Tricky and variable conditions may have halted the start of Day 2 of the 2024 Wireless Communications ILCA 7 Men’s World Championship, but a late afternoon sea breeze ensured everything got back on track.
The first race of the day got underway just after the scheduled start time, but was soon abandoned with sailors sent ashore to await further instructions.
With the sea breeze filling in late, sailors strapped themselves in for a long day, wrapping up just past 8:00pm local time after two solid races were completed.
The long day was frustrating for some, and beneficial for others, with the results now settling in on the eve of the final day of qualifying.
Norwegian Hermann Tomasgaard remains atop the rankings, taking another race win in Race 3 to solidify top spot as the drop comes into play.
Reigning Olympic and World champion Matt Wearn also slid right into the mix as well with a second and a first putting him second overall, only dropping a 6th from Day 1.
British Sailing Team member Sam Whaley led the opening race before it was abandoned, however said he had maintained consistent form this event and was happy with how he was going.
“Long day on the water, we went out in the morning and started one race, we got most of the way round and rather annoyingly I was in the lead, so I was pretty much there when they abandoned it and then they sent us in,” he said.
“The last day of qualifying is going to be interesting, I think the forecast is looking quite light at the moment, but hopefully we’ll get kind of a sea breeze, so fingers crossed.”
With two more races remaining in qualifying, the top 50 gold fleet is beginning to take shape and a number of countries continue vying for Olympic selection.
India’s Vishnu Saravanan was a big mover today, putting a 7th and a 2nd on his scorecard that moved him into a strong position in 22nd overall.
“Today was a good day so it puts me up there, it was a nice day to just kind of refresh what was going on in training and then just to put it all together, even though I had some really bad starts, I just recovered and the goal was to just keep the focus high and just fight until the end,” Saravanan said.
“It’s gonna be tricky (tomorrow) because it’s the last qualifying day so it’s very important to do really well in the qualifying because finals, as everybody knows, is going to be tough.
“All the good guys are going to be there so it’s better to have good results in the qualifying and then you can wait for your discards in the finals.”
Tomorrow’s forecast looks similar to today with a late afternoon sea breeze forecast, however with everything to play for, anything can happen.
