Sun, wind, sailing
The wait is over, the superb spot here at Lake Garda was open for business on this second day of the 2021 Techno 293OD World Championships. The sun shone, the wind blew, and all the fleets were able to finally get out and enjoy all that is great about this amazing class, sailing and racing together, competing hard for the World Champion Techno 293OD titles that are at stake.
Techno 293OD for young sailors (U15s and U17s) has existed for more than 15 years, there’s plenty of history, but the future comes from the youngest sailors, and for 2021 Techno has created a new division, for U13 windsurfers, where girls and boys compete together. No surprise that as many as 60 U13s are here in Torbole, to join in on the Techno adventure and enjoy the unique Techno experience, on and off the water.
Although Monday’s conditions didn’t allow them to get into the action, yesterday’s wind and sun gave everyone, especially the U13s, the opportunity to show their skills. The race committee ran completed 3 races for all categories, except the U13s, who had 4 to make up for the blank previous day. That takes them all to 4 races completed.
In U13, it’s the Italian boys dominating for now, holding the top 3 spots, Mathias Bortolotti leading the way, with the top placed girl, Medea Marisa Falcioni, currently just outside the podium places in 6th. In U15 Girls, Poland’s Maria Rudowicz holds a slender advantage over Italy’s Anna Polettini, with Hungary’s Hanna Simon 3rd. In U15 Boys, Israel’s Itmar Levi and Omer Shemesh are having a private ding-dong for top spot, with Russia’s Dmitrii Nesterenko further back in 3rd. The U17 Girls ranking has Czech Republic’s Kristyna Chalupnikova leading narrowly from Russia’s Polina Ovchinnikova, with Spain’s Barbara Winau Ordinas hanging on to 3rd.
U17 Boys is the biggest category, with 89 riders currently divided into 2 fleets, Grey and Blue. Day 3 (today) will be make-or-break day for all of them, the results of both fleets will be combined, then the top half will go on to contest the medal spots over the last 3 days, with the bottom half continuing to race but no longer for the medal podium positions. As things stand, it’s incredibly tight with just 9 points covering the top 10. Top of the pile overnight is Federico Alan Pilloni (Italy), narrowly ahead of Meletios Kalpoiannikis (Greece), with Billy Coll Tulloch (Spain) and Boris Shaw (Britain) 3rd and 4th. It may all change as we speak.
It's all boiling up towards the end of week climax and final results. Fingers crossed that the weather gods continue to smile and that all these great young windsurfers can enjoy themselves to the max.