420 and 470 Junior Europeans at Fraglia Vela Riva, Lake Garda - Day 5

The 470 Men Gold, Men Silver and Women's fleets were again out on the race track early, to take advantage of the breeze.

As the 470 fleets returned to shore, the 420 Open and Under 17 fleets headed out to complete two more races on their penultimate day of racing. The wind dropped in the middle of the day, before a breeze returned kicking up a 15-17 knot breeze, which steadily increased before disappearing again.

The top 10 470 Men and 470 Women boats advance to Sunday's medal race, starting with the women at 1330 hours, then men at 1415 hours. Prior to that, at 0800 hours, the remaining boats in the 470 Gold, Silver and Women's fleets will head out on the race track for one final race. The 420 Open and Under 17 fleets have two more races to conclude their Championships, kicking off at 1300 hours.

470 MEN:

The cat and mouse game between sparring partners Hippolyte Machetti/Sidoine Dantes (FRA) and Giacomo Ferrari/Giulio Calabro (ITA) escalated today, as the two traded positions in their personal stake-out around the race track. With so little between the two teams, and both at the top of their game, it was inevitable one of them would have to make the danger move today.

The French held a 1 point advantage going into race 8, extending to 2 points by the end. By race 9 it was back to tiebreak, and advantage to the French. But their discard score was now in, a 25th place finish, as they struggled to find form, and racked up their first finish outside the top 7. Onto the final race 10 of the day, and the Italians, who had a 5th place as their discard result, could now take a risk to eradicate their podium rivals and gain a points advantage ahead of the Medal Race. And that they did, ruthlessly match racing the French to the back of the fleet to finish 25th and 26th respectively. Machetti/Dantes' scorecard stacked up, and the Italians played their discard to earn back the overall lead.

"Today was a very good day, because the first race was unlucky for us as the French passed us," said Ferrari about their day. "But it was not so important and we restarted the second race very well, to finish 5th. When we finished we saw the French were in 25 and we knew in the last race we had to do a match race. We started better than them, did a lot of tacks and finished at the back, which was perfect for us."

The two teams are close friends, but in it to win it, so the Italian manoeuvre was accepted by the French, as Ferrari continued, "The French team are very good and it was a very good battle. We are happy to battle with them as they are good guys and we are good friends. At the 470 Worlds they were before us, and now we are before them."

Ferrari/Calabro could still miss out on the medals, but they would have to finish last with the chasing teams out front. Sunday's medal race will see the moment of truth arrive as these duellists guarantee there will be a spectacular race track show to settle the score.

Best day of racing so far from Israel's Maor Abu/Yoav Rooz who gained their podium chance from scores of 7,3,1. On paper they can shoot for gold, silver and bronze. Realistically though the gold is a long shot, and would require a win from Israel and last place finish from the Italians, but the silver and bronze are in their sights.

"It was very difficult, but we did it," said a relieved Abu. "We woke up today at half past five and knew we were going to have a good day.

"We did everything we know how to do. We didn't have a good start, but we sailed in the group and used speed and tactics." Abu admitted the battle which took the Italians and French to the back of the fleet also helped, although was also on a single-minded mission, saying, "I was just sailing to win and didn't think about anything else."

Abu has two medal races under his belt, both from last year. "I am feeling really good, and the medal race will be very interesting, with positions changing a lot. We will do the same as we did today and nothing will change."

Hungary's Gyapjas brothers have also put themselves in medal contention. "We are really satisfied, and happy with our results," said Balazs. "We weren't lucky today, as we had good starts and tried to control the fleet. But sometimes the boats that sail alone gain a lot and it was not possible to beat them."

The brothers are guaranteed a third or fourth place finish and whatever happens tomorrow, this year's Junior Europeans will mark a career best 470 Championship result.

470 Men - Top 10 Medal Race Teams:

1. Giacomo FERRARI/Giulio CALABRÒ (ITA 757) - 24 pts
2. Hippolyte MACHETTI/Sidoine DANTÈS (FRA 79) - 43 pts
3. Maor ABU/Yoav ROOZ (ISR 10) - 46 pts
4. Balázs GYAPJAS/Zsombor GYAPJAS (HUN 1) - 53 pts
5. Ben HAZELDINE/Ryan ORR (GBR 840) - 72 pts
6. Nitai HASSON/Tal HARARI (ISR 15) - 73 pts
7. David CHARLES VILA/Alex CHARLES VILA (ESP 1) - 78 pts
8. Enric NOGUERA/Fernando DAVILA (ESP 73) - 79 pts
9. Thomas PONTHIEU/Michal ELLIOTT (FRA 95) - 81 pts
10. Martin WRIGLEY/James TAYLOR (GBR 55) - 89 pts

420 and 470 Junior Europeans at Lake Garda day 5 - photo © Elena Giolai

470 WOMEN:

Maria Bozi/Rafailina Klonaridou (GRE) hold onto their lead after the day's three races, walk away from the tiebreak they opened the day with and gain a 3 point advantage over second placed Luise Wanser/Helena Wanser (GER). Third to Olivia Bergstrom/Lovisa Karlsson (SWE).

