nice position, but we only have done two races," said Kato. "So I will do my best for tomorrow. The weather conditions were unstable and we were continually talking throughout the race, watching the wind and trying to find the best track. I think that is what brought us a good result. As usual we didn't focus on the others; we just focused on doing our best. So we will try to do the same tomorrow and are aiming for gold at the end."
Sailing on home waters seems to have favoured the Japanese teams, who hold three spots in the top 10.
The fleet is packed with the world's 420 talent, and right up in the mix are the 2015 South American 420 Champions, Felipe Dinis/Ivan Aranguren, who have a solid 9,4 scorecard, sitting in 10th overall.
"These are nice results. Today was a difficult race with light winds, but we managed to be in the front," explained Aranguren. "We were in 6th position, when we were about to finish the race and we managed to pass two boats. They got confused and went to the wrong mark," he smiled. "It was a good day for us.
"It is really good for us to be here from the other side of the world. Japan is a beautiful country."
The pair come from the same club in Argentina and have sailed Optimists together since they were eight years old, partnering up in the 420 two years ago. They finished 13th at last year's 420 Worlds in Germany and competing in Japan marks their first event outside of Argentina this year.
420 Open – Top 10
1. Hiroaki Kato/Takuma Yoshinaga (JPN) – 2 pts
2. Giovanni Pizzatti/Anna Poli (ITA) – 2 pts
3. Nikolaos Brilakis/Giorgos Karadimas (GRE) – 7 pts
4. Kotaro Matsuo/Riki Tominaga (JPN) – 8 pts
5. Daichi Takayama/Syota Nakano (JPN) – 8 pts
6. Max Clapp/Ross Banham (GBR) – 10 pts
7. Diogo Costa/Pedro Costa (POR) – 11 pts
8. Maor Abu/Yoav Rooz (ISR) – 12 pts
9. Guglielmo Frangi/Pietro Frangi (ITA) – 12 pts
10. Felipe Diniz/Ivan Aranguren (ARG) – 13 pts
420 Ladies
A standout performance from Italy's Sofia Giondi/Giulia Gatta, defying their debut appearance at a World Championship. The pair count a 1,4 scoreboard, to hold the lead on tiebreak with Spain's Marta Garrido/Maria Jesus Davila on a 3,2 score. Certainly not intimidated by the level of competition around them, the Italians are intensely focused on the road ahead.
"We are very happy with our day," said Giondi. "The competition here is very hard. In race 2 we were leading, but we just couldn't keep control.
"Japan is a different culture, and we are really enjoying it," continued Giondi. "This Championship is really impressive and to be our first year sailing a 420 and here competing at the Worlds is amazing."
In third place are Mano Udagawa/Yuri Saito, on tiebreak with Paula Igual/Margarita Alba (ESP) in fourth.
Singapore's Elisa Yukie Yokoyama/Samantha Annabelle Neubronner came into the 420 Worlds as the recently crowned South-East Asian Games Champions in June 2015. Perfect preparation for the 420 Worlds. No surprise to see them sealing the win in race 2, to end their day 2 in 5th overall
Yokoyama is no stranger to success, having won the prized title of Optimist World Champion in 2012. She explained their day, "The conditions were really tricky as the wind was light and there was a lot of rain around. We just wanted to start the regatta consistently, so we are pleased.
"The SEA Games are very different as the fleet is much smaller," Yokoyama continued. "So the tactics, boat to boat racing and decision making in this size fleet is totally different. It is my first time sailing in Japan, and we just want to go out racing, have fun and do our best."
"We rounded the top mark in third," said Neubronner. "The Italians, French and Japanese were really close behind us. It was a tough fight but we managed to pull through. We got the advantage as we were the only ones to round the gate to the left, and we got the edge."
Reflecting on the friendship side of sailing, Yokoyama has been catching up with her friends from Optimist sailing days, many of whom she has known for years, saying, "The Optimist really encourages friendship and forging friendship. It is really great to have all moved to the same class and stayed in touch."
420 Ladies – Top 10
1. Sofia Giondi/Giulia Gatta (ITA) – 5 pts
2. Marta Garrido/María Jesus Dávila (ESP) - 5 pts
3. Mano Udagawa/Yuri Saito (JPN) - 7 pts
4. Paula Igual/Margarita Alba (ESP) - 7 pts
5. Elisa Yukie Yokoyama/Samantha Annabelle Neubronner (SIN) - 9 pts
6. Margot Vennin/Marie Zugolaro (FRA) - 9 pts
7. Jenny Smallwood/Danielle Thomas (GBR) - 14 pts
8. Sarah Norbury/Mari Davies (GBR) - 14 pts
9. Kathryn Hall/Emily Gonzalez (USA) - 15 pts
10. María Bover Guerrero/Clara Llabrés (ESP) - 16 pts
