Olympic sailing: Breakage and cancellations at the start of the World Championships

Return from the windy race course

Short programme instead of freestyle: strong winds and a dangerously rough wave on the often only five-metre deep waters off Clearwater almost blew away the programme of the World Championship for the 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17 Olympic disciplines right at the start. In the increasing winds and gusts of up to 6 Beaufort, only the 49er men and the Nacra mixed team were able to hold one race each. The 49erFX sailors stayed in the harbour. In the field of 68 49er teams from 25 nations alone, up to ten masts broke in the only race of the day. The lack of draught in Florida's waters off Clearwater makes life difficult for sailors in the event of capsizes. It is almost impossible to capsize in the area, which is only five metres deep in places, without breaking.

With their preliminary round group places 13 and 14, the Kiel 49er European champions Justus Schmidt and Max Boehme and the Berliners Erik Heil and Thomas Plößel sailed to 25th and 27th place at the start. "But Germany is still in one piece," joked 49er helmsman Justus Schmidt, who, like most of the sailors, assumed that the conditions would calm down a little for today's second day of the World Championships. "Everything remains in play," said 49er coach Thomas Rein. The Danes Jonas Warrer/Anders Thomson and the New Zealand top favourites and defending champions Peter Burling/Blair Tuke have taken the lead with their respective group wins.

In the new Olympic mixed catamaran discipline Nacra 17, the "German Wonder Kids" Paul Kohlhoff and Carolina Werner from Kiel sailed to 13th place in the fleet of 43 teams from 22 countries. Jan Hauke Erichsen and Lea Spitzmann, the rivals from Flensburg in the battle for just one Nacra Olympic ticket to Rio de Janeiro, are in 24th place after the first day, with the French defending champions Billy Besson and Marie Riou leading the way, although they still have to overcome a measurement test. There is also the possibility that this first race of the two-hull crews will be cancelled altogether because large parts of the field missed a very small run-off buoy in the steep wave.

The World Championship programme will continue on Wednesday at 11 am local time (5 pm German time) with further races in the preliminary round. The main round and the medal races in all three disciplines will start on Friday. here broadcast live.