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Sail-World.com : EUROSAF European Match Racing Championship - Middelfart
EUROSAF European Match Racing Championship - Middelfart
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In the EUROSAF European Match Racing Championship 2009 in Denmark only one men’s and one women’s team has managed to keep a clean sheet in the round robin phase of the competition.
Germany’s Silke Hahlbrock has won 5 from 5 matches in the women’s 16-team division, and the same goes for Italy’s Jacopo Passini in the men’s fleet. Passini’s record is particularly impressive considering he flew in as a late replacement for top-ranked Italian helmsman Paolo Cian, who had to stay home for family reasons. Sailing with Cian’s regular crew, Passini is one of a few skippers certain to move through to the quarter-finals which will start tomorrow.
The breeze was slightly stronger than yesterday in Middelfart, and the sun shone brightly as ever, but the wind shifts were still significant and the current a big factor in race tactics today. Philippe Presti had a good day on the water, and has dropped just one of his six matches thus far. 'It is a very open game here, especially in the lighter winds of the morning, so you can’t ever feel too confident, even when you’re leading by a long way. We were leading one match against the other French team [skippered by Pierre-Antoine Morvan] by a long way, but then there was an error with changing the course so we had to resail the match. This one was much tighter and Pierre-Antoine was leading but he had to unwind a penalty at the finish and we just made it across the line ahead. It was a good match. The racing is good, and it’s a cool atmosphere on shore, the jazz festival, the people, just nice.'
Morvan was also engaged in another tight match against the Slovenian Jure Orel. There was a collision and although Morvan won on the water he was given a point penalty by the jury in an after-racing hearing, although the Frenchman’s passage to the quarter-final still looks pretty secure.
For others the cut for the quarter-final will be much tighter, and depends on the outcome of the final three flights of the round robin due for completion early tomorrow. Denmark’s Mads Ebler was regretting an overly-aggressive game plan in the pre-starts. 'We’re sailing well, but looking to win the races in the pre-start and we’ve taken too many chances, pushing really hard, trying to put a penalty on the other team when we just end up coming off the start line behind them. Our first match against Alvaro Marinho tomorrow is vital, because if we win that then we avoid a three-way tie.'
One of the things that competitors - and spectators - have enjoyed in Middelfart is just how close the racing takes place to the shore. A gasp, followed by a giggle, went up from the crowd when one of Ekaterina Skudina’s crew fell off the boat during a spinnaker take down. When she swam after the boat and was successfully pulled back on board, the race was over for the Russian team but at least the bedraggled sailor got a cheer from the crowd.
This event is more important for some teams than others. Giulia Conti is looking upon the regatta as a bit of fun before the Italian returns to Denmark in two weeks’ time to contest the 470 World Championships in Rungsted. Conti wants to see if she can add a World title to the European 470 title she won earlier in the year, so for her the match racing offers a bit of a holiday away from her Olympic campaigning. But for others competing in Middelfart, this IS their Olympic campaign, such as for Lucy Macgregor from Great Britain.
After a disappointing World Championship in Sweden a week ago, the World No.3 is looking to make amends and so far Macgregor is doing a very good job. Her team look very slick and controlled, and when they’re not winning starts they’re still making strong comebacks. 'We lost the race against Camilla Ulrikkeholm, we gave the race to her in some ways, but generally we’re sailing well here.'
Tomorrow the wind is expected to be slightly stronger, so the plan is to complete the round robin phase and the quarter-finals, when the top eight teams in each of the men’s and women’s divisions will battle for a place in the last four. For those that don’t make the cut for the next stage, they can at least console themselves with spending the next two days in one of the most beautiful regions of Denmark. If watching others going racing proves too much, they can disappear into the local town to enjoy the Jazz Fezztival of Middelfart.
LIST OF SKIPPERS entered in the EUROSAF European Match Racing Championship 2009
Women (Skipper’s Name, Nation, ISAF Match Race World Ranking as at 8 July)
Lucy Macgregor, Great Britain, 3
Lotte Meldgaard, Denmark, 5
Silke Hahlbrock, Germany, 6
Julie Bossard, France, 9
Camilla Ulrikkeholm, Denmark, 13
Anne-Claire Le Berre, 14
Karin Hagstrom, Sweden, 17
Rita Goncalves, Portugal, 18
Giulia Conti, Italy, 22
Charlotte Lawrence, Great Britain, 35
Susanne Ward, Denmark, 41
Anne Le Helley, France, 42
Mary Rook, Great Britain, 50
Renee Groeneveld, Netherlands, 64
Ekaterina Skudina, Russia, 118
Katie Archer, Great Britain, 257
Open (Skipper’s Name, Nation, ISAF Match Race World Ranking as at 8 July)
Philippe Presti, France, 8
Johnie Berntsson, Sweden, 10
Mads Ebler, Denmark, 12
Jure Orel, Slovenia, 15
Alvaro Marinho, Portugal, 18
Pierre-Antoine Morvan, 20
Staffan Lindberg, Sweden, 23
Eric Monnin, Switzerland, 27
Jacopo Passini, Italy, 28
Gian Luca Perris, Monaco, 29
Lars Nordbjaerg, Denmark, 31
Marek Stanczyk, Poland, 32
Jan-Eike Andresen, Germany, 38
Ali Hall, Great Britain, 53
Jurjen Feitsma, Netherlands, 70
Maxim Toranov, Russia, unranked
EUROSAF European Match Racing Championship 2009 website http://www.m-r-d.dk
by Jess Anderson
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5:27 AM Sat 8 Aug 2009 GMT
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