EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP GOLD MEDALS TO SPAIN AND CROATIA

Fonte: International 470


A good breeze greeted sailors as they arrived at the venue on the final day of the 2011 470 European Championships, which increased to about 14-15 knots for the start of the 470 Medal Races. The addition of very wet rain did nothing to dampen the killer instincts and desire to win of the teams out on the race tracks.

Titles being contested were for the Open 470 European Championships with all teams eligible for the podium places and the 470 European Championships restricted to teams from European nations only.

470 Men
Australia had sealed victory at the Open 470 European Championships after Thursday's race 12, so Mat Belcher/Malcolm Page's result in the Medal Race was purely personal, as in effect they had nothing to prove. So for the other teams in the Medal Race it was all about securing the 470 European Championship podium places and it was a rollercoaster ride to the end.

With medals already secured in the Laser Radial, Laser and Finn, the Croatian focus was today turned on the 470 Men medal contenders, Sime Fantela/Igor Marenic, to continue the nation's sailing fortunes. Fantela/Marenic did what they needed to do, covered their opponents and crossed the finish line in sixth place to win the Gold – and a resounding cheer from their supporters. Marenic commented, “This is one of the best results we have. It was a really hard regatta a hard event, but we sailed very constant and that was the key. Today was really, really hard a very shifty medal race and we had to pay attention to the British and Israelis and luckily in the end it all worked well for us.”Fantela continued that being awarded their medals and listening to the Croatian national anthem was “a perfect feeling.”

The European Championships accolade adds to their already impressive pedigree, which includes two times winning the 470 Worlds in 2009 and 2010, and 2009 European Champions. They are also three time 470 Junior World Champions and won the 470 Junior Europeans in 2005. Fantela is also a two time Optimist World Champion in 1998 and 2000.

The Silver Medal went to Luke Patience/Stuart Bithell (GBR) who crossed the line in a photo finish just behind Nic Asher/Elliott Willis, and just ahead of Spain's Onan Barreiros Rodriguez/Aaron Sarmiento Padilla. The result of the Medal Race was crucial for Patience/Bithell and had they won the race they would have claimed European Championship victory, but to even secure the Silver Medal seemed like an impossibility early on in the Medal Race as they rounded the first mark in ninth position. But they dug deep, climbed to third by the downwind gate and then increased pace to second which they held tight to the photo finish.

An eighth place finish for Gideon Kliger/Eran Sela (ISR) was all they needed to claim the Bronze Medal.
470 European Champions 470 Open European Champions
1 Sime Fantela/Igor Marenic (CRO) 1 Mat Belcher/Malcolm Page (AUS)
2 Luke Patience/Stuart Bithell (GBR) 2 Sime Fantela/Igor Marenic (CRO)
3 Gideon Kliger/Eran Sela (ISR) 3 Luke Patience/Stuart Bithell (GBR)


470 Women
Looking confident going into the Medal Race, an eighth place finish in today was more than sufficient for Tara Pacheco/Berta Betanzos (ESP) to become the 2011 470 Women's European Champions. Responding to how she was feeling after the race, she said, “my heart is pumping more slowly now.”

“The wind was too shifty and I was a bit afraid in the middle of the first upwind, so I preferred to stay with the Brazilian and if we were the last two boats, I didn't care.” On their plans for celebration, Betanzos said she would be “enjoying a chocolate muffin!” According to Pacheco this has been Betanzos' planned reward if they won Gold. Betanzos continued, “We are really happy. We are doing a good job, so we have to continue like this so we can deliver the best for our objectives and the Olympics.”

A sensational triumph for this team, with the 2011 470 Women European Championships title following on from some stunning results they secured at junior level, including the 2009 470 Junior World Championships.

Denmark's Henriette Koch/Lene Somer won the Silver Medal, which marks a career best performance and provides a superb platform as they move forwards on their Olympic campaign. “I am very happy and very relieved,” said Koch. “It's been a good week, but also so nice to finally be there.” And so it should be as they depart from the Combined Olympic Classes European Championships as the top performing Danish team. And looking ahead to the Olympic Test Event, Koch explained, “Now we just have to go home and think about it, and for sure whenever we sail a regatta we want to do well.”

Another race win for for Hannah Mills/Saskia Clark (GBR) in the Medal Race secured them the Bronze Medal.

