Photography: Dave Kneale/Volvo Ocean Race

The 2009 Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship launched into action in Buzios today with the experienced names in the fleets making the early running.

After months of preparation, close to 300 of the world’s top sailors representing 60 nations finally hit the Bay of Buzios today for the opening races of the 2009 Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship. After two races completed across all seven events, experience is the common denominator amongst the leading crews, with the top standings all dominated by teams who featured at the championship in Århus last year. Seven different nations currently occupy the top spots: France, Germany and Great Britain got the European challenge off to a strong start; Australia and New Zealand both hold a top spot apiece; whilst Hong Kong and Singapore are at the forefront of the Asian challenge. The hosts Brazil also made a strong start with four of seven crews holding top-10 positions.

Weather-wise it was a challenging opening. Racing began in conditions similar to yesterday’s practice race, with a mid-range northerly wind around 10-15 knots, but as the day progressed the breeze got lighter and much shiftier.

The two windsurfing fleets were the first to return to the boatpark after zipping through their scheduled races. Oliver-Tom Schliemann, bronze medallist in 2008, is the early leader in the Boy’s RS:X, whilst Hong Kong’s Hei Man Chan, competing in her fifth Youth Worlds, leads the Girl’s fleet.

The first race of the 39th edition of the Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship was won by Israel’s Asulin Ron in the Boy’s RS:Xevent, coming in just ahead of defending champion Michalis Malekkides (CYP). Schliemann came in fourth, battling back through the fleet after a bad start. In contrast, race two “was pretty much perfect” according to the 18 year old from Berlin, with victory lifting him to the top of the leaderboard. Schliemann leads a three-way tie on five points with Joseph Gueguen of France and 2008 gold medallistMalekkides.

In the Girl’s Windsurfer fleet, Hong Kong’s Hei Man Chan leads the way with second and first place finishes today. lzzy Hamilton (GBR) shone in the opening race held in her favoured mid-range conditions, but Chan took over the show as the wind dropped for race two. Chan has been competing at the Youth Worlds since 2005, and now at her fifth and final edition, she’s desperate for the medal that has eluded her so far. Even though the leaderboard points to a near-perfect start, she wasn’t happy with her performance, “I made several mistakes; I fell into the water and bumped into a mark. Izzy was really good and had great speed. I’ve got plenty of room for improvement and I’m sure I’ll do better tomorrow.”

Hamilton is just one point behind Chan after a 1,3 start, with third place Leonore Bosch (FRA) just one point further back.

One of the standout performers of the day was New Zealand’s Sam Meech in the Boy’s Laser Radial fleet. After winning bronze last year, Meech has set an early course for gold with two wins today, both secured by a huge margin. The New Zealander has already established an impressive 11-point lead after the shifty conditions in race two left the reminder of the fleet all counting at least one high score already. Yan Chekh (RUS) and Valic Matej (SLO) were best of the rest and are tied on points in second and third respectively.

In the remaining fleets the shifting wind resulted in the late finish as the second races were all restarted. Mathilde De Kerangat (FRA) was the major beneficiary in the Girl’s Laser Radial fleet, as she was struggling in the second race before it was abandoned and then went on to win the restarted race two held in the lighter, shiftier breeze. “I was sailing really fast, took good decisions and read the shifts well,” was her summary of an excellent opening day.

Heidi Tenkanen (FIN), like De Kerangat a top-10 finisher at last year’s Youth Worlds, scored a big win in the opening race but dropped to 13th in race two to lie second overall. Another trio of experience Youth Worlds campaigners, Isabella Bertold (CAN), Elizabeth Yin (SIN) and Michelle Broekhuizen (NED), complete the top-five.

Great Britain won gold in both the Two Person Dinghy fleets last year and today Philip Sparks and Ben Gratton (GBR) showed they’ll be tough to topple from the top again this time around. On the back of their recent win at Kieler Woche, the young Brits sailed two great races to top the leaderboard with a 1, 2 scoreline. More unexpectedly, Chile occupy second place, with Benjamín Grez Ahrens and Carlos Vergara Infante following a fourth with a narrow win over the Brits in race two. After a big shift during the upwind leg, the
Chilean pair rounded the top mark in first place and whilst Sparks and Gratton used their speed downwind to close the gap, GrezAhrens and Vergara Infante just held on to take the gun.

