Roland and Nahid Gaebler crowned 2010 Tornado World Champions

29/07/2010

The Greeks Iordanis Paschalides and Konstantinos Trigonis were the stars of day 4 with three brilliant bullets. But not enough to pass the Germans on the scoreboard. They finished a mere 1 point behind and secured the 2nd place overall. Third were German brothers Helge and Christian Sach.

High speed downwind action
The wind started light and remained so for the first race of the day. The Race Officer held the boats until the wind built before starting the 2nd race. Greeks Danny Paschalides and Kostas Trigonis were on fire but the German couple Roland and Nahid Gaebler were always close behind. In the 3rd race the wind swung by 40 degrees but the Race Officer was still able to continue by changing the course. By the end of the race the wind had filled in with the rain and was blowing 25 knots. There was some great high speed downwind action on the last leg with some competitors getting their best results.

2010 World Champions Roland and Nahid Gaebler
Two mixed teams in the top 10
John Ready was a great example, having picked up a crew who had never sailed Tornado before at the last minute and then finishing 3rd. There was a massive cheer from John and Lucas as they crossed the line. Lucas said it was the first time he “had sailed a Tornado and it's a really cool boat”. There were two mixed teams in the top 10 which is great to see and both were flying today! Christina Loweg, one of the mixed teams from Germany said "for me helming the Tornado is not so hard, it's fast and it's fun". The team finished 7th overall.

Historic win
After the race, newly crowned 2010 World Champions Roland and Nahid Gaebler said: “First of all we were very happy to see so many Tornados here. The Tornado is back on the track. We are still missing the presence of some nations, but the numbers are surely going up! We could feel a new spirit in our class and highly motivated sailors who want to see the Tornado back at the Olympics. How amazing is it that the youngest competitor was 15 years old and the oldest 72! We have been sailing together for over a year and to beat one of the best Olympic team was a real challenge for us.” This is the first time in the Tornado history that a mixed team won a World title.

Source: travemuender-woche.net

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