In the 470 Women Open European Championships, victory went to the Spanish, with Denmark second and the Brazilian team of Fernanda Oliveira/Ana Luisa Barbachan in third.

470 European Champions 470 Open European Champions
1 Tara Pacheco/Berta Betanzos (ESP) 1 Tara Pacheco/Berta Betanzos (ESP)
2 Lene Sommer/Henriette Koch (DEN) 2 Lene Sommer/Henriette Koch (DEN)
3 Hannah Mills/Saskia Clark (GBR) 3 Fernanda Oliveira/Ana Luisa Barbachan (BRA)


Symbolic of the Olympic heritage in Finland, the athletes were presented with their medals and prizes on a podium used at the 1952 Olympic Games which were hosted in Helsinki.

Results for both the 470 Men/Mixed and 470 Women Open European and European Championships can be found on the event website:www.openeuropeans2011.com/results

Stanislav Kassarov, President of the International 470 Class Association, expressed his thanks to the Championships' hosts during the Medal Ceremony. “On behalf of the 470 sailors, I would like to thank the Organizing Committee for the great effort they have made – we are all very satisfied with the Championships which have been delivered. Helsinki has showcased itself as a great venue and I am sure it will be a popular choice, particularly within the Baltic region, for future major events.”

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Foto finish nos europeus de 470

Esta foto comprova a qualidade da frota, 3 barcos a acabar a regata quase ao mesmo tempo.
A classificação foi, 1º GBR854 Asher/Willis, 2º GBR844 Patience/Bithell e 3º ESP9 Barreiros/Padilla.

Europeu open de classes olímpicas - 470

PENULTIMATE DAY OF 470 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS DECIDES MEDAL RACE CONTENDERS

Today was the day which decided the top 10 boats going through to each of the 470 Men and 470 Women Medal Races to determine who will secure medals at the 2011 470 European Championships with Race 12 held for each of the 470 Men Gold, 470 Men Silver and 470 Women fleets.

470 Men
Perhaps local knowledge was what helped Finnish brothers Joonas and Niklas Lindgren deliver a race win in the 470 Men Gold fleet and qualify through to the Medal Race today. Eyes are now on this team to carry Finland's pride and become the top performing Finnish team of the entire Olympic Class European Championships. Whilst they are out of medal contention they can still move up the leaderboard by several places.

Job done for Mat Belcher/Malcolm Page (AUS) who have secured their victory as the 470 Open European Championships, despite their worst result of the series as they got buried in the fleet after a bad choice saw them take the left hand side of the track upwind to eventually cross the line in 25th. The British team of Luke Patience/Stuart Bithell also headed this way, finished 27th in race 12 and have suffered the consequences, dropping from second overall to fourth going into the Medal Race. With the quality of this fleet, and double points in the Medal Race, Patience/Bithell have got a big ask on their hands to be near the podium. Equal disappointment for Japan's Ryunosuke Harada/Yugo Yoshida with a 29th in race 12 tumbling them down to ninth overall which puts an end to their progress towards the podium.

A frustrated Patience reflected, “We have thrown away some mega points in the results. I hope we are in a position where we can still win a medal.”

The Lindgren brothers were joined by Stuart McNay/Graham Biehl (USA) at the front of the fleet, with the Americans crossing 15 seconds behind the Finnish, whilst the next third placed team were trailing over a minute behind the Americans. A resultant climb up the leaderboard into fifth for McNay/Biehl puts them within reach of the second and third places for the Open European Championships.

Sime Fantela/Igor Marenic (CRO) also played a good race today and will now go into the Medal Race in second overall and in position to have a pop at the European Championship podium places. Igor was pleased with their delivery, “It was quite a hard race. We had some difficulties on the start and then we managed to get clear wind quite early and decided to go right which was better, so it worked really well from the first upwind. We were then at the top of the fleet and so just sailed. We really have a good chance for a medal and are really concerned to beat our European opponents here.” And on tonight's preparation for tomorrow, “Just relaxing, some massage, dinner, watch tv and enjoying ourselves.”

It is all over for Panagiotis Mantis/Pavlos Kagialis (GRE) who arrived in Finland to defend their European Championship title, but a lack of consistency in their racing and the mistake of punching forwards too early over the start line gave them two black flag penalties in the series which wiped out their chances of a successful defence or even going through to the Medal Race.

