Youth Olympic Sailors Play To The Crowd On Opening Race Day

The two Techno 293 fleets played to a crowd of 2,000 at the Youth Olympic Games as racing commenced on Lake Jinniu in Nanjing, China.

Sailing tickets have completely sold out for the Youth Olympic Sailing Competition and with a full view of Race Area A the crowd witnessed three Techno 293 Boys and Girls races.

In a north east breeze blowing between 5-6 knots the Techno 293 completed their schedule with Francisco Saubidet Birkner (ARG) leading the boys and Lucie Pianazza (FRA) in charge in the girls.

Techno 293 Boys

Argentina's Francisco Saubidet Birkner was the stand out performer of the day in the Techno 293 fleet as he notched up two bullets and a sixth to take the lead.

Dutch racer Lars van Someren opened the day up by taking the first bullet in front of 2,000 paying spectators. With clean air in his sail he led Brazil's Daniel Pereira and never looked threatened as the race played out, "It was quite good. At the start I was the only one who found the right shift which put me quite far ahead of everybody so the rest of the race was a sail to the finish.”

If sailing at the Youth Olympic Games wasn't an amazing experience in its own right, a sell-out spectator stand increased the 'wow factor' just a little bit more, "It's like the first time there's a crowd in our windsurfing,” said van Someren. "The stand is like packed full. It's a lot of fun. It's amazing. We sailed by after the race and everybody was cheering and everything. I saw my dad jumping up and down.”

Van Someren came through with a fourth in the second race but fell to tenth in the third and final race of the day. Saubidet Birkner holds top spot on eight points with Japan's Kensei Ikeda second on 12 points. Van Someren is third on 15 points.

Boys provisional results after 3 races

Techno 293 Girls

Consistency was key on the Techno 293 race course and France's Lucie Pianazza was the steadiest performer on the track.

Pianazza leads on nine points and explained her day, "It was a little difficult but I was second for the first race and then third and fourth. The wind is difficult to see but I think that I did the best day I could do.”

Ahead of their races the girls checked in with the crowd giving them smiles and waves and Pianazza thoroughly enjoyed playing to the spectators, "There was a lot of people. It was wonderful and it is really great to see everyone. I sailed just in front of them and it was really good. It's a very impressive organisation and it's great with all the bonds between the sailors. There were a lot of people to see sailing and it's a very big event.”

The crowd had something to cheer about on the final race of the day as host nation sailor Linli Wu claimed the final bullet of the day. The Chinese sailor took a fourth and a seventh in the races prior and sits second overall. Russia's Mariam Sekhposyan is in third, tied on 12 points with the Chinese racer.

Girls provisional results after 3 races

18/8/2014 14:25