29er Worlds Championships

WORDS: TOMOE THIRY

ue to the Covid pandemic, this was the first time in three years that Hong Kong’s best 29er sailors competed in the 29er World Championships. There were more than 240 entrants from over 25 different countries. The championships were held in the Club Nautico El Balis, near Barcelona.

Oriane Voets, Sorcha Whyte, Bertille Voets and I arrived in Mataro, Spain on 23 July. This meant we had plenty of time to get familiar with the conditions. With six days of training, medium wind conditions, the team made the most of our time on the water training the Hong Kong Sports Institute (HKSI) sailors as well as the Australian and Spanish sailors doing practice races in which over 20 teams competed at times. Having sailed the boat together for less than three months, our team goal was to have a good time and not put any pressure on our results as well as gain the most experience we could get from the event.

Onto the racing. The conditions were not optimal as the wind ranged from 4 to 8kts over the six days of racing, with choppy waves and a strong current, which took some getting used to. This resulted in long hours waiting on the hardstand for the AP flag to come down so we could get racing. Nevertheless, the races themselves were fun, as they helped us learn how to start in a big fleet unlike the fleets we raced against previously in Hong Kong, whilst working on our tactics and we enjoyed our time on the water and the valuable experience we gained from it.

The racing was split into three qualifying days and three finals days with six fleets competing over three courses. Each fleet had 40 boats which resulted in crowded starts and high competition, a fleet racer’s dream! The course was a simple upwind, downwind course with two laps that tested the competitors with the challenging conditions. On the first day, Sorcha and Oriane were put into the red fleet whilst we were in the green fleet meaning we raced on the same course and were able to see how we were doing against familiar competition.

The competition ended with Sorcha and Oriane finishing 161st whilst we finished 230th . Although we didn’t get the results we were hoping for in the end, we still gained extremely valuable experience from the competition, and we were able to see how we compared against the best 29er sailors in the world despite only having sailed the boat for three months. This fills us with a lot of hope for our future in the fleet and we would like to thank the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club for making this experience possible for us through their amazing support throughout the entire event.