470 Men Medal Race Contenders
1. AUS11 - Mathew BELCHER /Malcolm PAGE – 39 pts
2. CRO83 - Sime FANTELA /Igor MARENIC – 66 pts
3. ISR7 - Gideon KLIGER /Eran SELA - 70 pts
4. GBR844 - Luke PATIENCE /Stuart BITHELL - 75 pts
5. USA1713 - Stuart MCNAY /Graham BIEHL – 79 pts
6. ESP9 - Onan BARREIROS RODRÍGUEZ /Aaron SARMIENTO PADILLA – 87 pts
7. GRE165 - Panagiotis KAMPOURIDIS /Efstathios PAPADOPOULOS - 89 pts
8. GBR854 - Nic ASHER /Elliot WILLIS - 90 pts
9. JPN4396 - Ryunosuke HARADA /Yugo YOSHIDA - 92 pts
10. FIN7 - Joonas LINDGREN /Niklas LINDGREN - 102 pts
Luke Patience/Stuart Bithell (GBR) lead Australia
Sime Fantela/Igor Marenic (CRO)






470 Women
The British team of Hannah Mills/Saskia Clark flew around the race track today to dominate throughout, take a win in race 12 and increase their chances of a medal position as they move on up to fourth overall.

However, it is still Spain's remarkable young team of Tara Pacheco/Berta Betanzos who lead the fleet and today sealed themselves the Gold or Silver Medal. “We have to keep going and do well in the Medal Race tomorrow and just think about it”, said Pacheco. She is clearly not one to be distracted from her mission. The Spanish regularly train with the second placed Brazilian team Fernanda Oliveira/Ana Luisa Barbachan and Pacheco acknowledged her pleasure that both teams have done so well here in Helsinki, “Yeh, yeh – I think that tomorrow we will also train together before the start. We will see.” When asked if the Brazilians would be happy if the Spanish win, Pacheco responded, “Yes, yes,” and if she would be happy if the Brazilians win, she continued, “Of course.” Pacheco's plan for tonight is “a big hamburger!” and “maybe go to bed early.”

Whilst the Brazilians could rock the Spanish from their position in first overall, equally the Brazilians could knock themselves totally out of the top three tomorrow - a theoretical outcome, but anything can happen.

The Danish team of Henriette Koch/Lene Sommer (DEN) stay firm in third overall and a finish of seventh of better tomorrow will see them at worse safely secure the bronze medal, but they are looking for higher places than that. On today's performance Koch said, “It would have been nice to make a good result and close the regatta, but it didn't go that way so we will just finish it in the Medal Race. If we sail well it is going to end up pretty good for us, so that is what we are going to focus on.” This team won the 470 Junior World Championships in 2006, which they have considered a career best result, but tomorrow is likely to change that to a European Championship medal. On how they will relax tonight, Sommer smiled, “Watch some Tour de France on TV or maybe a church visit,” before clarifying with a laugh, “but not to pray for our sailing, to be a tourist!”

470 Women Medal Race Contenders
1. ESP696 - Tara PACHECO/Berta BETANZOS - 54
2. BRA177 - Fernanda OLIVEIRA/Ana Luisa BARBACHAN - 65
3. DEN143 - Henriette KOCH/Lene SOMMER - 77
4. GBR847 - Hannah MILLS/Saskia CLARK - 91
5. FRA9 - Camille LECOINTRE/Mathilde GERON - 91
6. GBR850 - Penny CLARK/Katrina HUGHES - 105
7. FRA12 - Emmanuelle ROL/Hélène DEFRANCE - 106
8. GRE224 - Virginia KRAVARIOTI/Olga TSIGARIDI - 112
9. USA1736 - Amanda CLARK/Sarah LIHAN - 120
10. USA1757 - Erin MAXWELL/Isabelle FARRAR - 129
470 Women Race 12
Hannah Mills/Saskia Clark (GBR)






The schedule for the final day of racing at the 2011 470 European Championships is a warning signal at 0955 hours for 470 Women Race 13 (excluding top 10), followed by 470 Men Gold (excluding top 10) and 470 Silver. The warning signal for the 470 Men Medal Race is scheduled for 1155 hours and for the 470 Women Medal Race at 1255 hours.

Medals will be awarded to the teams eligible for the 470 European Championships, with prizes also awarded to the top three boats in the 470 Open European Championships.

