(Locarno, Switzerland)- Despite adverse weather forecasts, the sun
greeted the twelve sailing clubs and 50+ sailors on Friday morning
during their skippers meeting, providing them hope the first weekend of
competition for the 2016 Swiss Sailing League would be successful. For
the first two days, those wishes were mostly fulfilled, with ten races
completed due to the pro-active management by YC Locarno’s PRO P. Togni.
With six exciting races taking place on day one, the league program was off to a great start for the new season. Flat water and a light south wind of 6-12 knots allowed exciting, fast races. The team of Société Nautique de Genéve found itself able to adapt to conditions and stood atop the leaderboard at the conclusion of racing. However, behind them it was extremely close, with five teams all virtually tied and only one point separating them! Behind SN Geneva were YC Bielersee in 2nd, SN Rolloise 3rd, and 4th position was three teams on equal points- RC Oberhofen, Zurcher SC and RC Bodensee.
Saturday
morning dawned with a gorgeous sunrise, but with a perfectly
“glassed-out” lake mirroring the spectacular snow-capped mountains. The
teams sat and socialized under postponement for a few hours on Porto
Ronco Beach until the breeze came. By early afternoon, a south wind
built again with 4-6 kts of breeze, enough to get in four more races on
the day to complete five rounds in total. Race winners on the day
included RC Oberhofen, two from RC Bodensee and one for SN Geneva. As a
result, the RC Bodensee team was winning a tiebreaker at 11 pts each
over SN Geneva due to having two more race wins. Sitting just one point
back in third place was the RC Oberhofen team; they had sailed fast and
smart for the day, accumulating a 1-2 to be within striking distance of
the leaders.
As
the crews woke up and meandered down to YC Locarno for their croissants
and cappuccino, it was apparent they were facing yet another “glass
out” with no chance of getting any races going on time. The sailors
passed the time away in a festive atmosphere on the lakefront, playing
“table football” and enjoying the warm hospitality offered by the club.
Unfortunately, the breeze did not materialize fast enough to get races
going by 1500 hrs. As a result, the intermediate rankings on Saturday
became the final rankings for the regatta, with RC Bodensee declared the
winners, followed by SN Geneva, RC Oberhofen, YC Bielersee and Zurich
SC.Follow your favorite Swiss sailing club next for Act II, taking place in Neuenberg from May 6th to 8th! For more Swiss Sailing League information
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