World Championship 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17: Bronze men with a lightning start: Heil/Plößel open World Championship strongly

Erik Heil and Thomas Plößel got the 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17 World Championship off to a dream start in Auckland. While the opening races for the women in the 49erFX and the mixed crews on the foiling Nacra 17 catamarans had to be postponed until Wednesday due to too much wind, the skiff sailors were challenged in two qualifying races and winds of up to 20 knots. The bronze medallists from Rio de Janeiro managed this task almost perfectly.

The crew from the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein opened the world title fights in the America's Cup area with a second place and then followed it up with the first win of the day for the German Sailing Team, leading the fleet of 85 boats from 30 countries after the first day. "That's two 'keepers', good results that don't need to be cancelled. That's fine for now," said 49er national coach Marc Pickel. Helmsman Erik Heil, who felt comfortable in the yellow qualifying group with coxswain Plößel, explained: "The fleet organisation wasn't bad for us and we got off to a good start twice by choosing the right side."

The first day of the World Championships was less fortunate for the teammates of the national sailing team in this first of three regattas in which the German players are vying for just one 49er ticket to the 2020 Olympic Games in Enoshima: The equally highly rated teams Justus Schmidt/Max Boehme (Kieler Yacht-Club) and Tim Fischer/Fabian Graf (Norddeutscher Regatta Verein/Verein Seglerhaus am Wannsee) initially failed to finish higher than 57th and 80th respectively. Tim Fischer and Fabian Graf, outstanding 2018 World Championship bronze medallists, were disqualified in the second race of the day due to a right of way infringement at the start in a duel situation with a Danish boat and will have to start their race to catch up in slowly fading winds on Wednesday.

The top favourites Peter Burling and Blair Tuke also got off to a less than ideal start to the series in their home waters off Auckland and will start in eleventh place on Wednesday. The 49er Olympic champions and America's Cup defenders had been preparing for the skiff sailing world championships in parallel with tests on the new futuristic Cup yacht "Te Aihe" and started the world title fights with a one-day victory and an eleventh place. Behind Heil/Plößel, the Frenchmen Kévin Fischer/Jauvin Yann and the Dutchmen Bart Lambrieux/Pim van Vugt took second and third place. A maximum of 16 more races remain to be completed before the medal final on 8 October.