Fonte: 470 International

Campeonato da Europa de Laser 4.7

Hoje foi o primeiro dia de frotas, os nossos velejadores ficaram em terra com 30 nós no mar, o dia está muito chuvoso e hoje é só convívio. Infelizmente os resultados ficaram além das expectativas, os portugueses estavam à espera de melhores resultados e neste momento estamos representados em todas as frotas, tanto a nível masculino como feminino.

Os velejadores melhor classificados são Pedro Roque em 22º, Gonçalo Gabriel 27º, David Petiz 39º, na frota de prata ficou Luís Mira 29º, Pedro Costa 33º e Manuel Gouveia 36º, na frota de bronze Francisco Natal foi 16º, Luís Amorim 36º,Vasco Silva 52º, António Amaral 53º na esmeralda Gonçalo Santos é 4º, Bruno Pinheiro 14º, Nuno Duarte 17º, Tiago Teixeira 28º e Ruben Fernandes 32º.

No sector feminino, Ana Rita Pinto é 59º da frota de ouro, Catarina Teles e Isabel Monteiro estão na frota de prata e são 35º e 39º respectivamente.

2011 470 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS, HELSINKI, FINLAND - 6-15 JULY 2011

Pace of Racing Changes on Day 4

Varying wind speeds challenged the 470 sailors on course area delta today in Helsinki, ranging from 13-20 knots. Whilst some teams thrived in the conditions, others felt they were not quite quick enough to respond to the change in pace.

470 Women
Race 6 was the first race of the day for the 470 fleets and it was Brazil's Fernanda Oliveira/Ana Luisa Barbachan who dominated up the windward leg, with the Spanish team of Tara Pacheco/Berta Betanzos chasing hard. Brazil tacked to the right first off the start and the Spanish covered, keeping their target closely in sight. But the race was effectively just a procession behind the Brazilians, whose race win gave them the impetus to take the overall lead from the Spanish by the end of today's three races.

Smiled Oliveira after racing, “It was a great day for us. A first, fifth and seventh. The last race was so difficult, it was a completely crazy race. It was the same for everybody, but we were lucky to be at the front of the fleet, so it was easier to keep going. The wind shifted a lot and changed so it was crazy.”

On stepping up to first overall she added, “It doesn't matter for me that we beat the Spanish. We just worry about us, our work, and not for the others. We are sometimes training together with the Spanish girls so it is good to be together. They are very special sailors. We have a lot of races until the end of the event, so we are just concerned to keep going.”

Standing nearby, the Spanish helm Pacheco acknowledged the battle in race 6, “We were trying to catch them, but it was impossible!”

Friedrike Belcher's (GER) victory in race 8, with helm Kathrin Kadelbach, matched her husband Mat Belcher's race 8 win in the 470 Men and helps move the German team up to fifteenth overall.

With those at the front of the fleet happy, for Anna Stepanova and crew Nadezhda Gerasimova (UKR), “today”, as Anna put it “was a tragic history”. They delivered their worst races of the series, a 39, 32, 32. Explained Stepanova, “It was not good for us, there was damage and my crew may have broken her finger. It was on the tack and then something happened and then effected everything afterwards. You need your fingers for every tack, for everything. Our race today was very strange.”

Moving on up to join Brazil and Spain in the top three are Denmark's Henriette Koch/Lene Sommer after a consistent 7,4,8 posting.



Get the latest update on the 470 Women racing - including blog, results and live tracking via the dedicated Class Page.

470 Men
The Australians look to be unstoppable as Mat Belcher/Malcolm Page (AUS) produced another win in race 8 to extend their points lead over the rest of the fleet. Chasing hard and moving up to second overall with a 4,2 are Luke Patience/Stuart Bithell (GBR).

Bithell summarized the British team's day, “It was alright, a lot of pressure differences, a lot of oscillating wind shifts. For me on the wire doing tactics it was brilliant. It was an opportunity to gain on the fleet. It was good fun.”

Race 7 looked to be a win in the bag for Americans Stuart McNay/Graham Biehl, but they ultimately finished behind Panagiotis Kampouridis/Efstathios Papadopoulos (GRE), as McNay explained, “There were a lot of wind shifts out there and a bunch of competitors close behind us. You can't cover everyone. We played the wind as we thought was best and one guy got around us but we are well happy with second.” And on their seventeenth in race 8,“Seventeen isn't that bad a score and we are in a good place going ahead to the next four races and the medal race.”

