Today the Formula 18 Worlds officially started. 167 catamarans showed up at the two startlines with only one goal to become the new World Champion 2015. The race committee kept the sailors ashore till 11:30 in sunny conditions. After some chilling, relaxing and of course final preperations the sailors were invited to join them in the arena. Michael Easton and Tripp Burd (USA) share the overall first position with Simon Northrop and Josh O’Brien (GBR) after the first day.
It was an exciting day on the water although there was just only 6 knots of breeze. Nevertheless stakes were high and tension could be felt all over the course. In the blue fleet Mitch Booth and his son Ruben had bad luck, they got stuck behind an anchor line after a good start, but remarkably recovered and finished in fifth position. The winners of the blue and yellow fleet were both very pleased with their result.
Yellow fleet winners
Michael Easton: “We had a great day on the Falcon, but there’s still lots of racing left so we just have to keep at it! The fleet is super tight all the way around so any mistakes are super costly. It was an amazing sight looking back at about 100 F18s chasing us down downwind.” Tripp Burd: “I’m stoked for windy conditions tomorrow! Everyone’s speed will be a challenge, and it’s only day 1. So we’ll see…”
Blue fleet winners
Simon Northrop: “It’s a marathon not a sprint! We had a jolly good race today, it was super to race boat on boat with world champions and Americas cup sailors. We are very happy to be in the lead of this fleet with the quality of the sailors. We are under no illusion that the rest of the regatta will be tough and are looking forward to more tight racing against the best chaps in the world. Tally ho!”
On Wednesday we expect to have more wind. Follow us on the official event facebook and F18 International website. All races can be tracked online thanks to the GPS-tracking on board. First race will start at 11:00.
All results can be viewed here: http://manage2sail.com/en-US/event/cf4c17df-97ca-42f8-b24f-273f1c8fd232/#!/results?classId=020b3519-02c5-4e7c-adcb-354d59eb7ede
Event Facebook website: https://www.facebook.com/f18worlds2015
Official Formula 18 Facebook and photo galleries: https://www.facebook.com/F18International