Geronimo Nores – 2018 RS:X Youth World Champion

Author: Brendan Healy

On Thursday afternoon, Miami’s Geronimo Nores officially secured the win of the 2018 World Sailing Youth World Championships for the RS:X boys division.  This is USA’s first win in the windsurfing discipline of this event in well over a decade.  With a complete scoreline of only one race out of the top 3 (with a fourth place finish in race 4), Geronimo can afford to sit out Friday’s final race and still claim the overall victory.  This is a huge accomplishment for Nores and for all US windsurfers.

In the Girls’ RS:X Class Veerle ten Have of New Zealand ascended into the lead today from second place after overtaking Italy’s Giorgia Speciale, last year’s silver medalist. Islay Watson of Great Britain is placed third.

Speciale led ten Have by one point and Watson by two points entering today. But after finishing 3-1 in the first two races, Speciale was over the start line at the signal and scored UFD. Although she can discard the score, Speciale now trails ten Have by one point. Watson still holds third, three points behind the New Zealand leader.

“I love the conditions here. I really enjoy that it’s windy every day,” said ten Have, whose family emigrated to New Zealand from the Netherlands when she was a young child. “I think my speed’s just a bit faster, so that’s my biggest advantage. But Giorgia and Islay are really close. We’re always trading the top three places. We all have similar capabilities.”

Speciale noted that the conditions this year compared to last year in China are much windier.

“This championship is difficult because it is windy every day,” said Speciale. “I prefer different conditions, light, medium and strong. In China last year we only had 8 to 12 knots, max. So, it’s difficult here, but I prefer difficult. It’s more fun.”

Complete results may be seen here.