Sunfish Racing Class Netherlands

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2022 Sunfish Worlds report – Italie
Italie

2022 Sunfish Worlds report – Italie

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After ten races held in very varied conditions, first with medium-light southerly winds and then with gusty, stronger northerly winds, especially on the last day, the 51st World Championship of the Sunfish class came to an end.

Peru’s dominance at the Sunfish World Championships: overall, women’s and grand masters’ victory respectively with Jean Paul Trazegnies, Caterina Romero and Alex Zimmermann. USA hat-trick in the masters, while it was Ecuador with Stefano Andre Pensola de la Torre who won among the youths.

On Garda Trentino ten regattas in five days with winds varying from light to strong to award the world titles of the most popular class in the world, the Sunfish.

Organised by Circolo Vela Torbole, Garda Trentino Vela Consorzio and Federazione Italiana Vela, the event attracted 94 sailors, mainly from South America and the United States, together with Italy and Holland. From a technical point of view it was certainly a complete championship for the different wind conditions found, starting from 8 knots up to gusts of 20 in the last two races on Saturday morning.

Deserved and overwhelming victory for the Peruvian – already world champion in 2018 with 11 participations in all – Jean Paul De Trazegnies, very regular and often protagonist of great recoveries: he discarded a tenth; for the rest of the championship he always remained in the top 5 with 3 first partials.

The northerly wind of the last two days compromised the final overall result of the other Peruvian, Caterina Romero, who was confirmed first of the women, but after four days in which she gravitated to second overall, with the last four races she gave way to Guatemalans David Hernandez and Juan Maegli, who finished second and third overall respectively.

Hernandez, who finished 32 points behind winner De Trazegnies, ended the event with a second and a first; compatriot Maegli, eight points behind, with a first and a sixth. Caterina Romero did very well in the medium-light wind, but with the violent gusts from the north she was unable to maintain the pace of the first days: she nevertheless finished in a splendid fourth place, winning in her category; second woman was the American Caroline Young and third Philipine Van Aanholt (CUW), 32nd and 33rd overall.

Keeping in the top ten was the winner of the masters category, the American David Mendelblatt, eighth overall, while the first youth, sixteenth overall, was Ecuadorean Stefano Andre Pendola de la Torre. Peruvian victory also in the Grand master cetegory with Alex Zimmermann (to his credit, participation in 16 Sunfish World Championships). The Italian colours did not shine: first blue and 31st overall Davide Lavafila.

The event was experienced in a nice family atmosphere, as the Sunfish class likes to define itself. Tourism, sailing, and sport were once again a winning combination to experience a Sunfish World Championship in an area like Trentino and Lake Garda, which satisfied the needs of both racers and their companions and families: a formula that allows foreigners to come to Italy and enjoy the natural beauty and more.

Full results

2010 Sunfish Worlds report
Italie

2010 Sunfish Worlds report

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Punt Ala, Italy

After unpacking the containers it became clear: the delivered dagger-boards are to big. Brent from Laser Performance finally made 1 dagger board oke. It took him a long time, so the work on the remainder dagger boards was outsourced to an Italian company. Friday evening the boats were assigned to the participants, so preparing could start. Saturday late (6 pm) afternoon this work was finished.

On Sunday the wind blew 5 Bft, causing big waves at the beach of Punta Ala, After 1 general recall the field started to sail to the windward buoy, but due to the stormy conditions all sailed strait to harbor.

Ellen Burks published a day-1 report on the website of the Texas Sunfish Racing Circuit: “Today started out with very little wind (yippee). The wind was shifting quite a bit, so the committee postponed until around noon. Then 3 fairly quick races. Two were double hotdogs finishing downwind, and the last one was a 5 leg humdinger with the wind building the whole race. When I got back to shore, Margi was waiting with my dolly. Thanks to the best dolly mama ever!”

Day 2 was a very long day on the water. The morning started with no wind and rain; racing was postponed till 1130. Then the wind blew from shore, so the sailors had to sail far away for the start line. There was a changing wind (direction and force) so it was hard to make correct choices. After the first race again a big delay due to course problems for the race committee. Finally 3 races were sailed, last start at 1715, everyone beached at 1900.

