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wazzaah 26 March / 2013 / 19:58
Hosted in the idyllic location of Soma Bay, Egypt, racing at the 2013 African Course Racing Championships got underway on Monday 25 March 2013 in perfect conditions.

Raced as an open event, sixty one men and fifteen women are competing, including the reigning World Champions, Johnny Heineken from the USA in the men and sister Erika Heineken in the women. A strong mix of sailors from African nations are also in contention for the overall African Course Racing Championship title.

Race day 1 delivered perfect conditions in Soma Bay with four races contested for each of the men’s and women’s fleets.

An on form Steph Bridge from Great Britain was the star performance of the day claiming 3 wins from the first 3 races in the women’s event, and wrapping up race 4 with a 2nd place. With the discard kicking in after race 4, Bridge has a perfect 3 point score. Securing the race 4 win was Poland’s Agnieszka Bilska who sits in third overall on an equal 8 points with Russia’s Elena Kalinina, with the Russian holding the tiebreak advantage in second overall. Reigning World Champion Erika Heineken was a little inconsistent in her opening day and is placed fourth on the leaderboard.

In the men’s fleet, the 61 kiters have been split into two fleets, and today, the fleet split saw World Champion Johnny Heineken up against the Italian Riccardo Andrea Leccese. Proving that World Champions don’t always have it their way, each of them took two wins and two second places, to sit on equal points, but with the tiebreak advantage favouring Leccese who tops the leaderboard. Expect this to be an extremely close showdown between these two as racing unfolds. Florian Gruber (GER) sits tight in third overall, counting a string of top 3 finishes after discard.

The men have been split into two fleets and will sail another day of qualifiers, before being split into gold and silver fleets for two more days of racing on Wednesday and Thursday, with the top ten going through to Friday’s medal race. The women will sail as one fleet through until Friday, when the top 10 will go through to the medal race.

TOP 3 for the 2013 African Course Racing Championships

Men
Riccardo Andrea Leccese (ITA)
Johnny Heineken (USA)
Florian Gruber (GER)

Women
Steph Bridge (GBR)
Elena Kalinina (RUS)
Agnieszka Bilska (POL)

Pictures: http://bit.ly/10GOGcS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z90_rMu83v4

kitestart.nl - kitesurfen-op-terschelling.nl

wazzaah had een 5 sterren sessie in Terschelling Groene Strand met maar liefst 10 - 11 knots op zijn Vari Condor (2013)

wazzaah 27 March / 2013 / 12:04
Day 2 at the 2013 African Course Racing Championships and the weather was not looking too promising early on in the day, with the turquoise waters of Soma Bay in Egypt distinctly mirror-like in appearance. However, a few hours of patience waiting ashore, were rewarded with breeze kicking into between 8-12 knots.

For the men, racing in two fleets reseeded from day 1, today was all about qualifying through to the gold fleet for the final series. World number 1 on the Course Racing World Rankings, German’s Florian Gruber, left nothing to chance and took two race wins to move up into second on the leaderboard, just behind series leader Riccardo Leccese. Gruber seemed unstoppable today and more than confident enough to play amongst the big names in course racing, despite his young years – at just 19 years old. Reigning World Champion, Jonny Heineken had difficulties trying to catch Gruber, but a 4th place in race 6 was enough for him to stay in the top three of the leaderboard, just 2 points behind Gruber.

Tomorrow sees the men split into gold and silver fleets for the final races, with the top 30 kiters now racing against each other in the same fleet – so there is guaranteed to be added pressure and excitement on the race track.

In the women’s first race 5 of the day it was the young Russian Elena Kalinina who led, and achieved a major margin over the rest of the pack. Her light weight certainly played to her advantage, and she went onto score another win in race 6 and end the day where she started, in second overall. Series leader going into race day 2, Steph Bridge from Great Britain posted a second in race 5, to help her stay in the top spot on the leaderboard. With the wind forecast to pick up tomorrow, it will be interesting to see how Bridge responds to the challenge from the Russian. And pushing up in to third overall is the reigning Course Racing World Champion Erika Heineken after a strong 4,2 scoreline.

TOP 3 for the 2013 African Course Racing Championship

Men
1. Riccardo Andrea Leccese (ITA)
2. Florian Gruber (GER)
3. Johnny Heineken (USA)

Full Results: http://sailwave.com/results/IKAAfricanCourseRacingChampionships2013_QS_Men.html

Women
1. Steph Bridge (GBR)
2. Elena Kalinina (RUS)
3. Erika Heineken (USA)

Full Results: http://sailwave.com/results/IKAAfricanCourseRacingChampionships2013_OS_Women.html

Picture Gallery

kitestart.nl - kitesurfen-op-terschelling.nl

wazzaah had een 5 sterren sessie in Terschelling Groene Strand met maar liefst 10 - 11 knots op zijn Vari Condor (2013)