Competitors settled back into the race groove on Tuesday 23 July at the Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship in Lunenburg, Canada, after a day off in historic Lunenburg.

Wind for the first races were light at about 6-8 knots, but built to 15-20 knots for the final race of the day. The Mistral competitors sailed three races to make up for only completing two on Sunday, all the other classes raced two.

Team GBR sailors Pippa Wilson (16, from Lymington, Hants) and Jenny Marks (17, Northampton) are on top form in the 29er girls fleet and are showing good boat speed and tactical ability. They continue their domination over the class after scoring a second and a first place, leaving them with a six point margin over their nearest rivals, Australia’s Elise Rechichi and Rashele Martin. The New Zealand team of Rachel O’Brien and Kelly Riechelmann are third overall.

In the Boys 29er class there was no change among the top ranked teams. France’s Guillavme Vigna and Thibaut Gatti are in first place while the New Zealand team of Geoff Woolley and Mark Overington are in second. Australia’s Nathan Outteridge and Ayden Menzies performed consistently to hang onto third overall.

Team GBR sailors Jonny Marshall (17, Lymington) and Tom Smedley (15, Langstone, Hants) had their best day of the regatta so far, they were looking set to take third place in the first race of the day, but got caught the wrong side of a wind shift and dropped to ninth overall in the competitive fleet. In the second race they held onto their third place finish, which maintains their position of seventh overall.

In the boys’ Laser class, Tobias Schadewaldt of Germany is in first place after seven races, but stands a mere one point in front of second place Andrew Campbell of the United States. New Zealand’s Michael Bullot is in third. It was a tough day for British sailor Andy Brooks (16, Manchester), who scored a 22nd and an 11th place to put him in 14th place overall.

In the girls singlehander class, the Byte, Paige Railey of the United States climbed up to the top spot from third, after a first and a fifth place finish in Tuesday’s races. Canada’s Jen Spalding is in the second spot and Karin Soderstrom is in third. Britain’s Colette Blair (16, Bewl Valley) scored two ninth places, leaving her in ninth place overall.

Dan Binney (17, Cumbria) slipped down to fourth overall in the boys Mistral class, after scoring a 7,7,10 score line, and was a little disappointed with his performance in the last race. Byron Kokkalanis of Greece is in first place overall with New Zealand’s Thomas Ashley is second and Switzerland’s Jan Schenck in third.

Poland’s Zofia Klepacka has taken over top spot in the girls Mistral series with first and second place finishes in Tuesday’s races. Blanca Manchon of Spain slipped to second place and Wai Man Chan of Hong Kong remains in third. Team GBR sailor Catherine Potter (18, Nottingham) is still suffering with her elbow injury but managed to score a bullet in the second race of the day in the windier conditions, which has moved her up to seventh place overall, and given her a necessary confidence boost.

Team Manager Mark Barron commented, “Pippa and Jenny had another storming day, showing the 29er girls fleet how to do it. The boys improved on their performance to score a better day and stay in touch with the fleet. Catherine gave herself a boost of confidence with a bullet, even with her injured elbow. The rest of the team were a bit disappointed with their results, but there is still time to put a good series together with three more race days left of the championship.”

The overall standings for the Volvo Trophy, which is based on team results across all racing classes, remain the same, with New Zealand leading from the United States of America and France. Great Britain is in fourth place.

Results

29er boys

1, Guillavme Vigna/ Thibaut Gatti, FRA (5,2,1,2,1,4,(6)) 15 pts

2, Geoff Woolley/ Mark Overington, NZL (2,1,2,6,(7),1,4) 16 pts

3, Nathan Outteridge/ Ayden Menzies, AUS (1,4,(7),5,4,3,1) 18 pts

Team GBR

7, Jonny Marshall/ Tom Smedley (6,7,9,(13),6,9,3) 40 pts

29er girls

1, Pippa Wilson/ Jenny Marks, GBR (1,(5),1,2,2,2,1) 9 pts

2, Elise Rechichi/ Rashele Martin, AUS (2,1,(11),3,4,1,3) 14 pts

3, Rachel O’Brien/ Kelly Riechelmann, NZL ((DSQ),4,2,1,1,3,4) 15 pts

Laser boys

1, Andrew Campbell, USA (3,1,4,2,4,1,(8)) 15 pts

2, Tobias Schadewaldt, GER (8,2,2,(9),1,2,1) 16 pts

3, Michael Bullot, NZL (1,6,1,(17),2,12,4) 26 pts

Team GBR

14, Andy Brooks (9,18,15,(22),3,21,11) 77 pts

Byte girls

1, Paige Railey, USA (1, (OCS),5,1,2,1,5) 15 pts

2, Jennifer Spalding, CAN (7,3,(DSQ),3,1,2,6) 22 pts

3, Karin Soderstrom, SWE (4,2,2,2,(12),6,8) 24 pts

Team GBR

9, Colette Blair, GBR (2,8,7,(9),7,9,9) 42 pts

Mistral boys

1, Byron Kokkalanis, GRE (3,2,7,1) 13 pts

2, Thomas Ashley, NZL (4,1,(5),4,1,2,1) 13 pts

3, Jan Schenck, SUI (1,3,2,3,6,6,(9)) 21 pts

Team GBR

4, Dan Binney (2,8,1,2,7,7,(10)) 27 pts

Mistral girls

1, Zofia Klepacka, POL ((RAF),1,1,1,1,2) 6 pts

2, Blanca Manchon, ESP ((7),2,3,2,2,3) 12 pts

3, Wai Man Chan, HKG (1,3,(6),5,4,4) 17 pts

Team GBR

7, Catherine Potter (RDG,8,(9),9,8,1) 29 pts

Volvo Trophy

1, New Zealand 228 pts

2, United States of America 189 pts

3, France 180 pts

4, Great Britain 172 pts