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Sail-World.com : EUROSAF European Match Racing Championship - Pressure on
EUROSAF European Match Racing Championship - Pressure on
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EUROSAF European Match Racing Championship 2009 and the remaining competitors cannot afford to drop too many races if they are to make it through to the finals of the competition tomorrow.
Of course losing races in a match race regatta is never a great recipe for success, but with light winds preventing the full schedule of matches from being completed, the organisers have decided to move the contest straight from the Quarter Final phase to the Finals. This puts even greater pressure than usual on the competitors winning their heats, as tie-breaks are likely to play a big role in who makes the cut and who gets cut out of the competition.
Three flights into the women’s Quarter Finals, and only Germany’s Silke Hahlbrock has kept a clean sheet. In the men’s division, no one has won all of today’s heats, but Denmark’s Lars Nordbjaerg has been the most successful with three out of four possible wins.
From being close to not even making it to the last eight, Mads Ebler and his Danish team sailed a great final two heats in the round robin qualifier to get through to the next round. He then proceeded to sail very confidently in the Quarter Finals, taking three wins from five matches. 'We would have done a little better if we had not started so early against Eric Monnin in the start. We had to turn back and restart. Altogether, though we had a pretty good day.'
Yesterday Ebler admitted to paying the price for being over-aggressive, but today he said he was given no choice. 'We tried to be less aggressive but our opponents didn’t let us, they were asking for trouble. So in some of the races we gave them trouble. Against Presti, the umpires gave him two penalties before the start, and he took a penalty but still didn’t start the race, so he had to do another and we were a long way ahead.'
It was a similar story for another Danish team in the women’s side of the competition. From struggling to make the cut, Lotte Meldgaard got into her stride today. 'We’re getting more comfortable in the boat and working out our organisation in the team,' said the World No.5. 'We’re working on small things that make a big difference.' Although she dropped a race today, she’s still in good shape for reaching the final. Her strategy was clear. 'You have to win all your races then you’ll be sure.'
Mia Nielsen, who works the foredeck on Meldgaard’s boat, saw a marked change in her skipper. 'I think we’re getting the old Lotte back,' said the bowgirl. 'I’ve been sailing with her for seven years and today was the old Lotte that I know. We’ve had a lot of outside influences on us, a lot of coaches and people offering an opinion, but now she’s doing her thing her way. She’s different every start and every race she does. She doesn’t have a pattern and that makes her difficult to read for the other team. The key for Lotte is to go with the flow, not too many inputs, not too much structure. I think that’s what works for Lotte.'
Bjorn Lundgren, the bowman for Swedish skipper Johnie Berntsson, said they had found it difficult getting used to the sailing styles of some of their competitors today. 'It was the first time we have sailed some of the other teams today, so we’re not familiar with their moves.' A score of three wins and two losses doesn’t seem too bad, but Lundgren was aware of the need to overperform if they’re to stand a chance of breaking through to the Finals tomorrow.
This evening the crews let their hair down at a special dinner organised at Hindsgavl Slot, the castle hotel where most of the sailors are staying during the regatta. After a three-course dinner and a little wine, the men’s and women’s crews strutted their aggressive match-race moves on the dance floor. As Olivier Bovyn, EUROSAF vice-president, said to the crowd: 'We must make sure that every future European Championships has men and women at the same event.' If a crowded dance floor is the sign of a successful event, then this regatta is doing just fine, on and off the water.
Event website click here
by Jess Anderson
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http://www.sail-world.com/index.cfm?nid=59989
12:38 AM Sun 9 Aug 2009 GMT
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