Two races were sailed on July 13th, second day of individual races, following the schedule posted by the Race Committee on the previous day. The reason for two races was that, as in the programme there is only one day for the final series, it is preferred to leave 3 races to be sailed on that last day. (the difference between the qualification series and final series is that the fleets in the qualification series have sailors with different skills race together, while on the final series the best 48 sailors race together, the 48 second best sail together on another fleet and the rest 48 on yet another fleet)
The day started as usual with a meeting between the coaches and the RC members at 9:00 but once on the water the race committee had to adjust the course to new wind directions a couple of times, hence sailors had to remain ashore waiting for the display of the Delta flag, which was done more than an hour later than usual.
Races were sailed in 7 to 14 knots of wind, being the second beat the most difficult due to wind shift and calms.
Hernán Umpierre didn’t seem to notice the difficulties of the course, and finished in second and first place on the first and second race of the day respectively. The same happened with Mia Nicolosi and Stephan Baker, who finished first and second on each race in their corresponding fleets. These three are the current leaders, Hernán with 5 points, Mia with 7 and Stephan with 10, tied in points with Benjamín Fuenzalida from Chile, in 4th place overall.
With the completion of the fifth race, the discard became effective and helped some sailors climb up in the ranking. The most notorious change was that of Javier Garcon from USA, who was 18th at the end of day 1, and today’s ranking shows him in 5th place.
Today is the team racing competition, one of the favourites for parents, fans, organisers and sailors alike. We are going to post results and information later today or tomorrow. In the meantime, you can view the full ranking list here and enjoy Capizzano’s pictures here.
Photos © Matías Capizzano: http://www.capizzano.com/optinam-2016/
Event contact email address: amneris.calle@gmail.com, opticlass@yachtclub.ag