2024 IOM World Championships in Gladstone Queensland, Australia.
Hosted by the Australian Radio Yachting Association and the Gladstone Radio Controlled Yacht Club
Day Three.
It was deja vu all over again at the IOM World Championships in Gladstone. For the third day in a row, we woke up to a North Westerly breeze. This meant we couldn’t set a course where competitors could sight the start line, so racing was on hold until the wind swung to the North. After a wait of several hours, the wind the wind swung, and freshened, and racing was once again underway. We had anticipated a little more wind today and expected to see the emergence of more B rigs. For the start of racing, competitors emerged with A rigs, but as the wind built through the day, they moved to the B rigs and then, late in the day, back to the A rigs.
It was a lot of fun watching the racing. The course aligned with the jetty, making for great live viewing. The event organisers provided a broadcast with multiple cameras, drones, and a commentary team, and a large audience watched the live stream around the world. Gladstone has also chosen to put on gorgeous weather. Competitors and supporters are having a great time.
Remember, with IOM racing, each race is split into five fleets. Once all five fleets compete, a race is complete. At the end of day 3, we had completed eight races, which means 40 separate starts and finishes. Competitors, tried holding onto A rigs for as long as possible, leading to plenty of excitement on the downwind when gusts would rumble through, creating nose dives and broaches. Early in race, 7 Brazilian competitor Claudio Vaz-Mendonca, and Pierre-Yves Mechin from France, finished first and second with their B rigs against a fleet of A rigs, leading to quick rig changes across the fleet. The reverse happened late in the day when Jose Valverde-Alcaraz of Spain put on his A rig and sailed through the fleet after a bad start. The rig decision is one of the few stress points for IOM sailing.
Another dynamic of one metre racing is that it is very difficult to pull off a port tack start, but yesterday, we saw Mark Golison from the US execute a perfect example. He spied left pressure that was going to hit right on the start. He drove down the line to the pin, rolled onto port and crossed the fleet.
There were two standouts for the day, though. Ian Vickers from New Zealand posted a 1, 1, 2, 2. Zvonko Jelacic from Croatia posted a 3,9,1,1 scorecard. These two now lead the World championships with 8 points and 10 point totals, respectively, after counting two drops. Third is Alexis Carre from France, on 26 points. He was also consistent with a 5,4,7,9 scorecard. Interestingly, both Ian and Zvonko are designers and boatbuilders for the class, both with competing designs.
After 3 days, there is a lay day, with racing starting again on Saturday. Expectations for the weather are for the breeze to move to the South East. The South Easterly is a perfect direction for the race course, so we expect an extremely full program for the remaining three days. All the racing is live streamed, and you can view it on YouTube. The link for the stream and results are all available at https://www.iomworlds.com/
