THE LATE LATE SHOW
A late start and a late finish yesterday in Portimao, but no real late change on the leader boards and very little time left for anyone to change things now!
Change was the word of the day. Firstly, the very changeable conditions, wind blowing this way and that, then not at all. It wasn’t until very late in the afternoon that there was anything consistent enough to be able to launch any kind of race.
All of which meant that the Race Committee had to change their plans as often as the wind changed direction. First it was going to be a long distance, then two square races, and in the end it came down to one race each, on an M course.
There was no change to the names of our likely new champions, a case of job well done for Greece’s Alexandros Kalpogiannakis and France’s Enora Tanne, leading the men’s and women’s categories respectively with enough in hand to go into the final day on the back of a good night’s sleep. It’s the race for the places where the real interest lies now, although even there, in the women’s section Kaneko Natsumi is racking up the wins and can’t be beaten for the silver medal. But it’s still very tight in the chase for the bronze medal with home girl Laura Pontes holding on for now.
In the men’s section it’s still all to play for silver medal downwards, depending on what happens on tomorrow’s final race day. Greece’s Ioannis Karvouniaris and Australian Grae Morris looking good, but Japan’s Kei Miura and Greece’s Nikolaos Silitzoglou are ready to pounce in the event of a major slip by the other two.
If anyone’s going to make a difference on the final day they’ll need to be up early, the forecast is for wind in the morning only and the Race Committee have called a 9.30 start. Will anyone still be awake for the closing party?
Only one way to find out, follow the final day action and find out who are the 2019 Techno 293+ Champions at: https://worlds2019.plus.techno293.org/