The British swapped places with Israel's Gideon Kliger/Eran Sela who drop from second to third, as Kliger reflected, “It was a big mess and very different from the other days. The wind was really shifty and it means everything comes really fast and quickly. The other days it was the opposite and very slow. We made mistakes. We just didn't sail good today but we have confidence to get back.”



Get the latest update on the 470 Men racing - including blog, results and live tracking via the dedicated Class Page.

There are still four races to determine the top 10 boats going through to the Medal Race on Friday 15 July.

More Information:
Results
Event Website
Photo Galleries on 470 Facebook page and event website
Twitter: twitter.com/470sailing

Top Image : Fernanda Oliveira/Ana Luisa Barbachan (BRA) move into the overall lead in the 470 women. All images © Thom Touw

Campeonato da Europa de Laser 4.7

Hoje  foi impossivel realizar regatas em Workum com ventos muito leves, a variarem entre os 0 e 4.7 nós de média de vento contante, a comissão de regatas decidiu deixar a frota em terra nao cumprindo o calendário hoje. Amanha a comissão de regatas pretende realizar mais uma regata que o previsto para compensar este dia, estando então previstas 3 regatas. Os velejadores estão motivados e amanha é o dia de decisão das frotas.

Para Quarta prevêem-se 40 nós constantes!

2011 470 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS, HELSINKI, FINLAND - 6-15 JULY 2011

Fonte: International 470

Reversal of Fortunes in Helsinki

A perfect breeze of around 12 knots arrived on time on Course Area D for all 470 racing to get underway as scheduled. A great day for some, a reversal of fortunes for others, whilst one team just wished they had stayed in bed! The breeze from around 220 degrees gradually increased to 15 knots – wonderful conditions for the 470 fleet.

470 Men
The 470 men fleets were re-seeded for today's races based on their finishing positions from yesterday – so some shuffling around in fleet allocations and new head to heads amongst the fleets. Bang on schedule, the 470 yellow fleet got underway first at 1200 hours, followed by the 470 red fleet.

Going into today's racing, Matthew Belcher/Malcolm Page (AUS) and Ryunosuke Harada/Yugo Yoshida (JPN) were on equal points after both delivering winning scorelines from day 1 with two bullets apiece.

Demonstrating their world class form, Belcher/Page secured a third in race 3 in the 470 men red fleet, followed by another win in race 4, to give them a seven point margin at the front, although as Page stated, “We can certainly lose that in a race!”

Continued Belcher, “Obviously there were different conditions than yesterday. A fantastic place to sail actually. It's different racing, there are waves, you can surf and the boat can plane quite easily in these conditions. We have had 13-15 knots – perfect conditions for the boat. When you are deciding which side of an island to go or you are sailing upwind you are like 'Mal – there's an island in front of us'. We have to tack. It's just different racing and it's nice to have that and it's nice to have it here.”
Day 2 Action


470 men upwind

Mat Belcher/Malcolm Page (AUS)

Asenathi Jim/Roger Hudson (RSA)

Panagiotis Mantis/Pavlos Kagialis (GRE)
All images: © Thom Touw


Their third place was only achieved after a climb through the fleet and despite a few errors, as Belcher explained, “We had a good start, we were sailing quite well. We probably were a little bit risky in the tuning set up, a little bit higher than we would have liked in rake and we just found ourselves a little bit struggling for speed. It was OK, we can't complain.”

Continued Page, “We also touched the first top mark, so we had to do a spin as well there, because of avoiding starboard boats and we just clipped the mark.” So having lost a few places, the challenge was then on to claw their way back to the front, as Page reflected, “We then had a great run, did an early gybe and took the left hand side on the downwind. We gained a lot of distance and rounded in about fifth or sixth, fought pretty hard, got a couple of shifts on the beat and up to fourth at the top and then we gained a bit more.”

Onto race 4 in the red fleet and challenging the Australians for the bullet were the American team of Stuart McNay/Graham Biehl who were on the case for a race win as Biehl explained, “In race 4 we were first to the leeward gate, and then split with Belcher/Page upwind. They went right and we crossed a few times, but they just had more pressure than us.” Continued Biehl, “It was strange as we had a really good start in race 3, but had a bad finish and a good start in race 4 and finished second!”

