Choppy, unpredictable winds turned the ILCA 6 Women's World Championship on its head today, reshuffling the leaderboard in conditions one competitor likened to a washing machine cycle.
Charlotte Rose of the USA came out on top, posting a 4-(23)-1 to retake the overall lead on 20 points. She moves ahead of overnight leader Emma Plasschaert of Belgium, who scored 9-7-(15) for 33 points. Anna Munch of Denmark climbed from eighth to third with a 1-15-3, now on 34 points.
"It was definitely a really tough day, one where you just had to reset after every leg," Rose said. "My second race today was all over the place and very tough, but I managed to reset for the third one. The regatta isn't over until it's over, so I'm really happy with my performance today. We still have two races tomorrow, and then another two in the Medal Race Series, so the regatta is far from over. After what we dealt with today, it'll definitely keep me on my toes. There's no such thing as a comfortable lead, especially at a World Championship, and with the scoreline cut in half for the medal races, it makes it even more stressful. I'm on my toes every single day, I'll tell you that. I'll always be the hunter, I never back down. So I'm just going to keep fighting tomorrow, and the next day, and see what happens."
Maxime Jonker of the Netherlands had the most consistent day of anyone in the fleet. Her 5-6-2 lifted her from 12th to fourth on 40 points.
"We had three very different races," Jonker said. "The first one had a bit more south in it, and some waves, it looked a bit like home, so I loved those conditions, that was a fun race. Then the wind shifted to the right, coming off the mountains again, it was so tricky, but I managed to survive. I think if you have a good start and you're at the front, you can still end up at the back, but it definitely helps. Then in the third race the wind settled a bit more, so it felt less nerve-wracking. The first race looked quite normal to me, the wind was more stable, and I think speed-wise you could really make a difference today, we could surf a bit on port tack, so I felt like you could put your technique into it. I've trained very hard for this, so if I start at the front, I just work my ass off from there and see where it ends."
Greta Pilkington of New Zealand made the biggest jump of the day, climbing from 19th to fifth with a 6-14-4, putting her on 53 points.
"It was like doing a full cycle with the pots and pans in the dishwasher, here, there, left, right, this person's high, that person's high," Pilkington said. "I had no idea. It was anyone's game. The second race especially was chaotic, so I'm glad to come out of it a little bit unscathed, but yeah, all to play for. I think you're just trying to come out of each day unscathed. Today was one of those days where it was better to be lucky than good, and that worked in my favour, a few good ones, and hopefully I can roll that into tomorrow. To be fair, I've never actually made it into a final-day top ten before, so this is a first for me. But I think I'll just keep doing what I'm doing, if I start worrying about the points now, it's all going to go downhill. So just keep doing the basics, keep it simple, and we'll see what happens at the end of tomorrow."
Two races are scheduled for tomorrow to complete the Elimination Series, which will determine the top ten sailors advancing to the medals in the Final Series. The first possible warning signal is at 11:00, with the fleet now bracing for a final day that could reshape the podium all over again.
