'Photo: from ILCA Web Site 2009 - Laser Radial World Championship Japan'
Karatsu Bay (also being affectionately called Castle Bay as Karatsu Castle is such an impressive landmark over looking the sailing area) in Japan turned on superb sailing conditions for Day 3 of the Laser Radial Women World Championships.
Two races were sailed for each fleet in 12 to 15 knots and a constant NNE breeze. There were enough waves and swell for the better sailors to show their skills and stamina. The sailors are commenting that these are challenging and exciting conditions surfing down the waves at great speed. The race management team was pleased to have the first finisher in all races within four minutes of the target time of one hour and to be on schedule with a complete qualifying series.
The sailors were too keen in the first start of the yellow fleet and a general recall was called. It was then a clear start under a black flag. In this race Sari Multala from Finland used the waves to good effect to take the lead on the last reach to finish first. With a second in race 6 Sari has moved into second place. Lijia Xu is showing her skill in these conditions to lead the competition after a fifth in race 5 and a very convincing win in race 6.
Sophie de Turkheim from France was dominant in the blue fleet with two bullets today and is now in fourth place. Anna Tunnicliffe of USA with a third and sixth today drops to third overall but her consistency may well pay off in the end. Charlotte Dobson from Great Britain has sailed very consistently over the last two days to move into eighth position just behind Sarah Steyaert of France and Veronica Fenclova of Czech Republic. Alberte Lindberg of Denmark is also sailing consistently to be in fifth position.
The fleet will now be divided into gold and silver fleets for the last three days of racing. With only three points separating the top four we are expecting some very close contests on the water.
Last night the second of the Laser Caf? Twilight Series was sailed with Brett Breuer taking line honours. Brett is an Australian who coaches the Singapore team. He has won the Apprentice Masters Laser Worlds several times and was able to demonstrate his skills to the spectators lining the racing area.
Tatiana Kulakova from Vladivostok chose to travel to this contest via a two day sea voyage on a passenger ship. She is the only sailor from her region in the women's fleet. Her yacht club has about 15 laser sailors so the class is widening its representation around the world.