Day 3 was a top notch performance from The Boys from Curacao: Kevin van Otterdijk won race 7, Ard van Aanholt race 8 and Just van Aanholt race 9. David Mendelblat sailed 3-2-3, which closed the gap to Jonathan Martinetti (4-5-4) till 5 points.

On Friday only 1 race, which was won by David, followed by Ard van Aanholt and Kevin van Otterdijk. Jonathan sailed a 6th place! So equal points for David and Jonathan, but the latter with 3 first places and David with 2…. It is the first time the championship is decided this way.

In addition to the race winners, special trophies were awarded to:

Youngest sailor
Top MasterCor van Aanholt (AHO)
Top WomanRita Steele (USA)
Top YouthArd van Aanholt (AHO)
Marco Polo AwardGuillermo Cappelletti (PER)
Sportsmanship Award
Full results

Italie

Lake Garda Sunfish Worlds 2022 Video

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Samson Levine posted a video on Youtube featuring the 6 dazzling contestants from the Sarasota Sailing Squadron and the large contingent of supporters from the Luffing Lassies, friends and probably relatives at this years Sunfish Worlds at Garda.

1985 Sunfish Worlds report
ISCA Italie

1985 Sunfish Worlds report

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A competitive fleet of 69 sailors representing 14 countries battled the wind and waves off of Riccione, Italy on the Adriatic Coast, June 14-20. High surf prevented sailors from leaving the beach for two days, but the wind direction shifted on the third day, reducing the surf and enabling sailors to get out to the 6-mile Olympic course.

For the second time in four years the Sunfish World Championship was held in Italy; and for the second time in three years Donnie Martinborough of the Bahamas was crowned World Champion. Winning his first title in 1983 in San Andres, Colombia, Martinborough favors the high seas and heavy winds of his home waters off Nassau. Four out of the five races at the recent World Championship were sailed in just these conditions, where Martinborough’s boat speed was untouchable. Scores of 1-1-1-4-(15) for 8 total points won the Championship easily, without the need to sail the final, light-air race. Twelve points behind Martinborough, using the Olympic Scoring System, was Scott Greenbaum of the United States, followed by Bruce Stuphen (USA) in third, with 23 points and last year’s runner-up, Mark May (GBR) in fourth with 30 points. Fifth place was taken by Leonard Ruby (USA) with 47 total points.

The first four races were sailed in 18-22 knot winds with 6-8 foot swells. Martinborough, a 26-year-old real estate salesman from Nassau, felt right at home. Boat speed is the key to his success for this easy-going sailor who almost never gets involved in protests. “Donnie is a joy to sail against, you can never get mad at him”, was the comment from his competition. You would think that weight would be an advantage in the high winds, but at 145 pounds, Donnie is on the light side for a Sunfish sailor. He compensates by wearing a 10-15 pound weight jacket, but says that technique is his real secret weapon.

High surf prevented sailors from leaving the beach for two days, but the wind direction shifted on the third day, reducing the surf and enabling sailors to get out to the 6-mile Olympic course. The first four races were sailed in 18-22 knot winds with 6-8 foot swells. Martinborough, a 26-year-old real estate salesman from Nassau, felt right at home. Boat speed is the key to his success for this easy-going sailor who almost never gets involved in protests. “Donnie is a joy to sail against, you can never get mad at him”, was the comment from his competition. You would think that weight would be an advantage in the high winds, but at 145 pounds, Donnie is on the light side for a Sunfish sailor. He compensates by wearing a 10-15 pound weight jacket, but says that technique is his real secret weapon.


All the sailors enjoyed the warm hospitality of the town of Riccione and the Club Nautico Riccione. Race sponsors ARCI-UISP lined up an interesting social schedule including a parade of athletes through the town as well as several disco nights. A great time was had by all!

