Howth Yacht Club's Eve McMahon is in the top five of the Youth Sailing World Championships after day one delivered stunning weather for the start of the championships in Mussanah, Oman.
The Irish Radial youth world champion took an 11 and 4 in her opening races in the 46 boat ILCA 6 fleet to be just three points off the overall lead.
Likewise, there's been another strong start for Ireland in the boy's 29er skiff class, where Royal Cork duo James Dwyer and Ben O'Shaugnessy are in sixth place on 11 points after three races sailed in the top ten (10.0, 7.0 and 4.0), the Cork Harbour pair are just seven points off the overall lead.
Ireland's third boat at the event, Royal Cork's Jonathan O'Shaughnessy, is 31st from 50 in the boy's ILCA 6 fleet.
All results here.
The breeze started around midday at 5 knots, climbing to around 12 to 13 knots by late afternoon. All 11 events completed their schedule of races for the 433 sailors from 59 nations.
The interesting challenge for the doublehanded teams in the 420 and 29er fleets is that many crews share their supplied boats between the boys and girls teams from the same country.
As Can Erturk and Ali Beren Adamcil (TUR) stepped ashore from winning their opening session in the Male/Mixed division of the 420 class, the young Turks immediately started to re-tune the rig for their female team mates, Nehir Guzeltuna and Derin Acal (TUR).
“They are lighter than us,” said Erturk, “so we help them to set up the mast for flatter sails. We are one boat and four sailors, but we sail for Turkey as one team.”
Behind the Turks in the Male/Mixed 420 is Spain’s crew, Ian Clive Walker March sailing with Finn Dicke (ESP). Spain is also doing well in the girls’ 420 fleet, Neus Ballester Bover and Andrea Perello Mora (ESP) holding a three-point advantage over Camilla Michelini and Margherita Bonifacio (ITA).
In the 29er girls’ fleet, the USA leads, Sophie Fisher and Charlie Leigh (USA) winning two of the three races with Agata Scalmazzi and Giulia Vezzoli (ITA) taking the other win and holding second overall.
The reigning 29er World Champions from Spain, Mateo and Simon Codoner Alemany (ESP) were slow to get going with an 18-6-1 for fourth overall, opening the door for Denmark’s Jens-Christian Dehn-Toftehøj and Carl Emil Sloth (DEN) which leads with a one-point margin over the Nyenhuis brothers from the USA.
It’s even tighter at the top of the ILCA 6 Female fleet, with the front four split by just a point, Norway’s Marie Jacobsen Lepperöd (NOR) in the lead followed by Russia, Czech Republic, and Peru.
Ukraine’s Oskar Madonich (UKR) scored two seconds to take the lead in the ILCA 6 Male division, with two thirds putting José Gomes Saraiva Mendes (POR) in second.
Mirroring the Nacra 17 Mixed Multihull in the Olympic Games, the smaller youth catamaran, the Nacra 15, also sees boys and girls racing together on the same trampoline. Two traditional strongholds of multihull racing – France and the Netherlands – hold the top places, Thomas Proust and Eloïse Clabon (FRA) winning two heats and Olivier Jaquet and Femme Rixt Rijk (NED) taking the other.
In the boys’ kitefoiler division, Italy’s Riccardo Pianosi (ITA) was fast out of the blocks as he powered his 21-metre kite to first place in the opening two heats, followed by a second and third place in the next. This puts the Italian two points ahead of Max Maeder (SGP) who recovered from a DNF (Did Not Finish) in the opening heat, the 15-year-old from Singapore bouncing back with a fourth and two race wins.
In the boys’ windsurfers, Pianosi’s team mate proved utterly dominant racing the Techno 293+ class board. Federico Alan Piloni (ITA) opened with three first places, putting the Italian two points ahead of Great Britain’s Boris Shaw (GBR). The Italian’s team manager is one of Italy’s most highly decorated Olympians, the windsurfing legend Alessandra Sensini.
On the girls’ windsurfers, it was a runaway victory for France’s Manon Pianazza (FRA) with three race wins. However, only two points behind is Zoe Fernandez de Bobadilla Ramos (ESP). On the girls’ kitefoilers, Gal Zukerman (ISR) powered her way to a perfect four first places ahead of Julia Damasiewicz (POL) with a bunch of seconds.
A total of 433 sailors from 56 nations are competing in the 11 events on December 13-17.
