The M32 World Championships came to an exciting close on Sunday. Eleven teams came for 18 races in conditions ranging from 6 to 22 knots on the warm waters of Miami, Florida. When the spray settled, Convexity, with helm Don Wilson, was able to defend their world title.
Convexity smashed the competition with three races to spare. Despite their regularity at the top of the podium in the last year, there were some doubts going into this most recent competition. They finished mid-fleet at the M32 National Championships in October and though they improved to second at the Pre-Worlds, they were edged out by Anthony Kotoun helming Team Catapult.
Wilson erased any doubts with his commanding win this week. “We just focused on constantly getting better and finding little ways of getting the boat faster.” he said.
Team Catapult is usually driven by Joel Ronning, but the rest of the team stepped up to fill his absence this week, including Kotoun on the tiller. “There are some incredible teams here that are well polished and extremely talented and to be able to come and mix it up with them is a wonderful thing,” said Kotoun.
The comeback story of the regatta was that of Inga From Sweden.
“This is my best result ever at any Worlds. I am very happy,” said skipper Richard Goransson. Goransson finished second at the Nationals in October, but had an inauspicious start to the World Championships, finding himself in sixth place after the first day. His team chipped away over the course of the regatta, gaining places every day to finish third overall.
“Convexity is a step ahead of us still, but that’s not going to last forever. I hope they all come to Cascais,” he said.
This was Ryan McKillen’s first world championship with his Team Surge. “It’s tough,” he said even with a big smile on his face. “A lot of boats on the starting line. It’s pretty unforgiving out there if you don’t get off the line and we didn’t get off the line very well.”
Another fresh face in the class, Bill Ruh with his team Pursuit, showed consistent improvement throughout the regatta. Looking forward to 2022 Ruh said, “If we’re going to continue to strive to move up in the rankings we’re going to have to continue to put the hard work in.”
One of the specific things Ruh is looking to improve on is learning the fastest modes of the boat and how they change in different wind conditions. He plans on getting back in the boat in January for the Miami Winter Series.
In between the boat pack-up and the podium celebrations there was palpable anticipation for the coming Miami M32 Winter Series. “If I wasn’t so sore I’d want to do it again tomorrow,” said Ruh. Four weekends of racing are planned throughout January, February, March, and April; the best months to be racing in Miami.
