Ukranian Sailors Prevail After Fırst Day of the Championship Series

The 2022 Arkas Optimist World Championship Fleet Races are back in full swing as we near the last days of competition. Fleet races had paused for the 2-day Arkas Optimist Team Racing Championship but are now resuming after the US won gold.

Sailors awaited for the sea breeze to fill in this morning.  After a long delay, boats took to the water at 2 pm for the first start at 3 pm sharp. Two races were completed in light to medium conditions.  

Today was the first day of the Championship Series. Sailors are no longer divided randomly into coloured fleets but are ranked into Gold, Silver, Bronze, and Emerald Fleets after the 6 races completed in the Qualification Series.

Danyil Mykhailichenko (UKR) is taking a commanding lead of 11 points over his nearest competitors Francesco Carrieri (ITA) with 32 points followed by UKR teamate Sviatoslav Madonich (UKR) with 47 points. Madonich is tied in points with James Pine of the USA, placing him in 4th overall.   Two Ukrainians sailors are in the top three overall.

Right on the heals of Pine by 1 point are the following three sailors -  Henric Wogforss (SWE), Victor Loof (NOR) and Aksel Berg Madsen(DEN) all tied in points. Erik Scheidt (LTH) is 2 points back in 8th followed by Ioannis Tournis (GRE) by 1 point in 9t .  Mattia De Martino (ITA) rounds out the top 10 with 57 points.  At this stage of the competition, the fight for the podium is still very much alive.

The top 3 girls are Chrysoula Kanellou Kokkinaki (GRE) in 19th overall followed by teammate Maria Anna Makri (GRE) in 44th and Medine Havva Tatlican (TUR) in 50th.

The Championship Series fleet racing will continue for two more days.  Four races remain in the entire competition. The competition is still wide open so anthing can happen over the next two days. The start of racing is delayed an hour tomorrow in anticipation that the sea breeze will be delayed.