The brazilians dominated the first day of competition at the Radial Open, this Sunday, em Fortaleza, getting the six top positions at the overall results after two races on each fleet. Eduardo Couto, from Rio de Janeiro, leads the championship, followed by Daniel Jakobsson, Alexandre Tinoco, Tiago Rodrigues e Fábio Dutra. Peruvian Gonzalo Barclay and russian Igor Lisovenko were the first after the six brazilians. At the Radial Women, leadership belongs to french Sarah Steyart. Australian Sarah Blanck came in second and italian Larissa Nevierov in third.

To the president of the Center South American Laser Association, Carlos Fanucchi, ‘’the brazilians results show that we can win the title for the first time, and at home. We still have ten races to go, but our sailors have technical conditions to stay among the leaders’’.

According to him, the brazilian acquitall can be repeated along the way even in case of stronger winds. At the first day of competition, the windspeed reached a maximum of 12 knots, below the average registered the week before. Because of the weather conditions, a great number of sailors held back and took a safe posture, avoiding too many risks at this stage of dispute.

At the Radial Women, Sarah Stayert, second at the european circuit this year, opened up a two point lead over her runners-up. One of the favorites to win the title, american Paige Railey finished fourth. Current world champion, australian Krystal Weir was far for a dream day. She got only the 12th place. ‘’At the second race i ended up groing the wrong way around the second mark and couldn´t recover’’, said.

Fifth overall and best among the local athletes, Tiago Rodrigues said that the dispute got a lot tougher because of the unstable wind – one mistake could take a sailor down several positions. The other locals were Bruno Rodrigues – 21º; Diego Nottingham – 29º, Daniel Azevedo – 42º, Philippe Nottingham Filho – 48º and Ernesto Molinas – 84º.

There gonna be two races this Monday, starting at noon. The qualifying fase ends on Tuesday, and the dispute goes on until Friday to the 165 competitors from 39 countries.

The Laser Worlds 2005 includes four world championships: Sênior (September 19th to 28th), Máster (September 30th to October 8th), Radial Open & Women (December 3rd to 9th) and Radial Youth (December 10th to 17th). The events are organized by the International Laser Class Association, Brazilian Laser Class Association, Ceara State Sailing Federation, Brazilian Sailing Federation and Yacht Club of Fortaleza. The sponsors are: Ceara State Government, thru the Sports and Youth Bureau, Marina Park Hotel and Hamburg Süd. The event also has the support of the brazilian navy, Banco do Nordeste do Brasil, Mayor of Fortaleza, Unilink, Rio de Janeiro Yacht Club and Pirata Bar.