Extreme Sailing Series and International 49er Class Association announce a Strategic Partnership

[Source: Extreme Sailing Series] With growing acknowledgement that high performance classes are the best way to showcase the sport of sailing, the Extreme Sailing Series and the International 49er Class Association have today announced a strategic partnership to help broaden the media appeal of sailing.

Starting in 2011, the Extreme Sailing Series will see the 49er racing alongside the Extreme 40, as part of the ‘Stadium’ showcase entertainment that the award-winning professional sailing circuit is renowned for.

OC ThirdPole’s Sailing Events Director, Gilles Chiorri, commented, ”The Extreme Sailing Series combines top professional racing with challenging and innovative short-course race formats that are also entertaining for a growing fanbase around the world – at the events and online. The 49er is the current Olympic class that offers the most attractive way for us to add another small boat ‘act’ in support of the Extreme 40 racing - as part of a strategy of providing up to 8 hours of entertainment for the public and VIPs who visit our events around the world. The 49er is also a class that has been a stepping stone for 2009 and 2010 Extreme Sailing Series winning helmsmen Chris Draper and Paul Campbell-James. The collaboration with the 49er Class is an exciting addition for us as we scale up the event for 2011 and beyond.”

The 49er Class is still relatively young, but over the last 10 years many of its top sailors have gone on to achieve successful professional sailing careers: 49er Class sailors made up half of the eight helmsmen in the last edition of the Volvo Ocean Race. The Class aims to provide not only Olympic level sailing for its competitors, but also look to help them break into the highest levels of professional sailing, something that this new partnership is designed to assist.

Malav Shroff, President of the 49er Class commented, “This is a very exciting partnership for us. Kids today want to sail fast boats and from the Optimist Class, kids are straight away jumping into the 29er class, the junior class of the 49er and an ISAF Youth World Class. At an early age they are exposed to high performance sailing and have no fear of the high speeds and performance of these classes. By 18 or 19 years of age they are already moving into the 49er. These high performance classes give them a unique exposure at an early age which they can adopt to various other sailing disciplines. We hope that with this partnership, our Olympic Sailors and hopefully our youth sailors from the 29er Class have a congruent pathway to professional sailing. This opportunity will be a big boost for our sailors to gain additional exposure by taking part in these professional events as well as providing them with additional opportunities for securing, and giving a return to, sponsors,” he concluded.

Spain's Martinez And Fernandez Win 49er Worlds Title

[Source: ISAF] The Spanish team of Iker Martinez and Xabier Fernandez completed their dominance of this year's 49er Worlds held in the Bahamas by winning the Medal Race to secure their third World Championship gold medal.

Iker Martinez and Xabier Fernandez of Spain won their third 49er World Championship (the others came in 2002 and 2004) adding to their Olympic gold medal from Athens in 2004 and silver medal from Beijing in 2008. In true champion fashion, Martinez and Fernandez also won Saturday’s Medal Race, held in 8-10 knots. Defending champions Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen from Australia made a strong push by winning both the morning races moving them into second which they held through the final results. Pietro Sibello and Gianfranco Sibello of Italy, the world ranked #1 crew, won the bronze.

49er Worlds medal race. Grand Bahama Island, 10 January 2009. Video copyright 49er World Championship

The 25-boat gold fleet sailed two races in 16-23 knots which increased to 20-25 for the silver fleet’s two races amidst tropical showers. The Medal Race sailors anticipated the heavy breeze, but unexpectedly the wind dropped to a manageable 10 knots.

Martinez and Fernandez dominated this year’s Worlds, ending the end with a huge 27-point victory margin. After slow start, with the Spaniard posting a 17th in the first race of the championship, they experienced duo never looked back. A string of two three finishes put them top of the leaderboard at the end of day three and from they just extended away from the chasing pack. Behind the top three the biggest disappointment will be amongst the British teams, who despite having five crews competing in the Medal Race failed finish on the podium. Dylan Fletcher and Alain Sign were the top British crew in fifth, just behind the French team of Emmanuel Dyen and Stéphane Christidis.

Young Bahamian sailors from the Grand Bahama Sailing Club Optimist and Laser programme were able to view world class sailing up close and experience the camaraderie that international sailing affords.

Video: Highlights from the final day of the 49er Worlds 2009

Highlights from the final day of the 49er Worlds. Lago di Garda, 19 July 2009. Video copyright 49er Worlds

Outteridge and Jensen move into the lead at 49er Worlds

[Source: 49er World Championship] The first day of racing in the finals provided fickle windsand changing conditions which seemed to suit current 49er World Champion Nathan Outteridge with crew Iain Jensen just fine. Only 2 teams were able to post 3 consistent races in the single digits and the 2-1-4 posted by the Aussies launched them into first overall.

Pietro and Gianfranco Sibello of Italy were the only other pair to keep them low which moved them into 2nd while the qualifying leaders of Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes and John Pink and Rick Peacock struggled a bit dropping both into 4th and 3rd respectively. Both Pink/Peacock and Morrison/Rhodes won a race each, but they were countered by deeper finishes.

Racing was delayed while the breeze couldn’t fill andremained in the 8 knot range. At times it completely died onshore, but the Race Committee was able to find enough tohold 3 races for the Gold.

The Silver and Bronze fleets each were able to have 1 race apiece although the Bronze fleet had their first race abandoned due to shifting winds and completed race 2 in the morning. The lone Silver race was won by Bernadro Freitas and Francisco Andrade of Portugal who had broken their mast earlier in theweek. Peter Burling and Blair Tukeof New Zealand are the current leaders of the Silver fleet.

Eight races are scheduled for the final series with the medal race to take place on Sunday after morning races.

Highlights from the 4th day of the 49er Worlds. Lago di Garda, 17 July 2009. Video copyright 49er Worlds

Video: Highlights from 2nd day of 49er Worlds