by IHCA

Following on from the Para World Sailing Championships last week, the SKUD18’s are in action at the Hansa World Championships. All week the racing has been close and it comes down to the final two races today.

On the first day there was some very close racing, as expected. The Dutch team of Rolf Schrama and Sandra Nap know the waters of Medemblik very well. They finished the first two races with a first place and third place. Their rivals from Poland – and recently crowned World Champions Monika Gibes and Piots Cichocki – finished with a first and second place. Tomorrow, they are expecting lighter wind conditions, so this might mix the results up.

On Day 2, the Netherlands team were satisfied with their results. “We stay close to the two best teams in the world, the British and Polish, so I think we are doing pretty good”, said Rolf. “Last week we competed in the Delta Lloyd Regatta, but didn’t do very well. This week is much better for us, now all we need to do is beat the current world champion Poland.” The Polish team is leading the fleet at the end of day two.

After day 3 of racing and six races,  the Polish team have developed a 3 point lead. Each day they have had a first and second place for a total of 7 points. GBR team of Alexandra Rickham and Niki Birrell are in second place with 10 points with the Dutch team in third place on 11 points.

There were cooler conditions on day four, where a further two races were completed. In the first race, the GBR team posted their 3rd race win of the regatta ahead of the Polish team, with the Italian team Gualandris and Zanetti in third. Race 8 saw the GBR team again victorious and, with 2 drops now in play, they are tied on 9 points with the Polish team going into the final day today.