Bozi was disappointed with the day though, as they made their hunt for Championship gold harder after dropping back through the fleet in race 10.

"We were solid in the first races, and the third race was also going pretty well, but then the wind started to go down, and there were shifts, and we fell from 3rd to 12th," she said.

Bozi was concise on their medal race game plan, "We will win the race, as there are four teams very close to each other."

With only a 6 points separating the leading four teams, it is likely to be an own-game approach, rather than hunting out any specific team. Who holds their nerve will take the win

Three points behind the Greeks are Germany's sisters Luise and Helena Wanser, who put their escalation on performance to an evening chilled out.

"Yesterday I had a glass of rose, so I had a good sleep," laughed Luise. "I was really motivated this morning. Then we saw the wind, and we are not normally that good when we have a lot of wind, but our speed was really good and we made some good decisions, so we finished in 2nd two times."

Their plan tonight is to head to a bar along the lake in Torbole, relax and not take the evening too seriously. "You cannot change your life completely for a Championship," was Luise's refreshing take on life. "This will keep us cool!"

Tomorrow will be their third medal race, but debut at Championship level. The Germans have every chance to secure a podium place, but equally could miss out. "We will try to enjoy the medal race and give it our best. Our benchmark was getting in the medal race and we are now in second so did better than expected," assessed Luise.

The third placed Swedish pair of Bergstrom/Karlsson have only campaigned a 470 since February this year, so had treated their Championship as a training regatta, and so far have written up 26 pages of areas to work on!

"We decided this first year that it would not be fair to compare ourselves with others, so we came here to see what other teams do and try to learn from them," explained Karlsson. "It is amazing to now be in third. We are pretty happy with our sailing here, but are focused on getting better in the boat and not so much on the results yet. We are happy with a lot of good things, but a lot of mistakes as well. We are focused on trying to minimise mistakes and learn all the time.

"We have no pressure, and this is like a really good training camp," added Bergstrom. The pair have raced one medal race before, which they were leading but ended up last. "It was a worst case scenario for our first medal race," laughed Bergstrom. "So we have some things to learn from that!"

Any of the top five teams are in podium positions, so all to play for in Sunday's double points medal race. The remaining teams will compete in final race.

470 Women - Top 10 Medal Race Teams:

1. Maria BOZI/Rafailina KLONARIDOU (GRE 216) - 52 pts
2. Luise WANSER/Helena WANSER (GER 69) - 55 pts
3. Olivia BERGSTRÖM/Lovisa KARLSSON (SWE 34) - 57 pts
4. Marina LEFORT/Lara GRANIER (FRA 7) - 58 pts
5. Yahel WALLACH/Shahar TIBI (ISR 12) - 70 pts
6. Benedetta DI SALLE/Alessandra DUBBINI (ITA 74) - 72 pts
7. Beste KAYNAKCI/Simay ASLAN (TUR 99) - 72 pts
8. Francesca RUSSO CIRILLO/Alice LINUSSI (ITA 25) - 75 pts
9. Tsuf ZAMET/Noa LASRY (ISR 5) - 76 pts
10. Maria Vittoria MARCHESINI/Cecilia FEDEL (ITA 54) - 83 pts

420 OPEN:

It was a long and testing afternoon of racing for both 420 fleets, with postponements afloat, general recalls, and abandoned races. The morning Peler breeze disappeared, before the afternoon thermal kicked in. It wasn't the steady Ora, but a breeze which swung left to right, making it incredibly hard to read.

Unstoppable consistency continues from Spanishg series leaders Balaguer/Antoni Massanet who brought their gold medal mission ever closer, by winning the first race of the day. Finishes of 15,12 to the USA's Dylan Ascencios/Nick Chisari kept them in second overall, but with a widening points gap to the leaders.

Balaguer claimed the bronze medal at last year's Junior Europeans, racing with his brother Ignacio, and Massanet finished 16th overall in his former partnership, so the pair have plenty of experience between them to maintain their cool. This came in handy as they were penalised off the start line in the opening race, as Massanet explained, "In the first race, the Jury penalized us twenty seconds before the start. We took the penalty and went to the right and as it was free pumping, we pumped upwind without stopping, which gave us about 2-3 knots more. We went really fast and were at the first mark first and held on to win.

"We are a new team and have worked together for three months and every race get better and concentrate more. At the end this is what makes you win. We want to win, so we have a lot of power focused on winning. I sleep thinking of winning, and Carlos too."

There is a 37 point margin to the second placed Americans, and 49 points to the next European team, so they look particularly safe for gold.

"We will not complicate ourselves tomorrow, and go to make things easy," Massanet explained on their game plan. "If we can reach first or top five would be nice to end the Championship with a massive lead."

Big respect from Ascencios to the Spanish, as he commented, "They are really stellar and sailing better than anyone else out there. They are putting on a great show, which is really cool to watch."

Recounting the day's racing and game plan of consolidation and risk avoidance, he continued, "It was a tricky day with the wind, but we wanted to take a less aggressive strategy. That's why we were aiming for more around twelfth place finishes, rather than the top five. We just want to be safe and hold.