The Aussies winning ways saw them take the gun with a half minute margin over the Americans, who themselves were just three seconds ahead of Gideon Kliger/Eran Sela (ISR).

The 470 Men red fleet delivered a more consistent day in their scorelines compared to the yellow fleet, with Kliger/Sela's 1,3 from today's racing pushing them up into third overall, behind Sime Fantela/Igor Marenic (CRO) who posted a 2,5 to finish the day in second.

In the 470 Men yellow fleet, Ryunosuke Harada/Yugo Yoshida started their day well with a fourth place, but then disaster struck as they were OCS in race 4 to score 38 points which has toppled them down the leaderboard to sixteenth overall. The series discard will come into play after five races, so we can expect to see them climb back up the leaderboard tomorrow. But if this team want any hope of a podium place or indeed top ten place they cannot afford to make another mistake quite like today's.

The Olympic bronze medallist from 2004 Juan de la Fuente is an experienced campaigner, with two Olympics to his credit, and has teamed up with Lucas Calabrese for a 2012 Olympic campaign. The pair delivered a tidy race win in today's opening race 3, which certainly put a smile on Juan's face. Chasing behind in the race were Onan Barreiros Rodrigues/Aaron Sarmiento Padilla (ESP) in second, with Nic Asher/Elliot Willis (GBR) in third.

Onto race 4 in the yellow fleet and it was the British team of Luke Patience/Stuart Bithell who exercised their skill as the world's #4 ranked team and the top British boat competing here to take the race win with a fairly significant margin over the Spanish. The bullet combined with their seventh in race 3 pushes them up to fourth overall. A happy Patience reflected on the day, “Yeh we had a good day. Just what we need to be doing at this early stage, pretty happy. We are not making any damage on ourselves for later on in the series.”

Responding to whether they feel pressure as the top ranked British team in Helsinki, Patience said, “We got no pressure. We are just here to sail hard and sail fast. Whether we are the first British boat or last is irrelevant, we are here to beat everyone. We are here to win.”

“The conditions are great. We do like these conditions which are a bit breezy – we do like that. After the training of the first few days there was no wind, so we were gearing ourselves up for a light wind regatta, but we had a long wait yesterday and got in two good races and again today two good races in 12-15 knots. It's champagne out there – you can't ask for much more than that,” concluded Patience.

Barreiros Rodrigues/Sarmiento Padilla also enjoyed good form, with two second place postings as Barreiros Rodrigues explained, “We were comfortable in the boat. I am very happy for today, the wind is very good, the boat is very fast.”

The Greek team of Panagiotis Mantis/Pavlos Kagialis are here to defend their 470 European Championship title and were feeling fairly content with the day's performance of 6, 4. But that was before they knew of their black flag penalty in race 4, which converts their over the line finish of 4 points to 38 points and with it an overall position on the standings of 27 – not exactly what they anticipated.

Four of the six races for the qualifying races for the men's fleet have now been completed. Tomorrow will see the final qualification races and the fleet jostling to secure their place into the Gold Fleet, with the rest joining the Silver Fleet.

Get the latest update on the 470 Men racing - including blog, results and live tracking via the dedicated Class Page.
Day 2 Action

470 Women start

Camille Lecointre/Mathilde Geron (FRA)

Tara Pacheco/Berta Betanzos (ESP)

Virginia Kravarioti/Olga Tsigaridi (GRE)
All images: © Thom Touw


470 Women
A smooth performance from Spain's Tara Pacheco/Berta Betanzos pushes them into the overall lead, with a win in race 3 and fifth in race 4, and gives them a 12 point margin over second placed Fernanda Oliviera/Ana Luisa Barbachan (BRA).

“It was really good,” explained Betanzos, “we had a good start and we were in the top five since the start of the race and at the first mark we were second and were then second all the race and on the last downwind we were first. It was a good race.”

A real tumble down the standings for the overnight leaders Tina Mrak/Teja Cerne (SLO) who finished sixteenth in race 3, but were black flagged in race 4, points which can only be discarded after five races have been completed.

Japan's Ai Kondo and Wakako Tabata are into their third Olympic campaign and so bring many years of experience to their racing. As Kondo commented, “I am very happy in all conditions, although we were expecting light winds here after the experiences of our training days before the Championships.” Their experience didn't help today, as despite leading around the track for most of race 4, they slipped up on the last leg to the Greek team of Virginia Kravarioti/Olga Tsigaridi who took the race win by 2 seconds. Adding further pain for the Japanese was the subsequent discovery of their black flag penalty in that race, which now puts them in eleventh overall after four races.

