Day one FW Worlds in Austria: casted skies, 4 knts winds and drizzle. Delay for minimum 2 hrs. Perhaps the skies clear this afternoon. Waiting for wind…..
Day Two at the FW Worlds Youth/Junior/Asters in Austria: we seem to have a somewhat unstable internet connection so possibly some incomplete stories went into cyberspace. Who was not unstable today was Lars van Someren. The U-17 competitor started very strong with a 1st and 2nd place in the Junior U-17 fleet. His board speed seems to be very good in the 10-15 knts wind range and he made some excellent choices in the upwind legs. Also in the down winds he sought and found the most pressure. He is now 1st place overall on the U-17 leaderboard, with Mads (DEN-15) in second place, followed by Coen Swijnenburg (NED-262). Lars is now in 9th place in the U-20 fleet. It is still very early days into the Championship, but Lars was on fire and could not have started better!
Our good friend Christian Justesen (DEN-26) had an excellent start too. He is now leading the U-20 pack. The Dutch masters Pieter Eliens (NED538) and John Munten (NED 30) are positioned halfway in the masters fleet and both feel there is room for some significant improvement. Tomorrow day three with a good forecast of a solid 12-15 knts with possibly 5 races scheduled. Regards from ‘Camp Holland’ at the Neusiedler See. Stay tuned how this FW World Championship develops and unfolds…..
Day 3 at the Junior/Youth/Masters Formula Windsurfing World Championships at Lake Neusiedl, Austria: The forecast came through with strong winds in the morning. Sharply at 11 AM the first race was started by head race officer Helmut in steady 20 knots with gusts up to 30 knots. Since Lars van Someren has not focused on Formula this season, we were all looking how Lars would perform in these difficult circumstances with the big sail and big board. Well…… in short he held his ground extremely well and fought what he was worth. At the end of the racing day at 19.00 PMs and four long races completed he scored a 3 and three second places in the U-17 fleet. He is now solidly positioned at 2nd place overall, clearly ahead of Mads Jespen (DEN 15). Best U-17 sailor today was Karl Erik Saarm (EST 228) with 4 first places today in the Junior fleet. He managed the strong and gusty circumstances the best of all and made a clear bid to become Junior World Champion on Saturday, recovering from his relatively poor start on racing day 2. But the Championship it is over when it is over and still two days of racing left. Sadly, Coen Swijnenburg had to forfeit todays races due to fatigue and illness and returned home. We hope he gets better soon. In the U-20 Youth fleet, Christian Justesen solidified his leading position and is steady on World Champion track. Just bring it in Christian!And in the masters fleet Pieter Eliens did well and is positioned for the podium. Tomorrow’s forecast is not so good, but racing conditions may develop if the gradient wind gets some thermal support due to the sunny weather. Hopefully some more good racing in the last two days of the tournament. May Aeolus be with the sailors! Stay tuned for the showdown in the next two days.
Day 4 FW Worlds: one race abandoned, waiting all day… No new results. Tomorrow last day.
Day 5 of the Formula Windsurfing World Championships Junior/Youth/Masters – the final: It is final now: Lars van Someren is vice World Champion Junior Formula Windsurfing. Report will follow later. After a slight delay (i.e. 1250 km driving) we are safely back home in Holland and with good memories we look back on a great World Championship. On the last day, principal race officer Helmut waited until three o’clock to see if the thermal winds were strong enough to allow raceable conditions, but unfortunately to no avail. With six completed races in varying and quite complex conditions, everyone agrees that despite the weak wind conditions on the last two days, the final rankings present a fair and good reflection of the relative strengths of the competitors.
We are very happy to say that all the hard work over the last years has paid off for Christian Justesen (DEN 26) who was crowned World Champion Youth in the U-20 fleet. In the Junior fleet Karl Erik Saarm (EST 228) is World Champion Junior U-17, followed by Lars van Someren who performed exceptionally well this event and is now the Vice World Champion in the Junior U-17 Division. We are all so proud of him! Mads from Denmark sailed himself into a very good third place on the podium. In the masters division ‘good old’ Pieter Eliens held on to his second position and is the Formula Master Vice World Champion 2013. John Munten kept his mid fleet position at 21st place. We all look back at a good time with sharp duels on the water and great friendships ashore. Thanks to all for the good times. Lars and Pieter promised each other to both claim the title in 2014 in their respective divisions…:). A great goal, but some more work needs to be done than…..
We owe a lot of people our gratitude but especially for this Championship all Techno training really kicked in for Lars. Furthermore, our ‘Fryslan’ support team proved to be invaluable. Modest as they all are, everyone knows their contributions to the success of Lars and we are very grateful for this. Thank you guys!
After a busy season with the Techno, Slalom and Formula events, we as a family will try to return to a somewhat more normal lifestyle for the comings weeks, with one important major international event left on this years calendar: the European Championships Techno in Eilat, Isreal by the end of October. I guess some more stories will follow……:). If you want to follow Lars and Jim directly on FB, you can like their athlete pages on FB .
