A building breeze on Day 5 of the Pan American Games 2023 delivers tight racing

Three races took place in the 49er fleet. The USA team of Ian Barrows and Hans Henken posted an uncharacteristic 7th place in the final race of the day despite a solid third and first before that. However overall, they remain at the top of the table on 16 points.

“The last one we ran into a big piece of kelp just on the line, so we were kind of limping upwind a little bit. There wasn’t a lot of passing lanes to get us back into the race so kind of ended up being our throw-out for the day,” said Henken.

The Americans are 9 points clear of their closest rivals Marco Soffiatti Grael and Gabriel Silva Simoes of Brazil who made ground with a 1, 2, 1.

In the highly competitive 49erFX fleet, Brazil, USA and Canada all took their turns for podium spots. Shifty breeze on the left of the racecourse threw up opportunities for tight racing.

“It was a perfect day, good wind. A little bit shifty, we were on the racecourse a little more inside the bay which was super tricky when to decide to cross to the other side and take the layline. It was super nice racing with the girls, I think they did a really good job. It was super close,” said Kunze.

The Brazilian team of Martine Soffiatti Grael and Kahena Kunze remain top of the overall table on 13 points but are closely followed by Stephanie Roble and Margaret Shea of the USA on 15 points.

In the Mixed Multihull Nacra 17, Mateo Majdalani and Eugenia Bosco continue to dominate only dropping to second in race 8 in an otherwise perfect week so far. The Brazilian team of Samuel Reis Albrecht and Gabriela Nicolino De Sa who took the win currently sit in third overall behind the USA team Sarah Newberry-Moore and David Liebenberg.

Two races in the ILCA 6 were both won by American Erika Rose Reineke. Race 7 saw 2021 Youth Sailing World Champion Florencia Chiarella Salas of Peru take second.

In the ILCA 7, Race 7 went to overall leader Peruvian Stefano Peschiera Loret De Mola with a second place for Chapman Petersen of the USA. The Race 8 win was taken by Juan Ignacio Maegli Agüero.

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