GONE WITH THE WIND…
We all know that the Algarve is made for fun, but today it delivered big time, making a great day for organisers, competitors and spectators alike. The sun shone, the wind blew and the waves were very present, making a great trampoline for these incredibly talented young sailors to let rip and enjoy themselves.
And boy did they!
Not just great racing, but a fantastic experience, enjoying the Atlantic swell and the post full-moon waves that came with it. Check the videos, there were plenty of aerials and a lot of great race action, shaking up the leader boards in the “race for second place”.
The overnight leaders, France’s Enora Tanne (women) and the Greek Olympic superstar Alexandros Kalpogiannakis (men) have continued to dominate their fleets, both with an impeccable run of race wins, putting themselves in a seemingly impregnable position for the gold medal spots after just two days of racing.
But the real action is happening on the other podium steps, with lots of leader-board movement and an impressively strong showing from the home riders. In the strong conditions the men had 3 races and the women 2. In the men’s fleet, Portugal’s Andre Pereira and Australia’s Grae Morris were the big movers, now lying second and fourth respectively, sandwiching the consistent Greek Ioannis Karvouniaris into third place.
In the women’s fleet, behind Tanne there is a tight group, with local girl Laura Pontes surging into third place behind Japan’s Kaneko Natsumi, looking pretty good for a silver medal at this point.
Tomorrow, if the conditions are on the strong limit, we may have some slalom racing in the harbour area. Either way, the scene is set for some great action in the coming days.
As usual, you can keep up with all the daily action and check the results on the event website at: https://worlds2019.plus.techno293.org/