Nacra Australasia

The first Nacra 17 titles were recently held in the Netherlands. With 66 boats competing and a total of 22 different countries attending.

On Saturday July 27 2013 at 15:30 hours it was finally clear that Billy Besson and Marie Riou from France were the first ever World Champions Nacra 17. After another long day of waiting, the thunderstorm left The Hague without any breeze and the Race Committee had no choice but cancelling the decisive Medal Race. The British pairing of Ben Saxton and Hannah Diamond takes silver, followed by Matías Bühler and Nathalie Brugger from Switzerland.

The latest starting time according to the Sailing Instructions was 16 hours and boats needed at least thirty minutes to get there, so the practical cut time was 15:30 hours. That was when Billy Besson knew he had won his second World title within one month. Now he is not only world’s best F18 helm of 2013, but also in the new Olympic mixed multihull class. “Wow, that feels good”, he said. “This week was very complicated with light winds and a strong current. It was difficult for everybody.” The French duo lost some points yesterday, which closed the gap between them and the Britons to three points. However, Besson and Riou were ready for the golden battle. Besson: “We worked out a strategy.” They both start laughing: “Marie was a world champion match racing before, so our plan was simple. We were very focused and confident.”

Silver for Ben Saxton and Hannah Diamond

Ben Saxton and Hannah Diamond from Team GBR already secured a silver medal and had needed to beat Besson/Riou with two boats between them to take gold. They did not get the chance. Saxton admitting to ‘chomping at the bit’ to go racing on Saturday, to try and overcome the narrow three-point margin that the French had. “I’m massively pleased at winning a medal. The sport’s all about winning medals in a few years’ time in Rio, so to prove we can get a medal here is pretty cool,” said the 23-year-old helmsman Saxton.

Diamond: “We’ve had conditions that we weren’t really expecting – a lot of tide, and lighter winds than maybe we were all expecting but it’s really helpful for it to be something similar to Rio. We know we’ve got a lot of work to do, but this is definitely a good step on the way. The fleet’s improving so fast so just keeping moving forwards is going to be the most important thing.”

Bronze for Matthias Buhler and Nathalie Brugger

They have an Olympic class sailing background in the 470 and Laser Radial, teamed up on the Nacra 17 at the beginning of this year and immediately bring home the bronze medal. Buhler: “This feels very nice. It has been a long time since I had such a good result in sailing. I cannot even remember. We have a long way to go from here to Rio, but we are looking forward to keep working and improving.”

“We were not lucky with the weather, but we cannot control that. We are all sailors and like to race, but we have been waiting a lot this week. It was for sure tough on the mind, but we are happy with the result.”

Top ten 2013 Nacra 17 Worlds in The Hague:
FRA 43 – Besson/Riou, 20 points
GBR 60 – Saxton/Diamond, 23 points
SUI 41 – Buhler/Brugger, 43 points
NED 44 – Groeneveld/Begemann, 44 points
FRA 65 – Vaireaux/Audinet, 48 points
AUS 36 – Waterhouse/Darmanin, 50 points
NED 46 – Delnooz/De Koning, 51 points
ITA 37 – Bissaro/Sicouri, 52 points
NZL 102 – Jones/Saunders, 56 points
AUT 35 – Zajac/Frank, 58 points

Silver fleet:
Top five silver fleet after eight races, including one discard:
ITA 55 – Salva/Bianchi, 56 points
DEN 17 – Christensen/Gaebler, 72 points
ESP 20 – Llaargues Masachs/Escude Lavit, 75 points
USA 172 – Daniel/Straeter, 89 points
AUS 57 – McKnight/Curtis, 103 points

The Nacra 17 World Championships are organized by the Foundation Nacra Events, The Dutch Sailing Federation (Watersportverbond) and Sailing Management International with support of (partners) City of The Hague, Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport and Nacra Sailing International.

Full results are at www.nacra17class.com