"You just have to focus, eat and hydrate," he said on the long hours on the water. "When a race is abandoned you just have to flush it away and just focus on the next race, no matter what's happening you are always thinking ahead rather than looking at the past."

Third to Telis Athanasopoulos Yogo/Dimitris Tassios (GRE), with Edoardo Ferraro/Francesco Orlando (ITA) just 2 points behind.

Turkey's Rasim Yaþar/Atýl Api scored their worst day of the series - 34, 17 - but much to their surprise climbed the leaderboard.

"I am really happy with 5th overall as I wasn't expecting that," said Yasar. "I thought we would be outside the top ten after today. "We want to hold our top five finish, and we will try to do it.

"It was pretty shifty and a north wind. The Race Committee tried to make a race, but couldn't as the breeze shifted a lot, so it was abandoned," explained Yasar. "Then the south wind came and we got in two tricky races. In the first race we did bad as we chose the left, and in the second we had a nice start, but couldn't stay with the fleet. We rounded the first mark around seventh, but downwind had spinnaker problems and finished seventeenth."

Top girls team are Israel's Linoy Korn/Omer Bilia in 12th overall, with Spain's Patricia Reino/Carlota Hopkins chasing in 13th and Great Britain's Isabel Davies/Gemma Keers in 14th.

420 Open - Provisional Results after Race 10:

1. Carlos BALAGUER/Antoni MASSANET (ESP 55947) - 39 pts
2. Dylan ASCENCIOS/Nick CHISARI (USA 55917) - 76 pts
3. Telis ATHANASOPOULOS YOGO/Dimitris TASSIOS (GRE 56371) - 86 pts
4. Edoardo FERRARO/Francesco ORLANDO (ITA 56278) - 88 pts
5. Rasim YAÞAR/Atýl API (TUR 55850) - 118 pts
6. Francesco CRICHIUTTI/Francesco RIPANDELLI (ITA 54904) - 123 pts
7. Enzo BALANGER/Gaultier TALLIEU (FRA 56030) - 127 pts
8. Felix KAISER/Samuel STÖRR (GER 56086) - 130 pts
9. Albert TORRES/Francesc ALEMANY (ESP 52779) - 134 pts
10. Hugo LE CLECH/zACHARY LE BRIS (FRA 55985) - 135 pts

420 and 470 Junior Europeans at Lake Garda day 5 - photo © Elena Giolai

420 UNDER 17:

Demetrio Sposato/Gabriele Centrone (ITA) have so far proved impossible to unseat, but today the Greek girls team of Ariadni-Papaskevi Spanaki/Myrto Papadopoulou reeled them in and closed the Italian's points advantage to a mere 4 points, down from 19 points at the start of the day.

"It was long and difficult," said a rather deflated Sposato. "The new wind came this afternoon, that wasn't Ora and it was very strange and very difficult. We were fifth in the first race but we lost some boats in the second upwind, and finished tenth. In the next race we were second, but in the last upwind went to the right and the boats behind us had another wind. We tried to save as much as we could, and finished eighth. We are a bit sad because we tried to do our best, but it was very difficult. Tomorrow is another day.

"My plan tomorrow will be to do simple things, and we have the lowest discard so it is good for us." Seize the win and they will secure their second gold medal of the year, after their win at the 420 Open Europeans Under17 Championship.

Third to Spain's Martín Wizner/Pedro Ameneiro. Pushing hard behind, but on a 19 point deficit, are defending U17 Junior European Champions Tommaso Cilli/Bruno Mantero (ITA).

Neck and neck in the battle for the ladies titles are the Greeks in second overall, with team mates Melina Pappa/Maria Tsamopoulou in 7th and Carlotta Scodnik/Camilla Scodnik (ITA) in eighth. The Italians sisters shifted up into the top ten and medal contention with scores of 8,3,

"It has been hard, as we were on the water for five hours before getting a race finished, but we did good," said Camilla. "We are in a good position and have to race in a good way tomorrow, but most importantly we will enjoy the day."

Carlotta took over, saying, "We will stay focused and hope to get the silver medal."

420 U17 - Provisional Results after Race 10:

1. Demetrio SPOSATO/Gabriele CENTRONE (ITA 56124) - 51 pts
2. Ariadni-Papaskevi SPANAKI/Myrto PAPADOPOULOU (GRE 54484) - 55 pts
3. Martín WIZNER/Pedro AMENEIRO (ESP 56016) - 63 pts
4. Tommaso CILLI/Bruno MANTERO (ITA 56076) - 82 pts
5. Jakub GOLEBIOWSKI/Filip SZMIT (POL 55653) - 86 pts
6. Tommaso SALVETTA/Giovanni SANDRINI (ITA 55951) - 94 pts
7. Melina PAPPA/Maria TSAMOPOULOU (GRE 55405) - 104 pts
8. Carlotta SCODNIK/Camilla SCODNIK (ITA 56272) - 106 pts
9. Jack LEWIS/Charlie BACON (GBR 54487) - 108 pts
10. Max ANKER/Leyton BORCHERDING (USA 56128) - 123 pts

More information and full results on the championship website at 2017junioreuropeans.420sailing.org