Wrap up of 2010 Laser 4.7 Youth World Championship, hosted by, Royal Varuna Yacht Club, in Chon Buri, South Pattaya, Thailand. (31 March – 8 April, 2010). Comprising – U.18 Boys & Girls, and U.16 Boys & Girls. Temp – approx 34 C, Humidity 70-80%, Winds S – SW 16-23 kts, & Tide running at up to 4 kts!
A report provided by SYC’s OTB Sailor – Melissa Hitchen-Haw.
It looked like a different event at the end of the penultimate day of racing, as the weather web site “Wind Guru” had predicted, the on-shore southerlies began to fill in earlier and the leaders in the various divisions, lost their hard-won pride of place, or struggled hard to stay in contention.
In the Under-18 boys group, leader Thailand’s Pongwichean Supakorn, (29), ceded top place to France’s Etienne Le Pen (28), with Jolbert Van Dijk from the Netherlands, third on 31 points. Then followed, Puerto Rican sailor Juan Carlos Perdomo , Germany’s Maximilian Stein, Turkey’s Halil Demirel, Slovenia’s Enej Kocjancic and Greece’s Harris Mavrogeorgis, fourth to 10th, respectively.
These placings represented an incredible 10 countries at the top of the Boys U.18 category.
A somewhat rare occurrence in a world championships these days!
In the U.16 girls, Greek sailor, Fakidi Athanasia, was consolidating her first position, ahead of Japans, Kunimi Ayano, in 2nd spot, with Aussie, Melissa Hitchen-Haw (SYC) closing the gap fast in 3rd position, and getting better each day as she settled into the conditions, and became familiar with her opposition. Whilst in the U. 16 boys, the Kiwis seized the moment, with New Zealander Ryan Amlehn, forging only just ahead of Aussie Mark Spearman.
In the girls U. 18, Malaysian Amira Hamid Nur (28), dislodged Aussie Ashlie Lane (24), at the top, followed by another Aussie girl, Caitlin Elks (35), one point ahead of Israeli Jacob Oren. The first Thai female competitor to appear in the girls U. 18, was Jittiwa Thanawitwilat, eighth.
On the last day, the on-shore southerlies filled in early at around 20kts again, really putting the pressure on all competitors and providing a reshuffle of some of the top placings, with the fittest sailors in each fleet performing best in the heat & humidity and these tougher sea conditions. (short choppy seas).
The U.16 girls saw Greek sailor, Athanasia Fakidi have a “not so good” final day, but just enough to retain her position as 1st U.16 girl, holding out the improving AUS Melissa Hitchen-Haw (SYC) who put in 2 great races on the final day to finish in 2nd place, leaping ahead of Japan’s Ayano Kunimi who dropped back to finish 3rd. The U.16 boys saw New Zealander Ryan Amlehn retain 1st on 17 pts, only just managing to hold out a determined AUS Mark Spearman 2nd on 18 pts, with Florentin Filipos of Greece in 3rd. A fantastic achievement by the AUS sailors in the U.16 Div.
In the U.18 boys, France’s Le Pen Etienne put in 2 good races finishing in 1st place, Pongwichean Supakorn of Thailand in 2nd, and Jolbert Van Dijk of the Netherlands 3rd.
The U 18 girls saw positions dramatically reshuffle with Caitlin Elks of AUS with a strong final races of 1 & 9, finishing 1st overall, Hamid Nur Amirah of MAS 2nd, and Oren Jacob of ISR in 3rd place.
The 2010 World Laser 4.7 Youth Championships, with competitors from 26 countries, concluded in a warm spirit of friendship between the competing nations, and all competitors “relaxing” at the completion of presentations & closing ceremony.
Ack: Peter Cummins
