Qualifying complete in the Zhik 29er Europeans at Quiberon, France
by Jerelyn Biehl 25 Aug 2017 08:40 BST
20-27 August 2017
Patience and persistence
After early morning starts the first 2 days, the 179 boat fleet was informed of a 2pm start, waiting for the wind to build.
Sent to the two courses on Quiberon Bay, the fleets battled in 3 races each to finalize qualifying and the fleet splits into the finals.
Consistency from the Italian sailors Frederico Zampiccoli and Leonardo Chiste paid off although they broke their string of all firsts and seconds with an 11th in the first race today, with the lead into the finals. Swedes Oscar Engstrom and Hugo Westberg also sailed a solid qualifying with almost all top 5 finishes. The battle continues among the French sailors for a Youth World spot with Theo Revil and Gautier Guevel in 3rd closely followed by Benjamin Jaffrezic and Leo Chauvel - both trading off top places at the recent World Championships in California and their Nationals last week. The top female team of Zoya Novikova and Diana Sabirova sit in 5th overall.
The top 50 will sail for Gold while the remaining competitors are split into equal flights of 43 each.
Sailing continues with 3 days of finals finishing on Sunday. Full results can be found at www.29ereuropeans.org and more photos on the Int 29er Class Facebook page.