F18 Worlds 2019 @Costa Brava: Day 1, Paschalidis & Trigonis lead after 3 races.

All iamges by Marc Gonzalez Alomá – More at CSN fb. First day of the 2019 F18 Worlds being held at La Ballena Alegre Camping located in Cost Brava, Spain. Racing was delay due to no wind but slowly the breeze came in and the two qualifying fleets went out to complete 3 races each. Wind Conditions were 7-10knots.

Current World Champs had a perfect day: 1,1,1. Danny Paschalidis & Kostas Trigonis continue cruise in performance mode since 2018 Europeans. Second overall for our mates Cruz Gonzalez Smith & Mariano Heuser, who after some equipment issues back in 2018 Euros in same venue and a tricky weather championship at Sarasota they finally could put things together to score 2,5,3 for the day.

After the first race it was 4 Arg crews in the top five. As Volker-Mehl won the first, followed by Krevisky-Benitez while in the other fleet Cruz & Mariano were 2nd behind Greeks and Vilate-Dorberssan 3rd in that race. It was the best start ever for the Argies, who later lost some key points but managed to stay in the top ten or quite close.

In third place overall an excellent day for Brett Goodall & Steff Haazen, Brett sailing the latest family Goodall C2/Goodall DS devel. Happy for him & Laurent , the guys behind the brand who continue to support F18 sailors big time.

Behind the top three a good mix of platforms and flags with Randall-Leonard (AUS) in 4th, Vettori-Stella (ITA) in 5th, Volker-Mehl (ARG) 6th, Demesmaeker-Tas (BEL) 7th, Burvill-Puttman (AUS) 8th, Booth-Booth (AUS-ESP) 9th and Soubien-Amiot (FRA) 10th.

And Bundy? Not in the top ten but with almost a great day as he described, Darren Bundock & Conor Nicholas. First race as reported live they had a UFD, for second a DNC was printed in the prov results, so we thought, that’s it. But luckily enough it was an error and the DNC was indeed a 2nd, while in the third race Bundy & Conor scored a bullet to close the day and pretty good day of comeback. The UFD was a second behind Volker-Mehl. That was a good feeling, seeing those corrections in the overall score. Game on then and plenty ahead for this Championship.

Top candidates Burvill & Puttman not in their element in this wind range but check their progression : 15, 5, & 2 . Still much to come and nothing is defined yet, remember Mischa qualy stage in 2017…

Below the live updates we posted earlier today and top 15 results.

Photo: Olivier Bovyn. After a postponement the AP flag was lowered around 13hs local time, and the fleet started to go out.

Race 1 about to finish. More updates in this post when more news available.

No live gps tracking , a detail the Class need to address asap.

Update I: Provisional Results are being posted here . Bundy sadly already with an UFD & DNC.

Update II: New info , Bundy UFD, 2 & 1. That’s a huge relief..

Full report & pics later.

Top ten below after 3 Qualyfing races, – Complete Results here .