420 & 470 Junior European Championships at Gdynia, Poland - Day 3
by International 420 Class Association 16 Aug 2014 08:14 BST
11-18 August 2014
A crazy race day 3 at the 420 and 470 Junior Europeans as massive windshifts swept across the course, with races abandoned and courses reset.
The challenging breeze didn't seem to upset the series leaders though, who despite some up and down results still hold onto their yellow leaders bibs going into Saturday's race day 4.
Racing first were the 470 Men and Women on the furthest Echo course area, where they ended up being beset with wind shifts. A postponement as the Race Committee waited for the wind to fill in and stabilize saw race 5 get underway, only to be abandoned as a massive wind shift hit the course. The shifting breeze continued to plague the fleet for the rest of the day.
The 420 yellow and blue fleets were on the adjacent Delta course, where the yellow fleet were on the track first for an 1130 hours scheduled start time. After three general recalls, the black flag brought the fleet into line, with a handful of teams taking penalty scores for starting too early. The 104 boat 420 fleet have now concluded their qualification series, and are seeded into gold and silver fleets for the 6-race final series, with the top 54 placed boats advancing to gold.
470 Men
Just race 5 completed for the 470 Men today, with the win going to Malte Winkel/Matti Cipra, the 470 Junior Worlds bronze medallists. The pair were in battle with Australia's Thomas Klemens/William Llewlyn and series leaders Jordi Xammar/Joan Herp, who finished 2nd and 3rd respectively.
An important and confident win for Winkel/Cipra at this halfway stage of the Championship sees the Germans and series leader from Spain as the only teams counting all top ten results, leaving them room on their scoreline for a discard result.
Today's race winners Klemens/Llewlyn are seeing their peak performances sandwiched between double-digit scorelines, in a similar showing to their form at the 470 Junior Worlds which saw them deliver a mix of front of fleet and mid-fleet results, to finish 21st in the forty-six boat fleet. They thrived in the senior fleet racing at the 470 Europeans in Athens last month, easily qualifying through to gold fleet and finishing 37th in the seventy-three boat fleet.
The race discard came into play on race 5, but has not really impacted the leaderboard. Biggest move up the fleet goes to Poland's Kamil Cesarski/Beniamin Waskiewicz, who started the day in 8th and ended it in 4th overall, helped by their sixth place finish.
470 Men Results after Day 3: (top ten, 5 races)
1. Jordi Xammar/Joan Herp (ESP-44) - 6 pts
2. Malte Winkel/Matti Cipra (GER-13) - 12 pts
3. Giacomo Ferrari/Giulio Calabro (ITA-757) - 17 pts
4. Kamil Cesarski/Beniamin Waszkiewicz (POL-50) – 30 pts
5. Matteo Pilati/Francesco Rubagotti (ITA-27) - 32 pts
6. David Charles Vila/Alex Charles Vila (ESP-1) - 33 pts
7. Matthes Waack/Matthias Rummel (GER-31) - 35 pts
8. Simon Diesch/Patrick Aggeler (GER) – 38 pts
9. Francesco Rebaudi/Matteo Puppo (ITA) – 43 pts
10. Fabrice Rigot/Guillauume Rigot (SUI-2) – 50 pts
470 Women
A testing day for the 470 Women fleet as three starts and three race abandonments stretched the nerves of even the most composed sailors as well as the Race Committee. Ultimately, all racing was abandoned for the day.
In the first attempt to start race 5, the race was abandoned on the first reach, as the back of the fleet came through to the front of the fleet. Attempt 2 was abandoned after a fifty degree shift just before the first windward mark. The breeze then picked up, going from around 5 knots to around 15 knots, and the fleet did an upwind leg, downwind leg and then were heading back up to the windward mark when the race got abandoned for the third time - a tough day for all.
"It was a hard day to set a course, as the breeze was shifting around a lot," accepted Jess Lavery of Great Britain. "It was all good fun, and we stayed focused race on race."
"In between the races we were always thinking about the next race," commented crew Megan Brickwood. "We were sailing well all day, even though the racing was abandoned and the wind was crazy."
Lavery/Brickwood are the top placed finishers from the 470 Junior Worlds held in July competing here in Poland.
