Young Austrians seize the lead over a world-class 49er fleet

Four teams are tied at the top of the 470 rankings after day one of the Lanzarote International Regatta in the Canary Islands.

A young Austrian team, Keanu Prettner & Jakob Flachberger (AUT), made their mark on a world-class 49er fleet after winning the last two races of the three-race session in tricky conditions, westerly breeze of about 7 to 12 knots and big ocean swell.

“We managed to be fast out of the start line and we had good speed with some new sails,” said Prettner who has been sailing with Flachberger for three years. “Winning two races today, feels quite amazing, I hope we can keep it up this week. It feels good to have the reassurance that you’re going fast in these difficult conditions against such a high quality fleet.”

James Peters & Fynn Sterritt (GBR) sit in second place, 3 points behind the Austrians. “It’s really good to feel that pressure of racing again, after such a long time training,” said Peters. “That was good racing today and you can really see that Marina Rubicón and the organisers are working hard to turn this into a top-end competition.” 

Big Swell, Flaky Breeze

As for the challenges of the day, Peters said they were many, but highlighted three in particular. “Big swell, big shifts, and flaky breeze, and some or all of them came into play at different times. There were times when we were surfing upwind on waves, and you were underpowered trying to climb up a wave then overpowered as your surfed down the face of the wave. So there were times when we felt we weren’t on the right settings but we didn’t let it worry us, you just work with what you have.”

Behind the third-placed Irish team of Robert Dickson & Sean Waddilove (IRL), winners of the opening race, are Diego Botin & Florian Trittel (ESP) “We’ve been training in Marina Rubicon for two months now, over the winter,” said Trittel. “You can sail pretty much every day here, you hardly lose a day of sailing and that’s what it was like today. We had a very untypical day, normally we have north-easterly breeze but today it was more from the south which made us have to wait but then the skies cleared and we ended up with three really good races. Our day was a keeper with a 5,2,5, which in such a strong fleet is a very good thing.”

Olympic Champs at the top of the FX

By the time the 49ers finished their session on Bravo Course it was getting late in the afternoon but with the sun shining and the wind blowing nicely, the race committee sent the 49erFX on to the water for two races before the sun set. At the end of day one the double Olympic Champions, Martine Grael & Kahena Kunze (BRA), lead with scores of 8,1. The Italians Jana Germani & Giorgia Bertuzzi (ITA) are in second and a race win in the opening heat puts Freya Black & Saskia Tidey (GBR) in third overall.

Four-way 470 Tie

Things are super tight at the top of the 470 leaderboard with four teams sharing 6 points. However, this is counting only two of the three races and discarding the worst score, so it’s not really representative of how things will shake out in the coming days. The reigning European Champions, Anton Dahlberg & Lovisa Karlsson (SWE), hold top spot with ever-improving scores of (7), 5, 1. That 7th place could prove useful to the Swedes later in the week even if they’re not counting it right now. 

Dahlberg was rightly happy with their performance. “A special day, one for the books. Most of the time we were in the right place at the right time, we pushed the boat well, and we went into the day with an open mindset. I think we got the big picture correct, and that helped a lot. There was a wind oscillation and some pressure differences, and a big shift in the first race which was costly for us. It was quite technical, some swell coming in, so you had a lot to think about, but we like it when it’s like that.”

Sitting on equal points with the leading Swedes but less consistent across the day are teams from Switzerland, Spain and the reigning World Champions from Germany, Luise Wanser & Philipp Autenrieth (GER). 

The forecast for Saturday and the coming days is looking very good. Racing starts at 0945 hours on Saturday morning for the 470 Mixed on Alpha course and the 49erFX women on Bravo. 

Getting Serious

Only in its third year, Lanzarote International Regatta is rapidly establishing itself as one of the ‘must go’ events on the Olympic sailing circuit, with 367 sailors from 39 nations attending this week. Following swiftly on from the recent Lanzarote iQFOil Games, the Lanzarote International Regatta has brought together a world-class group of race officials to run the event for six Olympic disciplines: 49er, 49erFX, 470 Mixed, iQFOil Women and Men and Nacra 17 catamaran.

The regatta is divided into two halves. 470 Mixed, 49er and 49erFX fleets complete their racing on 13 February. Then the iQFOil and Nacra 17 fleet will race from 14 to 17 February. 

