Women's Sailing

With just the medal race remaining, the outcome of the 2010 Open 470 European Championships is far from clear. Two races in the gusty and shifty waters of Istanbul reshuffled the order of the men’s fleet, and now just 5 points separate the top six teams. The dice rolled right for Luke Patience/Stuart Bithell GBR who scored 5/1 to lead the men’s standings before today’s medal race. Next are Gideon Kliger/Eran Sela ISR, Pangiotis Mantis/Pavlos Kagialis GRE and Sime Frantela/Igor Marenic CRO. It will be a hot race because the next two teams, Leboucher/Garos FRA and Kampouridis/Polychronidis GRE, are only three points behind the defending champs from Croatia. In the Silver fleet Sofian Bouvet/Jérémie Mion FRA have a 9-point lead over Dubbini/Dubbini ITA.
In the women’s fleet, Emmanuelle Rol/Helene Defrance FRA now hold a 10-point advantage over Camille Lecointre/Mathilde Geron FRA and 14 over Giulia Conti/Giovana Micol ITA. Final fleet race for everyone outside the Top 10 at 11 am local time with the women’s medal race following at 3 pm local and the men’s at 3:45 pm local. The report, all results and the live tracker.

Three more qualification races were sailed off Istanbul yesterday in a fresh breeze of up to 20 kn .With the discard result coming into effect, there were major changes on top of the rankings. In the 470 women, Giulia Conti/Giovanna Michol ITA took the lead with two bullets. Emmanuelle Rol/Hélène Defrance FRA follow on rank 2, Petitjean/Douroux FRA are 3rd.
Masterfully the new leaders in the 470 men: With an OCS and 3 bullets, Luke Patience/Stuart Bithell GBR are now on top ahead of Fantela/Marencic CRO and Kliger/Sela ISR.
The event-website and the report.

The 92 teams were condemned to enjoy a hot summer day ashore on the first day of the 470 Europeans in Istanbul TUR, as the breeze took a siesta yesterday. It also was a chance to talk about the changes the class proposes to retain the Olympic status, including laminate sails, a two-piece mast for easier transport, and new foils. The balancing act will be to make changes that improve the class without rendering thousands of legacy boats obsolete. “We may conclude that we have a really good boat in the existing 470, and that nothing needs to change,” said class president Stanislav Kassarov, “but it is important we at least try these new ideas so that we know for sure.” Get the details in the official report.

Today the starting gun sounds for the first qualifying races of the 470 European Championship 2010. The entry lists shows a relatively small fleets of 56 men and 35 women. Favorites are the French teams with Pierre Leboucher/Vincent Garros FRA, in the men's fleet, and Ingrid Petitjean/Nadège Douroux FRA and Emmanuelle Rol/Hélène Defrance FRA, women, but the Brits will have a say in this as well. A preview.

Excellent wind conditions for the six women's teams during their matchrace off Romanshorn. With 9-1 scores both after the two Round Robins, the teams of auen-Teams vor Romanshorn. Mit je 9-1 Siegen nach den beiden Round Robins Alexa Bezel SVT and Livia Naef YCA met in the best-of-five final. Despite of a 0-2-deficit, Livia Naef could turn the leaf and defeated Alexa Bezel 3-2. The winner of the petite final was Melanie Lederer against Anja Hotz. The results (PDF).

Almost two complete Round Robins were sailed yesterday in good sailing conditions with a 2 to 4 bft breeze. With only six teams racing, the participation is minimal as mostly in matchraces in Switzerland. Winner of the first Round was Livia Naef YCA with 5-0 followed by Alexa Bezel SVT, in the second Round Robin, Alexa Bezel leads 3-0 ahead of Livia Naef with 3-1. The results (PDF).

Two days after the arrival of winner Bertrand Delesne FR, six boats were still at sea, among them Ryan Finn USA, who had to deal with serious auto pilot issues. They are expected to arrive today. This morning, the Chuan Guo CHN successfully completed his first international regatta, arriving at Les Sables d'Olonnes. Delesne has a 13 hour-advantage over Jörg Riechers GER for the overall win in this race from Les Sables to the Azores and back. He clocked an average speed of almost 9 knots. Véronique Loissel FRA, the only woman in the fleet, did surprisingly well and finished sixth among the 35 boats in the final standings . The videos of the finish and the report of the day.

Light and shifty winds on Day 5 of the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore led to two more races. The two-day break obviously benefited top favorite Darren Choi SIN who is riding his consistency to the top of the Byte CII Boys without having won a race yet. In second, Ian Barrows ISV, closely followed by Florian Haufe GER. In the Byte CII Girls, Lara Vadlau AUT continues her dominant performance after a 3-4 day. She leads Constanze Stolz GER by 12 and Celine Carlsen DEN by 20 points.
Equally dominating is Rafic Mayan ISR in the Tecno 293 Boy windsurfers, after two bullets yesterday for an eight-point lead over Michael Cheng HKG who is trailed by Martin Kieran GBR. With three bullets in the last three races in the Tecno 293 Girl windsurfers Siripon Kaewduang-Ngam THA looks like the new champion as she has an 11-point cushion over Naomi Cohen ISR and Audrey Yong SIN. The report.

The Optimist Swiss Championship on Lake Thoune ended yesterday with 3 races sailed in a 1-3 bft breeze. With the day ranks 2/1/2, Marvin Frisch GER gained the Swiss title after his victories in the German and Austrian Championships, and this with a clear advantage on the defending Champion Victor Casas CNV, who – in spite of his handicap of being at age 15 one of the ‚biggest‘ participants – showed an excellent performance in the 8 races sailed mostly in light winds. The Bronze medal went to Romain Defferard CNV as best of the new Optimist talents, who will be the leaders in the coming years. On rank 6 already follows Tanguy Ruleau FRA, who – as best of the group B (U-11) – being a light-weight was at ease with the prevailing conditions, loosing the place on the podium only because of a premature start disqualification in the heat he won. Sébastien Aubord CVVT on the 8th place and Florian Mortier GER on 29 complete the U-11 podium. Gesa Bornemann GER, 7th overall is the best girl, ahead of Carla Gerlach GER (rank 9) and Raphaella Schobinger SCC (rank 13).With 166 participants from 6 nations, the 2010 Swiss Championship event was the most attended one ever. The final rankings and the event-website, where all races can be reviewed with the GPS-tracking files.

The 29er Class Championship was sailed over the past weekend in good conditions on the Major Lake of Locarno with Lavinia Tezza/Paoloa Bergamschi ITA as the superior winners with three bullets. Sandra Giovanoli/Franziska Wild SCStä were 2nd, Ivo Jenni/Daniel Vettiger SUI 3rd. 27 teams from 4 nations participated, half of them from Switzerland. The results, the video and the report (in Italian).

Again only a light thermal breeze arriving late in the afternoon on Lake Thoune. However, two races for both groups were completed until 19.30 pm, in spite of a dozen general recalls with a number of blackflag disqualifications. Gwendal Lamay GER and Marvin Frisch GER now tied on top could defend their leading places, but the man of the day was Victor Casas SUI/CNV with two bullets who is now on 3rd, only 4 pts behind the leaders. Romain Defferard SUI/CNV remains 4th, followed by the best girls Gesa Bornemann GER 5th and Carla Gerlach GER 6th, separated by 2 pts only. Sébastien Aubord SUI/CVVT on the 7th place is best in the B-rankings (U11), 2 pts ahead of Tanguy Rulleau FRA, 9th overall. Exciting races today for the final boys and girls champions' titles are ahead. Racing will resume Sunday morning at 7.30 a.m., again transmitted with live GPS-tracking. The results and the event-website.

The combined 420/470 Junior Europeans in La Rochelle FRA ended yesterday with the 470 Medal Race and another 420 regatta. Outstanding Sofian Bouvet/Jérémy Mion FRA in the 470 with 11 wins in 12 races and a 2nd place to discard. Silver and Bronze medals went to the two German teams Tim Elsner/Oliver Szymanski GER and Daniel Zepuntke/Dustin Baldewein GER. Annika Bochmann/Anika Lorenz GER on the 29th place were the best women's team. The final standings 470.
In the 420s, Yoav Levi/Dan Froylich ISR clearly defended their 1st place against Antonio and Georgios Kavvas GRE. The ISAF-Youth World Champions Jordi Xammar/Joan Herp ESP jumped on the final rank 3 on the last day of the event. Ikhlef/Pequin FRA had to content themselves with the 4th position. The event-website.

Overcast sky and a light thermal breeze only filled in during about 3 hours yesterday afternoon. Just one race could be completed in both groups .. with a number of general recalls. Winning their races, Gwendal Lamay GER and Marvin Frisch GER extended their lead on top of the overall rankings after 3 races, ahead of Jonathan Kruisinga SUI/CVLL, 3rd, 6 pts behind, as welle as Romain Defferard SUI/CNV and Grégoire Siegwart SUI/CNM. Gesa Bornemann GER on 6 is the best girl, Sébastien Aubord SUI/CVVT on 7 the best of the younger group B (U-11) participants. The results after three races. All past regattas can be repeated on GPS-tracking, or followed live this afternoon.

Layday in Singapore at the Youth Olympic Games. Just van Aanholt (14 pts.) AHO leads the Byte CII Boys, Lara Vadlau AUT (16) is ahead in the Byte CII Girls. In the Tecno 293 Boys Rafic Mayan ISR (9) is the front runner and Naomi Cohen ISR (11) holds the top spot in the Tecno 293 Girls. The event site.

A chamber-of-commerce kind of day with decent breeze, sun and turquoise waters produced some fine foiling for the 80 mothists at the 2010 European Championship on Lake Silvaplana SUI. You’d think that this Gulari character (Bora, USA) after another stellar 2-2-1 day would lead the standings by now, but no. He didn’t even win the day, because Nathan Outteridge AUS showed him up with a 1-1-2. So after nine races and two discards it’s Outteridge (9), Gulari (11) and Scott Babbage AUS (20). Arnaud Psarofaghis SUI (26) and Simon Payne GBR (28) round out the top five. JP Ziegert SUI (48), our French editor, continues to play in this concert as 7th overall. The newsreel and Loris von Siebenthal’s appetizing gallery.

Rain clouds still hanging over the Bernese, hindering the thermal breeze to develop strongly on Lake Thoune on the first day of the 2010 Swiss Championship. After a start postponement, two races were sailed in a 1-2 bft wind for both fleets. As mostly in big fleet Optimist regattas - 163 boats i.e. twice over 80 boats are on the starting line - only the black flag could tame the young sailors. Gwendal Lamay GER took the lead after two races ahead of Marvin Frisch GER. Jonathan Kruisinga SUI and Damian-Andrin Suri SUI follow tied on the 3rd place. Carla Gerlach GER on rank 9 is the best girl. On the 8th position Tanguy Rulleau FRA, the best of the younger group B sailors (U-11). The results and the event-website.

The wind was practically absent on the day before the last of the 420/470 Junior Europeans. Only the 420s had one valid race. The 470 overall results remain unchanged with the brilliant Bouvet/Mion FRA on top, followed by Elsner/Szymanski GER.
With a 5th race rank, Levy/Froylich ISR extended their lead in the 420s to 21 pts. Kavvas/Kavvas GRE and Ikhlef/Pequin FRA follow on the positions 2 and 3. With an excellent 2nd place in the Goldfleet, Sebastiano Baranzini/Matteo Colombo SUI advanced to rank 8 overall. Alexandre Massard/Jérémie Bachelin SUI follow as 42nd of the 120 teams. Two races by class are on the program on the last day this Friday. The event-website.

Stormy clouds blew in from the west late in the morning, prompting a category one storm warning to be raised and forcing race officials to postpone the races for a couple of hours. Racing finally got underway at around 15.00 hrs local time in a light five-knot breeze and slowly strengthening current. In the Byte CII Boys Just van Aanholt (14 pts.) AHO defended the lead on that shifty tricky day against Goncalo Pires POR (28) and Harald Faeste NOR (31). In the Byte CII Girls Lara Vadlau AUT (16) had a ninth and another bullet for a seven-point lead over Constanze Stolz GER (23) and Celine Carlsen DEN (30). The Tecno 293 Boys class has a new leader with Rafic Mayan ISR (9) who had a stellar day with 2-1. In second and third are Kieran Martin GBR and Chun Cheng HKG both on 14 points. In the Tecno 293 Girls, things cleared up a bit with Naomi Cohen ISR (11) building a six-point cushion over Audrey Yong SIN and Valentina Sergios ARG both on 17 points. The report.

The 470s have now completed 11 races at their Junior Europeans off La Rochelle, and with 10 bullets and a 2nd place, Bouvet/Mion FRA remain the absolute benchmark team. Elsner/Szymanski GER are now unchallenged 2nd, and their advantage on Peponnet/Lebrun FRA before the last races today is 8 pts. The 470 results.
In the 420s, the leaders Kavvas/Kavvas GRE had a bad day with a premature start and a 19th place. Levi/Froylich ISR replaced them on top with two race wins, Ikhlef/Pequin FRA follow on the 3rd place. The 420 results and the event-website.

The ISAF World Sailing Rankings for 18 August 2010 have been released. Most top-five rankings for Great Britain (6 events), France (5), USA and Spain (4). However Spain now is tops in the overall nations score. There are new leaders in the 470 Men, 49er, RS:X Men. The classes:
Finn: Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic CRO; Laser Radial: Evi Van Acker BEL; Laser Standard: Paul Goodison GBR; 470 Men: Belcher/Page AUS; 470 Women: Petitjean/Douroux FRA; 49er: Dyen/Christidis FRA; Star: Scheidt/Prada BRA; Womens Match Race: Lucy MacGregor GBR; RS:X Men: Ivan Pastor Lafuente ESP; RS:X Women: Bryony Shaw GBR.
The next release of the ISAF World Sailing Rankings will be on 22 September 2010 up to and including the Finn Gold Cup in the USA, Laser World Standard Senior Championships in Great Britain and the RS:X World Championships in Denmark. Visit the ISAF World Sailing Rankings homepage to view the full Ranking lists.