Spain

Eight days of racing concludes with three gold medals awarded Shahar Tibi (ISR) wins in iQFOiL Women’s gold Adrien Mestre (FRA) grabs gold in the iQFOiL Men Besson & Ancian (FRA) win Nacra 17 gold ahead of Argentina and New Zealand Day 8 of competition, three more gold medals awarded, and the 2023 edition of Lanzarote International Regatta is complete. Tibi leads the Israeli charge in iQFOiL women The Israeli squad have dominated the iQFOiL women’s racing all week. Tricky breeze on the race course meant the medal series couldn’t go ahead. So Israel took all three spots on the podium, with Shahar Tibi (ISR) on the top step. In second and third respectively were Sharon Kantor (ISR) and Maya Morris (ISR). “I would liked to have done more racing today but our format means we didn’t complete enough races to run a medal series,” said Tibi. “Anyway, I am very happy to win, and it’s a great result to see Israel take all the spots on the podium. We have been working very hard as a squad, back home and here in Lanzarote. This place provides perfect conditions, all kinds of waves, some waves that I don’t think you can find anywhere else in the world. Nearly every day is sailable and we have had a good time training and racing here.” iQFOiL Men: Mestre makes a late charge for gold It proved to be a much more dramatic and unexpected outcome in the men’s iQFOiL fleet. Sam Sills (GBR) had won the leader’s yellow bib since day one, but the winner-takes-all format of racing favoured by the iQFOiL often throws up surprise victories at the end of competition. Sills fractionally misjudged his approach to the start while France’s Adrien Mestre (FRA) was fast out of the gate and went on to snatch the gold medal. “It's an amazing feeling,” smiled Mestre, who had climbed from fourth place at the start of the day. “We have this final format where the winner takes all, so I knew I had a chance. I told myself, ‘don’t think, just be yourself, and go.’ I’m …

Northerly breeze brings flatter water and shifty offshore breeze of 10-15 knots Shahar Tibi (ISR) takes over lead in iQFOiL Women’s fleet Sebastian Koerdel draws level with Sam Sills (GBR) in the iQFOiL Men Besson & Ancian (FRA) move to the front of the Nacra 17s The first northerly breeze of the week brought flatter water and shifty, offshore wind conditions. Compared with previous big wave days at Lanzarote International Regatta, day six was a completely different challenge. iQFOiL women: Lamadrid gets out of bed and wins Over the four races in the iQFOiL women’s fleet, Pilar Lamadrid (ESP) put down the most consistent performance. It was a strong comeback after the Spanish rider had been forced to pull out of racing on the previous day. “Yesterday was not the nicest day for me,” said Lamadrid. “I was not feeling good physically. Yesterday with the big waves I felt absolutely destroyed. I finished the first race but not very well. The second race, I couldn't even even do it. So I came ashore early and I got some good rest and sleep last night. The flatter water was much better for my back and my body today, and at least I managed some better races.” With scores of 2,8,1,1, Lamadrid had the best day on the water and moves up to fourth overall. However, it’s Israel Shahar Tibi (ISR) who moves into first place overall on equal points with her teammate Sharon Kantor. “It was nice racing, a lot shiftier than other days,” said Tibi. “Everything was always on the move, the wind always changing by the second. In these races you can gain a lot and lose a lot. I was probably tacking more than anyone else out there, sometimes up to five tacks on one leg, which is unusual for iQFOiL because tacks are expensive. But today they were worth it. So it's really interesting racing, really intense.” Tibi only moved on to the iQFOiL a few weeks after representing Israel at the Tokyo Games in the 470. “As a youth I did windsurfing and even when I was …

Four days of Nacra 17 & iQFOiL windsurfer competition get underway Race win for Mexico’s Mariana Aguilar in iQFOiL Women’s fleet Sharon Kantor leads the Israeli charge on the iQFOiL Women leaderboard Sam Sills (GBR) leads the iQFOiL Men Two wins from three Nacra 17 races for New Zealand 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. Nacra 17: High-flying Kiwis The Nacra 17 fleet encountered big rolling waves, but there were also some big strategic and tactical decisions to be made as the wind strength and direction shifted across the course. Micah Wilkinson & Erica Dawson (NZL) won two of the three races to take an early lead ahead of Mateo Majdalani & Eugenia Bosco (ARG) who won the last race of the afternoon. The Argentineans sit in second, on equal points with Laila van der Meer & Bjarne Bouwer (NED) in third. Sarah Newberry-Moore & David Liebenberg (USA) hold 10th place overall, and are looking to push further up the fleet on Wednesday. Coached by Olympic bronze medallist Thomas Zajac from Austria, Newberry-Moore is enjoying the Lanzarote experience. “David and I have been training here for about five weeks, and we’re here for the wind and the waves and because so much of the fleet has based itself here for the winter.” Toy cars and proper boats She is also the mother of a 20-month-old toddler which creates additional challenges for the working day. “Being here with the toddler has been pretty exciting. It's amazing to be able to travel with him. We're finding a balance, and my coach Tom has a one-year-old as well, so we’re experiencing similar things together. In the morning, we play with the toy cars, and then we come down to the boat park, to go training and to go racing.” As to the …

