Final Race For RenRe Jr Gold Cup Champion
A grueling 6 race day in excellent sailing conditions left a lot of young sailors tired but also saw a great battle emerge for the top spot.
Portuguese sailor Diogo Pereira [pictured below] regained the top spot finishing the day with a slim one point lead over Netherlands Antilles’ Odile van Aanholt. Bermuda’s Sam Stan sits eleven points back in 3rd. Rounding out the top five is Chris Williford from the USA in fourth and Great Britain’s Scott Wallis in 5th. Winds in the Great Sound were steady from the North at 11-16 knots.
Pereira and van Aanholt were neck and neck most of the day. Diogo sailed consistently well, scoring four top 3 finishes while Odile won two of the 6 races. Both had an unusually poor race in the 5th race of the day but both sailors used the race as their second discard of the regatta.
A showdown match race is set for the finale on Sunday which will take place on the Argo Gold Cup course in Hamilton Harbour. The other competitors will almost be non existent in the two sailors’ minds as Pereira will try to protect his lead while van Aanholt will attempt to use her experience from sailing in last year’s regatta to put her ahead of the Portuguese sailor.
The local sailors sailed well with Sam Stan carding two first place finishes for the day. Stan is firmly on the podium in third place. The second Bermudian is Antonio Bailey in 8th place. Third is Rory Caslin in 12th, followed by Ellie Wollmann in 15th and Chase Cooper in 16th. The RenRe Jr Gold Cup will also be used as Bermuda’s World Championship qualifier. The top five local sailors will be invited to join the team for the IODA World Championships in Malaysia in December.
