A DOS PASOS DE UN MUNDIAL PARA CANARIAS



DURISIMAS CONDICIONES AYER EN SAN FRANCISCO CON MUCHOS BARCOS TRABUCADOS. ASI TODO FRAN GONZALEZ LOGRO SALIR INDEMNE CON UN 2º Y UN 1º QUE LO PONE LIDER DEL CAMPEONATO A FALTA DE LAS DOS ULTIMAS REGATAS

FUENTE Y FOTOS: WEB OFICIAL DE LA REGATA

August 1, 2011: The sun has finally made an appearance here on San Francisco Bay for the second to last day of the Laser 4.7 Worlds. The wind has come up moderately from the cloud covered 8-10 knots of the past few days to a consistent 12 knots, with puffs to 20 on an exceptionally clear day.

The girls fleet of 51 boats started first at 1100 and saw a few new faces among the race winners: Anna Vaughn of AUS and Celine Therese Herud of NOR who won races nine and ten. Even their hard work could not knock Italian Cecilia Zorzi off of her podium once the competitors two lowest scores were dropped and calculated into the results. Zorzi lies and incredible 33 points ahead of her competition, thanks in part to being able to drop the 31st place she got in race 9 today. What happened? “My head was in the moon and there was a river out there, which we don’t have in Italy.” For her comeback in race two, she said, “I forgot everything and just focused on doing what I had to do. I am very happy to have a third for that race.”

During the boys racing, which started at 1400, the wind came up with gusts to 20 knots and saw more than usual number of capsizes at the leeward mark. The St. Francis Yacht Club has a number of safety boats who stand by, aided by a spotter on the second floor deck of the club to watch for kids who are in trouble. In addition, the 25 coach boats on course are obliged to convert to safety boats should the need arise for rescue.

After four days of mixing the boys fleets, the top 56 boys raced today in the gold fleet and the rest in the silver fleet. Francisco Gonzalez and Carlos Rosello have flip flopped leadership again and now Gonzales leads as of Race 9 (race 10 results are pending), with 19 points, Rosello with 29 and Keiju Okada of Japan has held on to third with 45 points. Tomorrow’s racing will wrap up the 2011 Laser 4.7 Worlds.