Laser - World Championship 2009 - Halifax CAN - Day 1

Perfect sailing conditions - sun and a 4-5 bft breeze - for the two opening races of the Laser World Championship 2009 yesterday. The 162 boats' fleet from 51 nations is split in three groups, and already on the first day, some favorites have taken their positions on top. With 4 points each, Tonci Stipanovic CRO, Paul Goodison GBR and Nick Thompson GBR are on the first place of the overall rankings. The defending champion Tom Slingsby AUS follows behind Clayton Johnson USA and Bruno Fontes BRA on the 7th place. For once, the German language is well represented in the top-10s with Philipp Buhl GER on 6, Andreas Geritzer AUT on 8 and Tobias Schadewaldt GER on 10, and Christian Steiger SUI on the 11th place even enlarges this "language group". As always in split fleet races, the gaps between the competitors are still very small and the number of top class Laserists is considerable. Some more races are necessary for a clear structure of the classifications. Fair racing can be excpected as the weather forecast is excellent for the coming days. The results and the official report.