Manu Weiller and Iberdrola lead Platu 25 Worlds

[Source: Platu25 World Championship] Three more races sailed today in Punta Ala and the Platu25 Worlds are coming to a turning point. With its good, steady breeze and choppy seas the Tuscan racecourse provided all the excitement and the show needed for. Today’s intense and close racing was crucial to decide the Gold and Silver fleets division that will be announced before tomorrow morning and will be battling on the last two days of the Worlds.

Today it was the “Spanish armada” day, with the crews coming from the Iberian peninsula showing strength and consistency, keeping up against the Italian, Danish and German teams and consolidating their position on the general scoreboard. It is now Real Club Nautico de Palma’s Iberdrola (4,3 and 1 today); Caixanova Men skippered by Marcus Perez from Vigo (4, 2 and 7 their partial results) and Vilagarcia (with an excellent 1,2, 3) to occupy the three steps of the podium. The first Italian crew is still Brera Hotels, helmsman Sandro Montefusco, fourth, followed by Antonello Ciabatti’s VIS. The Germans from Kyra, scored a victory today but also a 17th and a 11th place, which put them in eighth position.

Manu Weiller and the rest of the Iberdrola crew are now leading the Championship. Punta Ala, 1 October 2009. Photo copyright Jesús Renedo / sailingstock.com

They are followed by Central Lechera Asturiana, with Spanish top sailor Natalia Via Dufresne at the helm, that is to say the first female skipper of the fleet. It was a good day for some but a very unlucky day for others, like the Greeks on Modus Vivendi, world reigning champions and one of the most serious pretenders to the podium. Despite all their efforts their championship has been plagued by a series of troubles: a black flag yesterday, a technical issue to a spreader today that forced them to go back ashore and not start in the second and third race, and making them lose precious points in the overall results table. The Japanese Yuki Koike and Noafumi Kamei on Bros made a big jump ahead today, passing from 47th to 17th and still having some chance to do well on the next days. Same as the team from New Zealand, Ocean Bridge Sailing, that follows closely, distanced only by a mere point.

As defined by the class rules, having sailed seven races, the crews could discard the worst result. The provisional overall results is then already calculated with a discard but does not consider any possible pending protest still to be discussed in front of the Jury. The points scored up to now will not be cancelled as the teams can have a second discard after the ninth race.

Platu 23 World Championship 2009
Overall leaderboard after 7 races (Top ten)
1. IBERDROLA 8,1,1,(bfd),4,3,1=18
2. TUYPAN CAIXANOVA MEN 3,5,3,2,4,2,(7)=19
3. VILAGARCIA 6,7,7,(bfd),1,2,3=26
4. BRERA HOTELS 5,6,1,(10),6,8,2=28
5. VIS 6,2,5,5,(24),5,7=30
6. BRIBON - MOVISTAR 1,9,4,(bfd),2,1,18=35
7. LA REVOLTOSA 10,5,8,8,2,6,(13)=39
8. KYRA 1,7,14,9,1,(17),11=43
9. CENTRAL LECHERA ASTURIANA (19),1,4,14,9,15,1=44
10. MOJITO 10,2,8,(bfd),16,5,6=47