Galicia is ready to start the 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17 Junior World Championship

107 crews from 25 countries are ready for the first warning signals for the 49er, 49er FX and Nacra 17 Junior World Championships, in Galicia, Spain on the waters of the estuary of Arousa (Ría de Arousa).

“It has been a few days since the majority of the fleet arrived to get ready for tomorrow’s start. You can feel in the air that everyone wants to give their best to get a great result, and the truth is we are proud to have such an event like this in the Centro Galego de Vela (Galician Sailing Center),” says Bruno Gago, technical director of the RFGV.

Many of the crews have already spent several weeks in the town of Vilagarcía de Arousa testing the race course and making the final preparations for a World Championship that looks to be fiercely contested.

In the 49er class there will be, among others, the current world junior runners-up, the Maltese Richard Schultheis and Youenn Bertin; the Swedish crew formed by Marius Westerlind and Edvard Bremer, who won bronze in last Worlds; and the pair formed by the Galicians Jacobo García and Jaime Wizner – current European junior champion of the class-.

In 49er FX, all eyes are on the defending champions, the French duo Manon Peyre and Clara-Sofia Stamminger. The French pair is sailing extremely well right now, and were third among the Olympics in their final coach regatta on Olympic waters last week. Also contending are teams such as the Italian Sofia Giunchiglia and Giulia Schio, who finished third in the last Junior World Championships, or the Polish Gabriela Czapska and Hanna Rajchert, who finished fourth, just five points off the podium, promise not to make it easy for them.

Among the teams competing in the Nacra 17 class, Britons Theo and Jasmine Williams have the experience of having finished sixth in the last Junior World Championships, and France, with a strong fleet of five crews, also aims to fight for the world title.

A Championship that matters

The Junior World Championships has developed into a very serious championship on the Pathway to Olympic glory. Among the 49er fleet that will race in Paris 2024 includes every Junior World Champion from 2012 through 2019 except one (who is coaching). These previous champions include James Peters (GBR), Diego Botin (ESP), Erwan Fischer (FRA), Ben Bildstein (AUT), William Jones (CAN), Robert Dickson with Sean Waddilove (IRL), and Issac McHardie with William McKenzie (NZL).

Sailing development

The 49er and Nacra 17 Classes are testing the Vakaros Race System this week. The system will electronically manage the over early starters although our experienced race officers will monitor it. “Over-early decisions have been the biggest source of friction in Olympic sailing for the past decade. The Vakaros system holds a lot of promise to reduce the number of disagreements and shrink the scale of errors for starting, and could be something these classes adopt in the future,” said Class manager Ben Remocker

In addition to the starting electronics, the Nacra 17 fleet will use reaching starts for some of the races this week for the first time. There has been so much development in the Nacra 17 in its history that race formats have been a secondary concern. Now, with the boats functioning at a high level and the sailors’ excellent boat handling, the class will try to use a mix of reaching starts and windward-leeward starts for the 2028 Quadrennial.

After the practice race held today, the Royal Galician Sailing Federation and Vilagarcía de Arousa have kicked off the intercontinental event with the opening ceremony. More than 200 sailors from 25 countries have paraded from the Galician Sailing Center to Galicia Square, where they were welcomed by Manuel Villaverde, president of the RFGV; Luisa Sánchez, vice-president of the Diputación de Pontevedra; Tania García, deputy mayor of Vilagarcía; Agustín Reguera, delegate of the Xunta de Galicia in Pontevedra; Carlos Coira, Councillor for Sports; Juan Andrés Pérez, Vilagarcía’s Maritime Captain; Ben Remoque, class manager; and two of the leading Galician sailors in the 49er and FX classes: Martín Wizner and Patricia Suárez from Vigo.

The event is organized by the Real Federación Gallega de Vela (RFGV, Royal Galician Sailing Federation) with the sponsorship of the Diputación de Pontevedra (County Council of Pontevedra), the Xunta de Galicia (Galician Government) and the City Council of Vilagarcía de Arousa.

Wednesday, the fleet will finally take to the water to compete in the first races from 12h00 CEST. They will do so divided into two race areas located in the middle of the Arousa’s estuary and with a racing program that includes a maximum of three races per day until Sunday, when the new 49er, 49er FX and Nacra 17 junior world champions will be crowned.