The first day in Oman provided glorious weather for the start of the 2021 Junior World Sailing Championships presented by Hempel.

The breeze started around noon at five knots and as the warm Omani sun rose higher above the Barceló Mussanah Resort, the thermal sea breeze rose to around 12 to 13 knots by the end of the afternoon. midday. The 11 events have completed their racing schedule for the first day of world-class competition between 433 sailors from 59 nations.

Beach sports are gaining more and more importance in Olympic competitions, and so are the Youth World Championships. In the boys’ kitefoiler division, the Italian Riccardo Pianosi (ITA) quickly stood out by propelling his 21-meter kite to first place in the first two heats, followed by second and third place in the next. This gives the Italian two points ahead of Max Maeder (SGP) who recovered from a DNF (Did Not Finish) in the opening round, the 15-year-old Singaporean rebounding with a fourth and two wins. race.

In the boys’ other beach event, the windsurfers known as Techno 293+, Pianosi’s teammate turned out to be totally dominant. Federico Alan Piloni (ITA) opens his account at the World Youth Championships with three first places, placing the Italian two points ahead of Briton Boris Shaw (GBR). It might come as no surprise to see Italy succeed in beach sports given that the team manager at the Youth World Championships is one of Italy’s most decorated Olympians, windsurfing legend Alessandra Sensini.

During this time in the boat events there was a lot of action on all courses. The interesting challenge for the doubles teams of the 420 and 29er fleets is that many crews share their provided boats between the boys and girls teams from the same country.

As Can Erturk and Ali Beren Adamcil (TUR) landed after winning their opening session in the Men’s / Mixed division of the 420 class, the young Turks immediately began to readjust the rig for their teammates, Nehir Guzeltuna and Derin Acal. (TUR). “They are lighter than us,” said Erturk, “so we help them set up the mast for flatter sails. We are one boat and four sailors, but we are sailing for Turkey as one team.

Behind the Turks in the Male / Mixed 420 is the Spanish crew, Ian Clive Walker March sailing with Finn Dicke (ESP). Spain is also doing well in the 420 girls’ fleet, with Neus Ballester Bover and Andrea Perello Mora (ESP) holding three points ahead of Camilla Michelini and Margherita Bonifacio (ITA).

In the 29er girls’ fleet, the USA lead, Sophie Fisher and Charlie Leigh (USA) winning two of the three races with Agata Scalmazzi and Giulia Vezzoli (ITA) taking the other victory and holding second place overall.

Reigning Spain 29er world champions Mateo and Simon Codoner Alemany (ESP) were slow to get started. An 18th place was not the start sought by the Valencian brothers. “It took me a while to warm up,” smiles Mateo the 16-year-old coxswain. “I figured out what to do at the end of the day. Go left and go fast! They accelerated to sixth place in the next race and won the last race of the session. Points are tight with Danes Jens-Christian Dehn-Toftehøj and Carl Emil Sloth (DEN) holding one point ahead of the Nyenhuis brothers of the United States.

It is even closer at the top of the ILCA 6 Women’s fleet, with the leading four separated by only one point, the Norwegian Marie Jacobsen Lepperöd (NOR) in the lead followed by Russia, the Czech Republic and Peru.

Ukrainian Oskar Madonich (UKR) scored two seconds to take the lead in the ILCA 6 men’s division, two-thirds placing José Gomes Saraiva Mendes (POR) in second.

Like the mixed multihull Nacra 17 at the Olympic Games, the smallest youth catamaran, the Nacra 15, also sees boys and girls racing together on the same trampoline. Two traditional multihull strongholds – France and the Netherlands – occupy the first places, Thomas Proust and Eloïse Clabon (FRA) winning two rounds and Olivier Jaquet and Femme Rixt Rijk (NED) winning the other.

The competition continues on Tuesday, December 14, starting at 12:00 p.m. local time. [GMT +4].

For full results see: https://worldsailingywc.org/results/