The sailors who would claim the2017 Laser 4.7 Youth World Championship title would have to prove themselves in a variety of conditions, from light to heavy air, near flat to almost two meter waves, occasional rain and a tidal cross current varying in strength and direction.
The final race day seemed to be an average of all the preceding days conditions, winds ranging from 10 – 15 and moderate waves. But there was nothing average about the performance of Italian Federica Cattarozzi who finished with a First and a Second in the final two races of the Girls’ Gold Fleet to claim the World Championship. This capped a stellar week in which the Champion won four of nine races, and never finished worse than 8th. The second place finisher in the Gold Fleet and the winner of the Under-16 prize – Giorgia Cingolani – is also Italian, and they led a very spirited rendition of the Italian national anthem during the awards ceremony.
In the Boys’ Gold Fleet, Turkish sailor Yilkan Timursah held a slight lead coming into the final day, three points ahead of Cesare Barabino (ITA) and seven ahead of Sofiane Karim (FRA). Unfortunately, he drew his second penalty of the regatta and had to retire from the first race of the afternoon, dropping him into second place overall. But in the final race, he sailed without error, taking 3rd and, as that was the tenth race of the series, enabled him to discard a second score putting him decidedly in front of his competitors as he claimed the World Championship in the Boys Division.
A special award was given by the host to a sailor displaying exceptional sportsmanship during the regatta. On the first day of racing, one of the competitors was struck quite hard by her boom, and though she managed to get back to shore, she was clearly disoriented and then had difficulty standing. There were quite a few people around as sailors were getting off the water after an exhausting day and hauling their boats away for derigging. But one individual, Anna de Bruycker, also tired and trying to get her boat off the water, dropped what she was doing and went to assist the sailor and her parent (who was also disoriented by the situation), urging the parent to stay with her daughter while she, Anna, would see to getting the boat out of the launch area and put away. This was all taken care of while the injured sailor and parent were taken away by ambulance. Thank you Anna for stepping in to help and seeing to the needs of others who were in distress.
The top 5 sailors in each division are as follows:
Girls Division
1. Federica Cattarozzi (ITA)
2. Giorgia Cingolani (ITA)
3. Anna Moncada Sanchez (ESP)
4. Julia Büsselberg (GER)
5. Shai Kakon (ISR)
Boys Division
1. Yilkan Timursah (TUR)
2. Sofiane Karim (FRA)
3. Cesare Barabino (ITA)
4.Pere Ponseti Mesquida (ESP)
5. Finn O’Dea (AUS)
Links to complete results:
Girls Gold Fleet
Girls Silver Fleet
Boys Gold Fleet
Boys Silver Fleet
Boys Bronze Fleet
Boys Emerald Fleet