Saturday's final berths are still anyone's to claim at San Pedro OCR Week 2. With the top 10 spots across the 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17 fleets unresolved heading into the last day of qualifying, the pressure on boats sitting between ninth and fifteenth is very real.
Nowhere is that pressure tighter than in the Nacra 17. Sweden's Emil Järudd and Hanna Jonsson surged into the overall lead by a single point after winning the final race of the day, with France's Tim Mourniac and Aloïse Retornaz slipping to a tight second and Dutch pair Willemijn Offerman and Scipio Houtman in third after opening the previous day with a bullet. Racing took place on the inner course inside the LA breakwater, 21 multihulls sharing a tight patch of water, and the conditions made every metre count.
"It was the first day we sailed on the inner course, and it was shifty and gusty, so you really had to keep your head out of the boat," said Jonsson. "It was a lot of manoeuvres and a lot of close racing, lots of action and heavy work."
The Nacra's 8.5-foot beam made space management a constant factor. "It's not so common that we have to yell for room to tack," Järudd laughed. "We have terrible angles upwind in the Nacra. We're almost 120 degrees sometimes, so it was really boundary racing for us on the inside which was exciting."
Britain's John Gimson and Anna Burnet recovered from a difficult Wednesday, posting three consecutive second-place finishes to climb back into the top five. Finns Akseli Keskinen, Austrians Laura Farese and Matthäus Zöchling, and Americans Riley Gibbs and Kay Brunsvold are all on the cut line, each with at least one top-three finish this week. The Nacra fleet moves back outside the breakwater today, which should open things up for those teams.
In the 49er, Richard Schulteis and Fabian Rieger have led from the front all week. A penalty turn in race one made for what they called a day of "mixed feelings," but the German pair steadied to finish the day still on top. "The first race was a little bit up and down. We had to do a penalty turn, but then we had a nice catch-up in the second race and the last race was also quite clean," said Rieger. "Overall we're leading, so we're quite happy."
New Zealand's Mattias Coutts and Oscar Gunn are right in the mix, sitting second overall after a first and a second in the opening two races of the day. France's Erwan Fischer and Clément Péquin are third.
Schulteis and Rieger say they're not thinking about protecting their lead. "Racing inside, it could be a little more interesting with a bit more tricky conditions," Rieger said. "We're focused on the day's racing for now and then we'll see where we are for the medal race."
Elsewhere in the fleet, home-venue duo Nevin Snow and Ian MacDiarmid bounced back from a difficult Wednesday to return to the top 10. Switzerland's Sebastien Schneiter and Arno De Planta are one point behind them after a four-race redemption run, level on cumulative scores with Austrian team Keanu Prettner and Jakob Flachberger at the cutoff position. Three boats separated by a point. Today will sort it.
The 49erFX has been just as unsettled. Britain's Freya Black and Saskia Tidey hold the overall lead after opening the day with a win, having worked their way up from third after day one and second after day two before taking over the top spot on Wednesday. Sweden's Vilma Bobek and Ebba Berntsson remain in second.
Canada's Georgia and Antonia Lewin-LaFrance, sitting third, put in back-to-back second-place finishes in the final two races, a timely response after a costly capsize on Wednesday. "Little mistakes are really, really costly out here," said Georgia Lewin-LaFrance. "We're trying to keep our heads in it and finish strong and keep learning from the conditions on the different race courses."
The sisters also flagged the venue's distinctive start dynamics, where much of the fleet launches on port to reach the favoured right side of the course. "It's hectic," said Antonia Lewin-LaFrance. "If you relax for one second and don't look around for a moment, you're going to be late."
Racing continues through Saturday, 8 August.
