RS-X Youth European Championships Day 2

by Rory Ramsden on 4 Jul 2012 Day two of the RS:X Youth Europeans Championships opened with a light breeze at the race site with the postponement flag going up at 1030hrs and remaining there for an hour. When the fleets were called out, we had six knots of breeze that held long enough to get the first race of the day [race 4] completed... It then played cat and mouse with us for the whole after noon.

The wind first retreated, then teased by filling in for a few minutes before backing off again. The sailors seemed to be attached to the start boat by a rubber band as they first came in and then went back out again. Third time lucky...

At 1641hrs, the game finally stopped as a good solid seven knots filled in all over the course. We were then good to go with the second race of the day [race 5]. So let’s look at the winners and losers - remembering that it’s hard to stay focused when your concentration is constantly being broken by the fickle breeze

In the women's fleet, Neomi Cohen [ISR] scored two bullets today. With the discard kicking in after race 5, she burst into the top three just four points adrift of Veronica Fanciulli [ITA] who posted two second places to take over the lead overall.

Back in third, Basia Dmuchowska [POL] put in a pair of fours to displace Anastasiya Valkevich [BLR] by two points. Saskia Sills [GBR] is one point back in fifth having remembered just in time that she had not signed out to race. Some quick action by her coach got her in and back out again with seconds to spare before the youth women's warning signal was given for race 5.

Over in the youth men's fleet, the battle for supremacy is becoming clear. Pawel Tarnowski [POL] is still the overall leader but Kieran Martin [GBR] is just two points away having closed the gap by scoring two firsts today against Pawel's second and a third. Kieran also dropped six points as a discard so he mirrored Neomi Cohen's day almost exactly.

Back in third is sixteen year old Mattia Camboni [ITA] who was training with Alessandra Sensini in Weymouth just before this championships. He's only four points back but has an eight point cushion on fourth placed Imry Katz [ISR].

With the forecast for tomorrow looking light again, Mattia should therefore have the opportunity to strengthen his claim for the bronze before the big blow comes marching out of the north east on Thursday and Friday. Twenty knots is forecast, so by medal race day on Saturday, Estonia will have given us a full range of conditions to deal with.

RS:X Youth Men
1. Pawel Tarnowski [POL] - 5.0
2. Kieran Martin [GBR] - 7.0
3. Mattia Camboni [ITA] - 11.0
4. Imry Katz [ISR] - 19.0
5. Amir Galili [ISR] - 20.0

RS:X Youth Women
1. Veronica Fanciulli [ITA] - 7.0
2. Neomi Cohen [ISR] - 11.0
3. Basia Dmuchowska [POL] - 13.0
4. Anastasiya Valkevich [BLR] - 15.0
5. Saskia Sills [GBR] - Results

http://youtheuropeanwindsurfingchampionships2012.rsxclass.com/" target="_blank">Event website