“We came here with a lot of hours of training,” explains Grez Ahrens of the team’s surprise showing today, adding, “We had a very good day, but it could have been better.” He says they alternate their training between Chile and Argentina and although they don’t get to as many international events as they’d like to, they’re happy with their preparations. “Even though we’ve got a low profile, we were planning a good championship and now, after today, we’re really happy.”

The Singapore crew of Griselda Khng, 2006 Optimist Worlds runner up, and Cecilia Low take top spot in the Girl’s 420 fleet. A fifth followed by a win in race two puts them three points ahead of the Italians Camilla Marino and Claudia Soricelli. The heavily tipped Brazilian team of Martine Soffiatti Grael and Kahena Kunze also started strongly and lie third overall with 2, 7 scores.

Australian cousins Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin made a perfect start in the Multihull – Hobie 16 event, winning both of today’s races. Waterhouse won bronze two year’s ago in Canada, before teaming up with Darmanin and finishing sixth in Århus last year. APP sailors Matthew Whitehead, silver medallist last year, and Calene Loubser (RSA) lie second with the Dutch team of Rob Sprij andMathijs Pauli, competing in their fourth and final Youth Worlds, in third.

At this early stage France lead the Volvo Trophy standings for the top-performing nation, ahead of current trophy holders Great Britain, Italy, Brazil and New Zealand.

Tonight all the competitors have the opportunity to attend the first post-race debrief hosted by ISAF Coach Santiago Lange (ARG). As a double Olympic medallist and veteran of America’s Cup and Volvo Ocean Race campaigns, the Argentinean is one of the biggest stars of South American sailing, but is looking forward to taking up this new challenge.

“It’s a big pleasure for me to be here but it’s also a big responsibility,” he says. “It’s something new for me but it’s a great opportunity and I’m really looking forward to working with so many sailors from all around the world.”

Following on from their post-race debrief tonight, the sailors have a busy day to prepare for tomorrow. Racing continues in Buzios on Sunday with three races across all events. The first starts are scheduled for 12:00 local time (15:00 UTC) and the forecast is for light and shifty winds.

One of three ISAF Grade 1 match race regattas in the United States (Boat U.S./Santa Maria Cup and Congressional Cup are the other two), the Rolex Osprey Cup is expected to receive quite a bit of attention as the match racing discipline for women will make its debut at the 2012 Olympics in England.

“Each year we see a very high level of competition,” said Pat Seidenspinner (St. Petersburg, Fla.), the event’s Principal Race Officer and co-chair with Tom Farquhar. “Increased interest in women’s match racing is being driven by its inclusion in the 2012 Olympics. We expect the competition to ramp up even higher as we get further into the Olympic quadrennium.”

Two competitors will receive invitations to this event based on their performance at the Rolex Women’s Match, a grade 3 event held this past April at the SPYC: winner Genny Tulloch and runner-up Debbie Capozzi.

The Rolex Osprey Cup schedule includes registration and practice sailing on Tuesday, October 20 with daily racing Wednesday, Oct. 21 through Saturday, Oct. 24 just off of the St. Petersburg Municipal Pier. The format consists of a double round robin, with knockout (first to win 3 points) semi-final and final rounds scheduled at the end of the round robins.

The Rolex Osprey Cup was founded in 1996 and in 2000 Rolex Watch U.S.A. became the title sponsor.  The regatta was not held in 2000 in lieu of hosting the Rolex ISAF Women’s Match Racing World Championship. For more information, results and photos please visit the event’s official website www.rolexwomensmatch.org.

About Rolex Watch U.S.A. Since Rolex Watch U.S.A. first presented timepieces to America’s Cup defenders in 1958, the company has consistently recognized and encouraged excellence in every important arena of competitive sailing, including elite athlete preparation, US SAILING championships, disabled sailing, and offshore, one-design and women’s events.
The Rolex Osprey Cup is part of the Rolex Yachting Portfolio that includes over 20 world-class sailing events taking place around the world such as the Rolex Miami OCR, New York Yacht Club Annual Regatta presented by Rolex, Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, Rolex Fastnet Race, Rolex Farr 40 World Championship, Rolex Big Boat Series, Rolex US-IRC National Championship, Rolex International Women’s Keelboat Championship and Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.