GAZI – Yesterday, July 7th, was the first day of competition of the 5th World University Match racing Championship, which started under perfect weather conditions, sunshine, 30°C and wind 20 Beaufort.
The teams started to sail their matches in dual, competing in a round robin, which is really impressive.
FISU talked to 
Pierrot Occhetto, Member of the International Jury and International umpire and judge who gave an impression of the first day.
“The necessary qualities in this discipline are of course the precision and the control of the boat, but also the capacity to destabilize and block your opponent crew in strict compliance with the regulations.
Match Racing is a team work on the boat and the success of winning depends of a good sailing first but not only, the way of taking well the spinnaker, the way not to make any tactical error, such as for example not to transfer edge 50m before the lay line, while the boat has the advantage position on its opponent and is completely controlling the other boat!
At a certain time, it was really windy and the Romeo flag was used in order not to use the spinnaker, which was a good idea for 2 groups of matches, but when the wind decreased, the teams had to sail another 2 matches without spinnaker and this was a pity.
The most astonishing team today is Team Singapore, making no tactical mistake, but waiting until the other team which she is competing with is making the mistake. This team is sailing perfectly, everyone knows his place on the boat, we can easily see that they trained a lot, and their position in the air (which is also important) is nearly perfect, as every competitor is covering the air of the other without bringing too much resistance. They are really the best ones in sailing today. Italy also made quite a good score, winning 4 matches on the 6 sailed” explained Occhetto.
On July 8th, we will continue the round robin until the end before reaching the eliminations for the quarter-finals.
(Source: Nicole Mangelschots, FISU Asst. WUC)
RESULTS DAY 1