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 Part one of Lanzarote International Regatta reached its climax with three enthralling medal races in the 470 Mixed, 49erFX and 49er fleets. The thick dust of the Calima wind from the Saharan Desert limited visibility but it failed to put a limit on the drama. 470 Mixed: A last-gasp gold and silver for Spain In the 470 Medal Race, Sweden’s Anton Dahlberg & Lovisa Karlsson (SWE) went into the 10-boat showdown with a useful points lead. However it was Spain’s Silvia Mas and Nico Rodriguez (ESP) who shot into an early lead to put themselves in contention for silver, maybe even the gold. Mas and Rodriguez won the race but a late surge by Spanish team mates saw Jordi Xammar & Nora Brugman (ESP) surf past two boats to clinch the gold medal by a single point. Mas and Rodriguez took the silver, and the Swedes had to settle for bronze. “Anton and I are good friends and we have been training together and racing against each other for many years,” said Xammar, who took bronze behind Dahlberg’s silver at the Tokyo Games. “I think Anton and Lovisa are a really great team and really good people. It was really nice to see our friends and teammates Silvia and Nico win the medal race and take silver. It is great for our team to have gold and silver on home waters.” 49erFX: Black & Tidey win their first big gold together In the 49erFX, Freya Black and Saskia Tidey (GBR) were going to be hard to beat. The British crossed the finish line in fourth, giving them the gold medal. Italy’s Jana Germani and Giorgia Bertuzzi made a late charge across the finish to grab silver from the Americans, Steph Roble and Maggie Shea who took bronze. A year ago Black had barely trapezed off the side of …

Big swell and variable, shifty breeze of 7 to 12 knots for day one Four-way tie at the top of the 470 rankings, with Sweden in No.1 spot Brazil’s Olympic Champions lead the 49erFX fleet after two races Young Austrians win two of three races to lead the 49er Men’s 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 …

Alicante, Spain. January 15, 2023 - In brief: The only US entry in The Ocean Race - 11th Hour Racing Team - sets off on the 14th edition of The Ocean Race 2022-23 Skipper Charlie Enright anticipates a difficult first 36 hours as the team heads toward the Gibraltar Strait 11th Hour Racing Team drives innovation in the marine industry and positive action for ocean health Next stop, Cabo Verde, on the 37,000 nautical mile race around the planet 11th Hour Racing Team has crossed the start line in Alicante, Spain, of the world’s longest and toughest sporting event - The Ocean Race 2022-23. The 31,700 nautical mile (nm) [36,500 mile, 58,700 kilometer] race will see the team sail 24/7 for weeks at a time. The course for the 14th edition of the race is made up of seven legs visiting eight cities (with a fly-by past Kiel, Germany), and will finish in Genoa in June 2023. This edition also includes the longest leg in the race’s 50-year history. Leg 3 is a 12,750nm [14,672 mile, 23,613 kilometer] one-month-long marathon from Cape Town, South Africa around the bottom of the world to Itajaí, Brazil. During this leg, the crews will, for the first time in the history of the race, pass all three great southern Capes: Cape of Good Hope, Cape Leeuwin, and Cape Horn. At the 1615 (1515 UTC) starting gun, the five teams racing in the IMOCA Class, appearing for the first time in this round-the-world race, were treated to perfect foiling conditions with a flat sea state and 12-14 knots of breeze. After completing a rectangular-shaped course close to the shore for the gathered spectator boats, 11th Hour Racing Team pushed out into the Mediterranean Sea, sailing between 15-20 knots [17mph/28kmph-23mph/37kmph], as they headed towards the Strait of Gibraltar. Skipper Charlie Enright (USA), speaking moments before the team left the dock said, “It’s a huge day today, to get going and to put our best foot forward. We have done everything we can at 11th Hour Racing …