EUROSAF Youth Sailing, European Championship at Tavira - Day 2
by John Friend, EUROSAF 6 Aug 2013 21:46 BST
5-9 August 2013
With six races completed, some sailors are beginning to dominate their fleets, while others remain closely fought, promising some exciting racing in the days to come.
Yet again excellent conditions were experienced during the second day of racing, with winds between 13 and 18 knots on the two race courses. After two days of racing we are now half way through the 12 race series, with medal races in each discipline taking place on Friday this week. At this stage of the event, it would seem France, Germany and Italy are the teams vying for the Nations' Cup, Team Trophy, but with six more races and the medal races to follow, this could change.
In the individual fleets today the German 29er crew of Wassner & Scheel managed to get in between the two French boats who had been leading after day 1. The German sailors finished the day with a creditable 3,1,1. The leaders from day 1, Carissan & Guillou (FRA), still lead the field, with a very consistent 1,2,2 today, while the other French team, who were placed second after day 1, were less fortunate, finishing 4,3,4, dropping them to third place overall. The ability to discard one race comes into effect now that 6 races have been completed, so the series results in the 29er fleet show Carissan & Guillou (FRA) with 6 points, Wassner & Scheel (GER) 11 and Carissan & Guillou (FRA) 13.
In the girls 420 fleet, the two leading Italian crews from day 1 strengthened their positions with some consistent sailing. The leaders Carlotta Omari & Francesca Ciril, sailed a brilliant 1,2,1 and their national rivals, Sara Vettimo & Vittoria Barbi finished with a creditable 4,1,3. The German crew of Fanny Popken & Julia Vitek remain third overall, closely followed by Manuela Torres and Lucia Sanchez from Spain, who are just 2 points behind after discard. Currently Omari & Ciril lead with 7 points, Vittimo & Barbi with 10, while Popken & Vitek have 23 points in 3rd place.
Whilst ITA and GER are leading the girls championship, in the boys fleet it is ITA and FRA who are setting the pace. After an OCS in race 2, the French sailors Hippolyte Machetti & Sidoine Dan had a clean sweep of 1st places today. Coupled with their win and a 3rd place from day 1, this leaves them in the lead overall, with a total of 7 points after discard. In second place are Italian crew Tommaso Ciapolini & Ceaare Mass, who scored 2,3,12 today, to go with their 1,1,2 of day 1, giving them a net 9 points after discard. In third place are another Italian crew, Ruggiero Di Luggo & Luca Giamatt, with an overall score of 13 points. There is also quite a scrap developing for 4th place between Austria, Portugal and Spain, who are separated only by 5 points.
In the girls single-handed class, there were no place changes amongst the top four sailors, with Agata Barwinska from Poland sailing the perfect 1,1,1 on day 2, allowing her to discard a 2nd place from day 1, and giving her an overall points total of 6. Line Flem Host (NOR) consolidated her second place, with a 5,4,2, with Annika Matthiesen (GER) sailing a 9,3,3 to keep her third place. Flem Host now has 15 points and Mattiesen 16, so there could yet be changes in these positions. In the boys single-handed fleet there were several place changes. Adrian Raczkowski (POL), who had been leading after day 1, dropped to 4th place, after finishing 10, 9, 10, while Loic Queyroux (FRA), who had been second after day 1, sailed a 6,3,7 to go into the overall lead with 18 points. In 2nd place is Filip Ciszkiewicz (POL), with 19 points, while the biggest gain of the day was made by Antonio Coronilla (ESP), who jumped from 7th place to 3rd with 25 points, having won race 5 and finished 4th in race 6, allowing him to discard a 19 place from race 4.
In the girls windsurfer/sailboard discipline, Imogen Sills from the UK has the perfect score of 6 races and 6 wins, giving her a strong lead after half the races have been completed. In 2nd place is Malle Guibaud (FRA) with 13 points, having finished 4,2,3 today, while in 3rd place is Pilar Lamadrid Trueba (ESP), whose 2,3,2 on the day saw her jump from 6th place yesterday. Evgeniy Ayvazyan (RUS) is almost as dominant in the boys windsurfing discipline, with fours 1st places and a 2nd counting towards his overall total of 6 points. The sailors in 2nd and 3rd places yesterday swapped places after the racing today, with Dante Chiapello (FRA) finishing 4,1,2 to take his total score to 12 points and Michele Cittadini (ITA) finishing 2,3,6 to take his overall score to 13 points, so we can expect some close racing in this fleet over the coming days.
A number of protests were submitted at the end of racing, so all the results are subject to the outcome of any hearings. This will be updated in the report tomorrow. Generally, however, the standard and quality of sailing has been excellent and the International Race Officer from course alpha, João Allen, complimented the sailors at the daily meeting of coaches on their excellent on-water behaviour, a sentiment echoed by the International Jury Chairman, Rüdiger Schuchardt.
The complete results, when available, will be available at
tavirasailing.org/uk/nextevent/theevent/19/eurosaf+2013.html
Photographs at www.rspinto.com/Galleries/Live/26153253_dWt4Rg