Day 1 of the 2013 North American Championship for 49er and 49erFX is in the books, and the battle for the lead is tight in both classes.
In the men’s fleet, four teams are within 5 points of the lead after 3 races. The day started out looking very promising, with 15 knots of wind from the north. As the morning progressed, it warmed up, shifted left and the breeze began to die.
The Brazilian team helmed by Olympian Andre Fonseca got off to a good start by winning the first race after chasing down the Swedish team of Sebastian Ostling and Kalle Torlen. They were on their way to winning the second race as well when the wind completely died and the race had to be abandoned.
In the reraced second race, it was a very tight battle at the front, with Canadians John Ladha and Dan Inkpen making a pass on the last run to take the win from American’s Fred Strammer and Zack Brown.
In the final race of the day, American Brad Funk port tacked the fleet to lead for the first lap only to be passed by Austrian Bejamin Bildstein who took the win.
In the women’s fleet, 7 boats strong from 5 countries, there is also a tight battle for the lead. Winning 2 of today’s races was Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze and in second place over all is Italy’s Gulia Conti and Francesca Clapcich.
With lighter conditions expected for the remaining 2 days this championships, the FX sailors are happy to have gotten 3 races completed today as they all continue to learn in this new class.
Full results for the 2013 49er and 49erFX North Amercian’s can be seen here.