Catching up with Hannah Mills/Saskia Clark (GBR) after racing, Clark exclaimed, “We wish we'd stayed in bed today!” They protested the Race Committee, but lost, after a black flag in race 3. Onto race 4, a capsize to windward going downwind, and a spinnaker filled with water proved time consuming to recover leaving them at the back of the fleet. “Our boat has a very polished bottom,” frowned Mills referencing their struggle on the upturned hull. These two are not used to being at the back of the fleet, and since pairing up earlier this year they have secured second place finishes at two ISAF Sailing World Cup events.

After four races Tara Pacheco/Berta Betanzos (ESP) lead, Fernanda Oliveira/Ana Luisa Barbachan (BRA) in second and Henriette Koch/Lene Sommer (DEN) in third.

Get the latest update on the 470 Women racing - including blog, results and live tracking via the dedicated Class Page.

At the time of writing, there are a number of protests being heard - CLICK HERE

More Information:
Event Website
Photo Galleries on 470 Facebook page and event website

Twitter: twitter.com/470sailing

For high resolution pictures, go to: ftp://euros-2011:sailracer@ftp.sailracer.co.uk/

Campeonato da Europa de Laser 4.7

Hoje foi o segundo dia de regatas em que o campo não foi estável. O campeonato está a ser muito competitivo e os Portugueses estão a ter boas prestações. Hoje foi o dia em que maior parte consegui-o subir muitas posições apesar de ter havido alguns deslizes.

As regatas foram feitas com 6 a 8 nós de intensidade com rajadas a chegar as 10 nós.

Classificações:


1 SUI 199430 Schneiter Sébastien 3,0 1 (6) 1 1
2 ESP 196937 Cabrera Gonzalez Juan Kevin 3,0 1 1 (4) 1
3 HUN 197672 Vadnai Benjamin 6,0 2 (17) 2 2
12 POR 196520 Roque Pedro 16,0 7 3 6 (15)
36 POR 196519 Gabriel Gonçalo 32,0 (32) 17 10 5
44 POR 191185 Petiz David 36,0 (42) 15 5 16
104 POR 197165 Costa Pedro 70,0 41 (44) 18 11
111 POR 193682 Mira Luís 72,0 30 30 (39) 12
115 POR 196633 Mateus Gonçalo 74,0 (50) 39 27 8
119 POR 197168 Natal Francisco 75,0 30 (42) 23 22
125 POR 179668 Gouveia Manuel 77,0 (49) 30 20 27
184 POR 176364 Silva Vasco 112,0 40 44 (47) 28
193 POR 191196 Santos Gonçalo 123,0 47 24 (63) 52
197 POR 198318 Pinheiro Bruno 127,0 58 (66) 39 30
200 POR 191109 Amorim Luis 128,0 33 39 (66) 56
207 POR 189651 Amaral António 134,0 (55) 54 44 36
215 POR 191194 Duarte Nuno 137,0 41 49 47 (52)
219 POR 194452 Teixeira Tiago 140,0 52 (53) 52 36
235 POR 179129 Fernades Ruben 150,0 57 (64) 54 39

Campeonato da Europa de Optimist

Terminou em beleza, o Campeonato da Europa de Optimist, com a realização da 12ª regata, ficando assim completo o programa previsto para a prova. Em termos competitivos, o espanhol Luís Cabrera e a italiana Francesca Bergamo conquistaram os respectivos títulos de forma inequívoca. No sector masculino, o italiano Luigi Michelini e o francês Arthur Fortune completaram o pódio, enquanto no feminino as espanholas Maria Caba e Sílvia Mas, foram 2ª e 3ª. Miguel Cruz em 48º e Francisca Pinho na 44ª posição foram os portugueses mais bem classificados. Classificações dos restantes velejadores nacionais. Masculinos - 54º Manuel Macedo, 86º Jaime Guerreiro, 89º José Cunha, 92º Vasco Rocha, 95º Emanuel Duarte, 104º João Prieto, 113º Salvador Taveira Femininos - 54ª Carolina Mira, 63ª Ana Mariz, 75ª Marta Roque, 87ª Catarina Pereira, 91ª Carolina João