Month: May 2022

The ILCA 7 Worlds have just concluded in Vallarta, Mexico. 126 boats competed.

Jean-Baptiste Bernaz (France) by finishing 7th in the last race secured the position he held for most of the regatta to become the new ILCA 7 World Champion. This is the first time that France has won the ILCA 7 Men’s World Championship. Cypriot Pavlos Kontides took Silver and Filip Jurišic from Croatia Bronze. 2021 World Champion, New Zealander Tom Saunders finished two points off the podium in 4th place.

Matt Wearn had to withdraw at the outset of the competition and is now recovering from an illness contracted last month.

Finn Alexander was the best-placed Australian in 13th equalling his best-ever World Championship result.

Finn commented to Mysailing, “It was a good regatta but I lacked a bit of consistency throughout the week and especially in qualifying. I had lots of good races and lots of positives to take away but there were a lot of points wasted, it’s a little bit frustrating but still not a bad overall result.”

Finn has had consistent places in the circuit events so far with a 15th in Princess Sofia Regatta in Palma, Spain, 12th at the French Olympic Regatta in Hyeres, France and now 13th in the Worlds.

Other Australian team places were, 29th – Luke Elliott, 41st – Ethan McAullay, 46th – Sam King and 72nd – Zac Littlewood

Iain Brambell Australian Sailing Team’s new High Performance Director said, “The 2022 ILCA 7 World Championships was an ever-challenging test for the young Australian team’s fighting spirit. The Australian ILCA 7 squad will depart Mexico with lessons they will continue to build from in their pursuit of next year’s World Championship in The Hague and the first opportunity for 2024 Olympic Qualification.”

Most of the squad will now head home for a break, before returning for a training block on the Paris 2024 racetrack in July.

Full results of the event are Here. News from the Worlds is on the event web site Here.

The ILCA 7 World Masters is underway at the same Vallarta venue (30 May-7 June) followed by the ILCA 6 Masters (9-17 June). There are seven Australians competing in the ILCA 7 Worlds and six in the ILCA 6. The respective event web sites are ILCA7 Worlds, ILCA 6 Worlds

The ILCA 7 World Championships are underway at Vallarta, Mexico. The opening day under the hot Mexican sun on the Banderas Bay, saw 126 sailors began their hard road for the gold. Racing is due to take place every day until 28 May 2022. The fleet is split into the two fleets, where 63 sailors in each fleet will sail the first 3 days the Qualification series, followed by the Final series where the best half of the fleet will compete in Gold fleet and other part in Silver fleet.

As usual for this time of the year on Banderas Bay, the best wind comes around noon so the races are scheduled to start at 1300 every day. Nice and stable breeze today with 12 knots of wind allowing the fleets to start their first race without any recalls and delays.

Matt Wearn had to return back ashore before the first start as he did not feel well. With only one drop allowed from the qualifying series the current Olympic champion has put himself in a difficult position. Luke Elliott took the first win in the regatta in front of Jonatan Vadnai from Hungary and George Gautrey from New Zealand in Yellow fleet.

The results of the series are Here. The event web site is Here