Team NL

Aan deze wereldkampioenschappen werd door slechts 1 Nederlander deelgenomen: Jan Walig. Hij eindigde op de 28ste plaats van totaal 69 deelnemers.
Jan was daar zelf redelijk tevreden over. Hij vond de locatie niet geweldig; er kon zelfs twee dagen niet gevaren worden vanwege teveel wind en bovendien was het er onverwacht koud. Hij had gemeend zijn wetsuit niet te hoeven meenemen, omdat hij daar warm weer verwachtte. Dat pakte echter anders uit, zodat het een koude “klus” werd! Dus wat dat betreft hebben de thuisblijvers niets gemist: regen en wind en lage temperaturen hadden wij hier zelf genoeg. Jan heeft er ondanks dat toch een fijne tijd gehad, vooral ook omdat hij er veel oude bekenden tegenkwam: hij heeft al aan heel veel “Worlds” deelgenomen. Er waren ook 7 deelnemers van Curacau, van wie Wim van der Gulik op de 7e plaats eindigde.

Full results
1981 Sunfish Worlds report
ISCA Italie

1981 Sunfish Worlds report

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Dave Chapin of Springfield, Illinois, U.S.A., won his second Sunfish World Championship in three years against a field of 75 competitors from fourteen countries. This Twelfth Annual World Championship was sailed in light-to-medium air in the tiny resort village of Baia Sardinia near Arzachena on the north coast of Sardinia. Baia Sardinia is nestled in the cove formed by two steep rock hills and over-looks the crystal clear water of the Mediterranean.

perfect score of 0 points under the Olympic low-point scoring system.
Alan Scharfe of Newbury, Massachusetts, U.S.A., placed second, with 43.7 points, just one point ahead of the defending World and European Champion, Cor van Aanholt from Groningen, The Netherlands. Van Aanholt won his first Sunfish World Championship a year ago against 103 competitors in heavy air in Aruba


Gary Ross from Houston, Texas, U.S.A., placed fourth and current North American Champion Joe Blouin from New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.A., was fifth. Both Ross and Blouin placed in the top five in spite of disqualifications in one race each.

Rounding out the top ten were Emile Westrate from Aruba in sixth, former World Champion Ted Moore (the only competitor other than Chapin to win a race) from Marblehead, Massachusetts, U.S.A. seventh; Mark May from Yorktown Heights, New York, U.S.A. eighth; Paul Odegard from Vernon, Connecticut, U.S.A. ninth; and Leslie Ann Weatherly from Gulfport, Mississippi, U.S.A. in tenth.
The Championship was organized and co-sponsored by the Travel & Tourist Bureau of Arzachena and the European Sunfish manufacturer, Ten Cate Sports BV of Almelo, The Netherlands. Additional sponsors were area real estate development agencies, Investimenti Immobiliari Italia s.p.a. and Eurogest s.p.a.

All boats used for the championship were brand new and supplied by Ten Cate Sports. This guaranteed a true one-design championship, an excellent test of the relative sailing ability of the competitors.
Competitors were housed in three separate first-class resort hotels, each with its own beach and/or pool. The week’s events began with a practice race and opening cocktail party on Sunday, May 17, followed by two days of racing with one race in the morning and the second after lunch each day. Wednesday was a free day for relaxing and sightseeing. A bus tour was arranged of the Arzachena area with a stop in the famous Costa Smeralda (Emerald Coast) seaside resort of Porto Cervo. The final two races were held in light and fluky air on Thursday. Competitors returned their equipment and did more area sightseeing during the day on Friday awaiting the promised prize-giving and feast to follow.


Both the award ceremony and banquet were held in the great halls of Fort Cappellini built in and around a huge rock formation overlooking the race course. The fort and the bungalows next door make up the Hotel Bagaglino, a sun and sports resort frequented by Northern Europeans and Italians from the mainland.
The banquet was a multi-course feast including champagne and orange juice, cocktails, hot and cold antipasto, 2 pasta dishes, a seafood salad, wine, breads, roast pork, marinated beef, several vegetables, fruit, cheese and pie. Many competitors commented that this was the finest meal they had ever had.
Most competitors departed very early the next morning, some to head directly home and others to spend a few days in Rome.

Full results