left to right – Bachelin/Pittet, Wagen/Siegwart, Casco/Bumann © Swiss 420 Class Association
2013 Swiss 420 Nationals
After 8 diverse races, yesterday the Swiss 420 National Championship finished in Vidy, just near Lausanne. Over the four days of racing, 12-15 October, a promising southerly wind was forecast.
But the challenge with the wind on Lake Geneva is that the Alps act as screens and the breeze bends to the southeast or southwest. And as Vidy is in the middle, the race course becomes a bit of a wind battlefield.
Race Day 1 got underway with a not well established breeze from the southwest, but the wind then shifted in the early afternoon from the southeast at around 4-5 knots. Race Day 2, the wind was up in the morning with 7-8 knots from the south-east, but it swung 180 degrees and filtered through from all directions, never from one direction long enough to hold a race.
Conditions were equally challenging on day 3, with a light breeze and low chop.
Finally, the weathered pulled no punches on the final day of racing with four races completed. The first two races were in a variable breeze, with hard to predict gusts. All change as the wind then shifted to the southwest and increased from 15 knots up to 23 knots in the gusts.
The increased breeze was ideal for Kilian Wagen/Gregoire Siegwart to exert their stamp on the fleet, knocking out three successive race wins to seal the National Championship title by 7 points over Camillo Casco/Nico Bumann. In third, were Maxime Bachelin/Philippe Pittet, on a 5 point margin behind.
Source: Swiss 420 Class Association