Alongside the seasoned 470 campaigners are some newcomers to the fleet, including Canada's Alli Surrette/Ali Ten Hove, who stepped to the 470 after campaigning in a 420 during 2013, and are competing at their first 470 Championship.
"We are so enjoying sailing the 470. We only started in December last year, so this is our first big Championship and we are so excited to be here, it is a great experience," said Surrette. "The competition here in Europe is incredible, and it is really cool to race against people our own age who are sailing the same boat."
Commenting on what they have learned from their European experience so far, Surrette explained, "I would say that the experience of racing against incredibly high level sailors and seeing things from a different perspective and different techniques that other people are using is great to see."
Next stop for the Canadians is the Santander 2014 ISAF Worlds in September. "It will be tough there," acknowledged Surrette, and the ISAF Worlds will very much be a training ground for the team.
With the 2016 Olympic Games beckoning for Surrette/Ten Hove, they are benefiting every step of the way. The Olympic Qualification System for the Rio 2016 Olympics guarantees every continent a nation slot, over and above any slots already awarded to nations from the 2014 ISAF Worlds and 2015 Class Worlds, so if they qualify at their Continental Qualification event in 2015/2016, Rio is on the cards.
470 Women Results after Day 3: (top ten, 4 races)
1. Anna Kyselova/Anastasiya Krasko (UKR-93) - 6 pts
2. Cecilia Zorzi/Bianca Caruso (ITA-20) - 18 pts
3. Noya Bar-Am/Rimon Shoshan (ISR-11) - 24 pts
4. Jess Lavery/Megan Brickwood (GBR-838) - 28 pts
5. Lena Stueckl/Franziska Maege (GER-50) - 29 pts
6. Frederike Loewe/Anna Markfort (GER-26) - 32 pts
7. Jeanine Speelman/Marchien Speelman (NED-75) – 37 pts
8. Fabienne Oster/Alexandra Lauber (GER-95) - 40 pts
9. Eva Peterneij/Valentina Baruca (SLO-18) – 40 pts
10. Anna Pirigova/Anzhelika Cherniakhovskaia (RUS) – 41 pts
420 Open
A long day on the water for the 420 fleet as the conditions which plagued the 470 course were felt on the 420 race track. General recalls forced the Race Committee to start under black flag, with numerous boats penalised across all races.
A day of extreme for series leaders Hippolyte Machetti/Sidoine Dantes (FRA) who bounced back from a disatrous 25th in the day's opening race, following up with a race win to carry a 9 point advantage into the final series. Ewa Romaniuk/Katarzyna Goralska (POL) hold firm in second overall.
So as the leaderboard shapes up at the halfway stage and the discard kicks in after race 5, all change in the top 10 as 5 teams disappear and 5 move on up. With 6 races completed, today marked the end of the qualification series, with teams now seeded to gold or silver fleet, with 54 boats apiece.
Amongst the gainers and shooting up into the top 10 go Max Clapp/Joseph Burns (GBR) from their 1,3 in today's two races and arrive into third overall heading into the final series. Joining their team mates in the top ten are Sarah Norbury/Mari Davies (GBR), who become the 2nd placed women's team.
Six more races for the 420 fleet to complete the final series and crown this year's Champions.
420 Results after Day 3: (top ten, 6 races)
1. Hippolyte Machetti/Sidoine Dantes (FRA-55096) - 17 pts
2. Ewa Romaniuk/Katarzyna Goralska (POL-55326) - 24 pts
3. Max Clapp/Joseph Burns (GBR-55242) – 34 pts
4. Kilian Wagen/Gregoire Siegwart (SUI-52967) – 36 pts
5. Will Logue/Bram Brakman (USA-55175) - 38 pts
6. Sarah Norbury/Mari Davies (GBR-54849) - 42 pts
7. Théo Carayon/Erwan Lucas (FRA-54834) – 44 pts
8. Evangelina Drouga/Eva Vardali (GRE-54803) – 45 pts
9. Thomas Ponthieu/Quentin Paturle (FRA-55095) – 48 pts
10. Paula Barceló/Margarita Alba (ESP-53162) – 50 pts
Check out the Live Race for updates from the race course throughout the day.