470 Mixed World Championships: First a typhoon, then light winds in the former Olympic venue

The photos from the 470 Mixed World Championships in the Enoshima sailing area in Japan bring back memories of glory days. In 2021, the national sailors were here at the “Giant’s Day” within three and a half hours won three Olympic medals: Tina Lutz and Susann Beucke won silver in the 49erFX back then. Erik Kosegarten-Heil and Thomas Plößel, and Paul Kohlhoff and Alica Stuhlemmer, won bronze in the 49er and the Nacra 17 respectively. Olympic sailing was the talk of the town here.

470 Mixed World Championships: the highlight of the season in the former Olympic venue

The 470 Mixed World Championships are currently being held in the same venue. Four German pairs are competing in the impressive fleet of 74 boats from 28 nations: two female helmswomen with their bowmen, and two male helmsmen with their bowwomen. The world title contenders got off to a false start on Wednesday with a complete failure to get underway in light winds. After that, the qualifying round took place over two days with five races in difficult and shifty light-wind conditions.

It is the Spanish defending champions, Jordi Xammar and Marta Cardona, who lead the field into the main round as top qualifiers following the conclusion of the qualifying round at the 470 Mixed World Championships on Saturday. Malte Winkel and Bente Batzing (Norddeutscher Regatta Verein, Schweriner Yacht-Club/Schweriner Segler-Verein) have advanced to the next round in a strong second place. Theres Dahnke and Paco Melzer (Plauer Wassersportverein/Verein Seglerhaus am Wannsee/Yachtclub Berlin-Grünau) qualified in sixth place.

Click here for the qualifying results and the current standings at the 470 Mixed World Championships.

Theresa Löffler and Christopher Hoerr (Deutscher Touring Yacht-Club/Segelclub Breitbrunn Chiemsee) also managed to secure a place in the top ten, finishing tenth after the first two days of racing at the 470 Mixed World Championships. So far, the following have had a tougher time of it the two Powerplay teams from the first major test regatta – which was only just a success – held in the upcoming LA28 Olympic venue. The British test regatta winners, Martin Wrigley and Bettine Harris, initially finished twelfth at the 470 Mixed World Championships.

Typhoon disrupts the 470 Mixed World Championships

The reigning world silver medallists Simon Diesch and Anna Markfort (Württembergischer Yacht-Club/Verein Seglerhaus am Wannsee/Joersfelder Segel-Club) have been hit even harder, as they head into the main round of the 470 Mixed World Championships in 22nd place. However, as the results from the preliminary rounds are combined to form a single result – equivalent to one race, which cannot be discarded – it’s a fresh start for everyone from Saturday onwards.

However, according to the sailors on site, the challenging light-wind conditions are unlikely to change much. Malte Winkel explains how the current weather conditions in the former Olympic venue of Enoshima have developed in the run-up to and during the 470 Mixed World Championships: “We had a very good week of training with typical conditions here: thermals and a slightly stronger offshore wind. Then, just in time for the World Championships, a typhoon swept across Tokyo – slightly north of us. Since then, we’ve had rather atypical conditions.”

Here’s how things played out in detail for Malte Winkel and the World Championship fleet: “On the first day, we had almost no wind at all and it was raining. Rain showers kept sweeping across our race course. We weren’t able to sail a single race. On the second day of the World Championships, we had very shifty winds of between 12 and 14 knots, easing to 7 to 10 knots. Today it was more like 11 knots, easing to 6. On top of that, there were frequent isolated showers. It looks set to be much the same tomorrow. Overall, the forecast for the next few days is for rather less wind than much.”

Intuitive decisions are required

What made Malte Winkel and Bente Batzing so strong in these conditions, and how did they manage to secure a win and a second place on Thursday against such world-class competition? Malte Winkel said: “I think it’s mainly a certain lightness. The conditions here are so unpredictable that you often have to make decisions intuitively. We’re enjoying the races here, and if we happen to make a wrong decision – or rather, several – then it’s just a matter of handling the next situation better.”

As they are not currently part of the German Sailing Team squad, it was a real feat for Winkel and Batzing to secure their place at the World Championships. Consequently, Malte Winkel and Bente Batzing are delighted with what they have achieved so far, but do not wish to read too much into it at this early stage of the 470 Mixed World Championships.

Malte Winkel explained: “Just being here in Japan with a new boat, top-quality equipment, good training partners (Ed.: Yves Mermod and Maja Siegenthaler, the Swiss team that were in the lead after the first day of racing), and a coach (Ed.: Fredderik Fock, the Swiss team’s coach) is a huge bonus for me personally. We’ll have to wait and see how things pan out for us at these World Championships. We’re looking forward to every race where we can compete against the world’s best.”

"Of course, we’re doing everything we can to stay in contention for a few more races." Malte Winkel

Anna Markfort and Simon Diesch share this goal. The bowman described the challenges of the 470 Mixed World Championships from her perspective: “The conditions here in Japan are quite demanding. We’re still feeling the aftermath of the tropical storm here in the bay, which made landfall north of Tokyo a few days ago. It brought with it an enormous amount of water, as well as a light gradient wind from the north. On top of that, there are a huge number of clouds and a massive amount of rain.”

Tropical storm with severe consequences for the World Championship venue

Anna Markfort also finds the consequences of this drastic: “It’s affecting the otherwise lovely, strong sea breeze. At the moment, we can only sail relatively early in the morning. Yesterday we started at 9.30 am, today at 10 am. By the time we’d finished the second race today, the wind had completely died down. You can see it clearly when you look at our blue group. Eight boats didn’t make it to the finish because the wind simply died completely. That sums up the conditions here quite well: it’s very light with huge shifts, but they’re very hard to predict.”

Speaking about the impact on their crew’s performance, Anna Markfort said: “Priorities keep shifting on the race course. At one point or another, Simon and I were simply too slow, or rather, we set the wrong priorities. At least today. Yesterday we felt much more confident and were right up there at the front in the third race too, until the spinnaker tore whilst we were setting it on a half-wind tack.” Because the Diesch/Markfort team had taken the outer loop, Anna Markfort explained, “we then had to sail one half-wind leg and another two downwind legs with the torn spinnaker”.

For the World Championship runners-up, this “fresh start” in the main round comes at just the right time. Speaking at the 470 Mixed World Championships in the former Olympic harbour, Anna Markfort said: “You can’t learn much from the past given the conditions here. It’s more a case of looking ahead now. We’re starting with 22 points that can’t be challenged, and then we’ll work our way up the rankings.”

A look back! A round-up of the second of three days so far at the 470 Mixed World Championships: