420 and 470 Junior European Championships 2007

by Diana Bogaards on 11 Aug 2007
It was a rough start for the 233 teams from 32 different nations at the second combined Junior European Championships of the 420 and 470 classes off the coast of Medemblik, Netherlands. A northerly wind force five and steep Ijsselmeer waves causing challenging conditions.

After day one the Portuguese Freitas and Arriaga are leading the 420-fleet of 116 teams after three races. The Dutch girls Nina Keijzer and Anneloes Van Veen are the first ladies duo in tenth position.

In the 470 event 117 dinghies from 27 countries started and with today’s two wins, the Israeli Eyal and Yal are top of the leader board. The first ladies’ crew, the Spanish Tara Pacheco and Berta Betanzos, are in 25th position.

470 – Israeli Eyal/Yam convincing leaders

'We had a huge lead', said Amir Yam while unrigging his boat. Levine Eyal and Amir Yam are regular competitors in the top of the 470 youth. This talented duo from Israel won last year’s 470 Class Junior World Championships and finished fourth in the recently held battle for the junior world title.

On the first day of the Junior Europeans 420/470, the boys performed strongly and remained unbeaten. The total fleet is divided into three start groups, that sailed completed two races each.

Yam: 'We like this kind of weather. We are especially fast sailing upwind. The second race was a bit more exciting, as we could not hoist the spinnaker on the first reach. The halyard got stuck at the cleat, but our lead was big enough. We managed to keep the Polish Tomasz Janusewski and Marcin Mickiewicz behind us.'

The Frenchmen Balzeau/Fountaine and the Dutchmen Le Fèvre/Krol scored both a win and a second, but the French won the last race. They are second overall on count back, followed by Le Fèvre and Krol.

Le Fèvre: 'The last race was pity, since we certainly have enough speed for winning. We started carefully and tacked with the fleet to the right. The French had to tack again, because they were in our bad air. They went to the left and we followed them too late.'

According to Krol, there are big differences in boat speed, which causes an extensive gap between the top three and the rest of the fleet. Le Fèvre: 'But it was cool sailing with those big waves.'

The silver medallists of the Junior Worlds 2007, the Greek Vasilas en Mitakis, started off with a win on the Ijsselmeer. Vasilas: 'After the second starting gun, there was an individual recall, so we turned around and crossed the line again. That put us a way back.' They finished sixth and are eighth overall.

Vasilas: 'It is a tough competition, if you consider that five or six youth teams competed in the gold fleet of the Worlds in Cascais.' Tara Pacheco and Berta Betanzos are leading the girls’ class, followed by the Dutch Margriet Fokkema and Marieke Jongens.

420 – Portuguese and Dutch leaders

The Dutch girls Nina Keijzer and Anneloes van Veen shouted for joy when they crossed today’s second finish. The first win was theirs. Van Veen enthusiastically: 'That race was super cool. We extended our lead, which the boys didn’t like. But afterwards, they came to congratulate us.' They are in tenth position overall with a series of 9, 1, 11.

Van Veen: 'We also went fast in the other two races, but to the wrong direction. We sailed against the wind shifts.'

The second girls’ team of Tina Lutz and Susann Beucke (GER) has a fourteenth position overall. Lutz won the IODA World title Optimist in 2005. Her crew Beucke about their goal in Medemblik: 'We have sailed together since March. We choose this event, because we can compete against the boys and their level is much higher. We are not here to win, but to learn as much as possible.'

That is different for the current leaders Bernardo Freitas and Manuel Arriaga from Portugal. They were consistent in the top with a series of 1, 2, 2, followed by the Italians Simon Sivitz Kosuta and Jas Farneti. Kosuta and Farneti won bronze at the 420 Europeans in Istanbul.

The Germans Tim Elsner and Leon Bischoff-Everding took two wins and finished sixth. Elsner: 'We had a great day. Our speed and preparations were good.' According to the German skipper there are more favourites for the title, as the top is broad. 'But we would like to finish within the first ten.'

On Saturday, the 420-participants will sail the last three qualification races, followed by a lay day. There are two races scheduled for the 470-class and two more on Sunday. From Monday, the battle for the medals will continue in gold, silver and bronze fleets.

Leading 470 after two races:

1 ISR 9 Levine Eyal, Amir Yam 2,0pts 1 1
2 FRA 10 Berenger Balzeau, Mathieu Fountaine 3,0 2 1
3 NED 77 Steven LeFevre, Steven Krol 3,0 1 2
4 GER 11 Max Rieger, Moritz Rieger 4,0 3 1
5 ISR 5 Guy Abadi, Yuval Botzer 4,0 2 2
5 POL 52 Tomasz Janusewski, Marcin Mickiewicz 4,0 2 2
7 RUS 11 Artem Basalkin, Maxim Sheremetyev 6,0 3 3
8 GRE 7 Georgios Vasilas, Evangelos Mitakis 7,0 1 6
9 FRA 26 Bertrand Nun, Nicolas Andrieu 7,0 4 3
10 GBR 830 Thomas Mallindine, James Clark 8,0 5 3

leading 420 after three races:

1 52379 Bernardo Freitas, POR, Manuel Arriaga 5,0pts 1 2 2
2 52225 Simon Sivitz Kosuta, ITA, Jas Farneti 6,0 2 3 1
3 52896 Tim Elsner, GER, Leon Bischoff-Everding 8,0 1 6 1
4 52868 Ben Saxton, GBR, James Foskett 8,0 2 1 5
5 52426 Jonny Moss, GBR, Ben Muskett 11,0 4 3 4
6 53056 Federico Maccari, ITA, Vitali Rocco 13,0 3 4 6
7 52584 Lior Lavie, ISR, Gadi Logoboi 15,0 7 2 6
8 52907 Peter Irwin, GBR, David Kohler 15,0 3 5 7
9 51177 Tom Gillard, GBR, Sam Brearey 20,0 13 4 3
10 52401 Nina Keijzer, NED, Anneloes van Veen 21,0 9 1 11

In addition to Event Partner Valk Welding, the 2007 Youth European Championships 420 & 470 are also sponsored by Renault, Dolphin Maritime, Holmatro, Magic Marine, PWN and supported by Department of Health, Welfare and Sports, NOC*NSF and the Royal Netherlands Sailing Federation.

Event website: http://www.420470jec.org