This international event, organised by Marina Rubicón with the support of the Royal Canarian Sailing Federation is possible thanks to the institutional sponsorship of Promotur Turismo de Canarias with the financing of the REACTEU Fund and Tourism of the Cabildo de Lanzarote through the sports product European Sports Destination (managed by SPEL-Turismo Lanzarote), as well as the public collaboration of the Yaiza City Council and the private entities Dinghycoach, Naviera Armas & Cabrera Medina (Cicar).

Andy Rice, event reporter

Keeping the pressure up

Luuc van Opzeeland and Emma Wilson continue to lead iQFOiL World Championships in Lanzarote for the third day in a row. Tomorrow will see a marathon and more Course Racing starting at 10:00 local time.

Day 1 draws a blank at the 2024 iQFOiL World Championships

The 212 Olympic windsurfers who have gathered in Lanzarote for the 2024 iQFOiL World Championships will have to wait until Tuesday for the first races. There was insufficient wind on Day 1 and the opening races are now programmed for tomorrow, starting at 11:00 island time.

The fight for the iQFOiL world title starts tomorrow in Lanzarote

On the beautiful Canary Island of Lanzarote everything is ready for Monday’s start of the iQFOiL World Championships, the first major world championship of an Olympic class to be held in Europe in this 2024 Olympics season. More than 200 athletes from 43 countries on five continents will compete over six days of competition culminating in the title deciding Grand Final on Saturday, February 3 followed by the prize-giving

Olympic sailing classes choose Lanzarote

Lanzarote is getting ready to usher in the Olympic sailing season ahead of what promises to be an exciting, challenging year. Ahead of Paris 2024 nearly half of the Olympic sailing World Championships have chosen Marina Rubicón as their venue.

The wind was there, but it wouldn’t play ball

The sunshine was out and the northerly breeze was blowing, but the direction was all over the place on day seven of the Lanzarote International Regatta. Sailors have come from around the world to train and race out of Marina Rubicón in the south of Lanzarote, but even the most reliable of sailing venues has its ‘off days’

Kiwis lead Nacra 17s, Kantor & Sills top iQFOiL

Tuesday was the start of part 2 of the Lanzarote International Regatta. After two days of the dusty Calima breeze from the Sahara, today the sunshine returned to the Canary Islands, and 10 to 14 knots of wind were blowing for the opening day of Nacra 17 and iQFOiL racing

Two British skiff golds and a Spanish 1-2 in the 470

Winds of 13 to 19 knots for three Medal Races in poor ‘Calima’ visibility. Last gasp victory for Xammar & Brugman in the 470 Victory for Great Britain in men’s and women’s skiff fleets. Four days of Nacra 17 & iQFOiL windsurfer competition start on Tuesday.

Not the Wind, not the Waves, but the Sahara!

Anton Dahlberg & Lovisa Karlsson (SWE) extended their lead in the 470 after winning another big wave, big wind race on day three of the Lanzarote International Regatta. It proved to be the only race of the day, with no competition for the 49er or 49erFX fleets.

“Defo the Biggest Wave of My Life!”

Big wind and huge, steep swell set a massive physical challenge for the three Olympic fleets on day two of the Lanzarote International Regatta in the Canary Islands.

Lanzarote ready to test top Olympians

More than 360 of the world’s best sailors are ready to compete at the Lanzarote International Regatta, which takes place in the south of the Canary Island from 9 to 17 February

Main Sponsors

Cabildo de Lanzarote
Lanzarote Reserva de la Biosfera
Turismo Lanzarote
Turismo Lanzarote
Unión Europea - Fondos Next Generation
Ministerio de Industria y Turismo
Plan de Recuperación y Resilencia
Islas Canarias - Calidad de Vida
Gobierno de Canarias
Marina Rubicón

Organizers

Marina Rubicón
Real Federación Canaria de Vela
DinghyCoach
iQFOiL Class

Collaborators

Ayuntamiento de Yaiza
Federación de Vela Latina Canaria
Federación Insular de Vela Latina Lanzarote
Federación Canaria de Barquillos
World Sailing
Trasmediterránea
Naviera Armas
Club de Regatas 4 Vientos
Cicar
Coca Cola