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New Zealand's Travis Dow
makes the cut at the 2007 World Laser 4.7 Championships
Travis waiting to come in after a Race-less day 5
The 118 Sailors at the 2007 Laser 4.7 Worlds are having a great
time with plenty of organised parties and dinners to bring in the New Year, but
they and the Race Committee are wondering what has happened to the wind at this
supposedly "Heavy Wind" venue. Over 400 attended the New Years Eve party
and dinner with fireworks & bands. Racing was delayed on Day
4 to allow everyone to recover from the night before but the
Wind decided it to needed time to recover too after managing
to get just above 10 knots on the previous 2 days.
Kaapse
Kloppers one of the local South African bands entertaining the competitors at the many functions being
held during the Worlds
When the wind did come in it was
swinging around and only one race was able to be completed for each fleet.
These conditions have made it hard for the race committee to set straight lines
and general recalls and black flag DSQ were again a feature of both
races. The photos below show the pin end chaos which was a feature
of the starting on Day 4 & 5.
ITA 188216 battles with 23rd placed ISR
165328 for the Pin (red inflatable) The ITA sailor bottom right does
not have much room above
Big contact between ISR Shahar Jacob and
ITA & pin boat 23rd
overall ISR Shahar Jacob has his mainsheet on one side
of ESP laser &
Pin boat while rest of his boat heads
around the other side of Pin boat.
(Don't worry Shahar I know how
it feels!)
Travis managed to avoid the chaos and work
towards the favoured left had side of the course and record a 14th for his only
race on Day 4. This kept Travis at 14th overall and well clear of the cut
line for the Gold and Silver Fleets. Day 5 was another day spent waiting
for steady wind. Starts were again tried with large pin bias which along
with the flukey conditions, general recalls and black flags meant that no
races could be completed.
CRO &
13th overall RUS 15111 Port tack the fleet on Day
5
The Swiss Team relaxes waiting for wind on Day 5
So the
cut has been made and Travis has made the Gold Fleet and he sits in a reasonable
position needing some wind and all the programed races to be sailed to allow him
to move up the leader board. This is a remarkable achievement for Travis
as the Laser 4.7 has only been introduced to New Zealand just over 12 months
ago, while most of the other countries represented have been sailing the Laser
4.7 for a number of years with very large domestic fleets. Travis beat 10
other 4.7 sailors at the 2007 New Zealand Nationals to earn his free flight
to Worlds to represent NZ. He also beat the 16 other sailors at the 2007
Laser 4.7 training camp and if more than 15 Laser 4.7s enter the second
ever Laser 4.7 nationals then the NZLA will look at sending a team of sailors to
the next World Championships to be held in Croatia in August
2008.
Details
of the 2008 New Zealand Laser 4.7 Championships to be held in Taupo
later this month can be found at the link below. All you need to
enter is a Laser and the $100 entry fee. You can charter
a Laser 4.7 Sail and Bottom Mast section press on the links below to get
more information.
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