The 2022 International WASZP Games - Championship Racing Day 1
by Marc Ablett 14 Jul 2022 23:00 NZST
11-16 July 2022
2022 International WASZP Games Championship Racing Day 1 © James Tomlinson
After much hype and anticipation, finally, we arrived at the first day of championship racing at the International WASZP Games.
The beauty of the WASZP Class is that the preparation of the sailors from around the world is tracked through our global rankings and events on Race Hub and our social media presence. This provides an interesting mental game for the sailors as they all come with their own reputations, so it was exciting to see the worlds best WASZP sailors go head-to-head for the first time in 3 years on the same racetrack.
Lake Garda is currently shining on the WASZP, with the last 2 days providing unbelievable conditions for WASZP racing. 15-18knots of perfect Ora wind with a slight chop to keep the competitors on their toes, while the ride height adjustment is critical as the sailors push the limits of riding at max height for max speed and too high having a swim.
The sailors started the day with a sail tuning master class from WASZP designer and creator Andrew "Amac" McDougall. This was extremely well attended by nearly all in the fleet. The nature of the WASZP Class is we want to educate and empower every sailor, share the information and continue to build the fleet from the ground up. The inclusion of Green Fleet racing, where we have around 15 boats sailing on course receiving coaching, has been massive for the class and something we will continue to build on moving forward.
The after-racing de-briefs by the top sailors have been awesome, with our top sailors giving their time. We are creating a community, not just a class.
So, what did we learn from day one's racing?
One-design racing is awesome and as expected, any one of around 25-30 boats are capable of winning a race. This is further backed by the fact there are only 10 points between the top 13 sailors.
The split of nations shows how strong the domestic racing is, showing you can prepare for an event like this from anywhere in the world, with 12 nations in the top 20.
Full results can be found here
The WASZP is a boat where anyone can compete equally. The top 10 is currently littered with sailors aged between 21 & 39. With Enzio Savoini from the Apprentice (26-39) leading the fleet. Our women sailors are doing a fine job with Nora Doksrod and Elise Beavis both registering top 10 places in heats. In our master's division (over 40) Giovanni Bonzio and Pierre Leboucher are locked in a very tight battle with both sailors registering top 6 places in heats during the day.
Joan Costas showed his performance in slalom was no fluke with fantastic speed when he gets his nose in front.
The WASZP_X is an unbelievably good platform for sailors to learn foiling skills at a young age. Rebecca Geiger sailing her WASZP_X has moved up from the Green Fleet to the main fleet on day 1 and is sitting 121st with some great results in amongst the senior 8.2m fleet. Showing that opti kids can transition straight into the WASZP_X.
Aidan Simmons from Australia holds a 10pt lead in the 6.9m division and will no doubt be one to watch in the future.
What will happen from here?
Who knows, the unpredictability and tightness of one-design racing means anything can and literally will happen. We can expect the current European Games Champion Francesco Bertone to move up the leader board from 19th. At some point every sailor in the fleet will have a bad race, it is just so competitive and starts a critical.
With two courses running concurrently, we expect to get more quality racing in and move into gold and silver fleet racing after today.
Everyone will continue to smile, whether you are racing amongst your mates in silver fleet or vying for the championship, it really doesn't matter in the WASZP Class because everyone has an opportunity to get whatever they want out of this class. Something that will continue for a long, long time.
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