Campione del Garda, 21 August 2012: Everyone expected competition on the two fleets to be extremely tough today, second day of the 2012 Zhik Nautica Moth World Championships. The Blue fleet would have been red-hot with Joshua McKnight (second overall) and Anthony Kotoun (third overall), among others, battling it out. Not to be outdone, the Yellow fleet would have seen Scott Babbage facing Eric Aakhus (fourth overall) and Bora Gulari (fifth overall), trying to secure his overall leadership.
Unfortunately, the very light and unstable breeze on Lake Garda didn’t allow anything of that to happen. The race committee tried its best to hold at least one race and even gave a start for the Yellow fleet but had to cancel it soon afterwards as the combination of overcast skies and high temperatures sapped all the wind from the lake.
The schedule now calls for an 8:30am start on Wednesday in order to take advantage of the morning breeze. Unlike the afternoon “Ora”, the early-morning wind on Lake Garda, called “Pelèr”, is usually stronger and creates much more waves. It will be interesting to see how the competition pans out in windier and bumpier conditions.
Quotes of the day
Joshua McKnight, on losing an opportunity to close in on Scott Babbage: “I don’t feel frustrated we couldn’t race today. It’s always good to be on the water, I’m just disappointed the breeze didn’t fill in today. The morning start tomorrow will make for some good and interesting racing. It’s going to be different from what we have seen so far. It will be a little bit bumpier and windier and that is actually good. It suits me and that’s what I want obviously.
We will have to wake up very early in the morning tomorrow but that’s alright as long as we get many races in. “
2012 Zhik Nautica Moth World Championships – Day 2 – Results after 3 races (Top 10)
1. Scott Babbage (AUS), 1+1+1=3
2. Joshua McKnight (AUS), 6+1+1=8
3. Anthony Kotoun (ISV), 3+3+2=8
4. Eric Aakhus (USA), 1+4+5=10
5. Bora Gulari (USA), 2+2+7=11
6. Francesco Bianchi (ITA), 3+6+4=13
7. Julian Salter (AUS), 7+4+3=14
8. Andrew McDougall (AUS), 2+8+5=15
9. Chris Rashley (GBR), 4+7+4=15
10. Joe Turner (AUS), 9+9+2=20