29er EuroCup Finals at Fraglia Vela Riva - Day 2
by International 29er Class 24 Oct 2022 19:37 PDT
23-26 October 2022
The second day of qualifying at Riva del Garda for the final leg of the 29er Eurocup, organised by Fraglia Vela Riva and scheduled on the waters of Garda Trentino until Wednesday 26 October provided challenging racing for the EuroCup competitors.
A demanding day with four races held in all: the first two in fairly light and certainly tactical wind conditions; the last two, on the other hand, with an increasingly strong southerly wind, which especially in the last race provided a thorough test for the 150 crews competing.
With six races completed, from Tuesday the fleet will split into gold and silver fleet racing, with the best 77 crews racing together in Gold fleet. The home crew, bearers of the Fraglia Vela Riva flag and Silver Medallists from the 2022 class World Championships, Demurtas-Santi, have increased their advantage. With three more firsts and a third (discarded), they are still in the lead with a 5-point advantage over the two French crews Revil-Devaux and Goron-Clochard, who are paired in second and third place with the same score.
In 4th position and the first mixed crew is the Irish sibling team of Clementine and Nathan Van Steenberge, while the other Italian crew from the nearby Circolo Vela Arco Bellomi-Berti jumped up the leaderboard. After a mediocre first day, they placed two firsts, a third and a tenth on day 2, recovering a few positions up to fifth place overall. In the top 30 there are crews representing 13 different nations. The top female team is currently Swedish sailors Tea Zeeberg and Cornelia Widestam in 12th position.
The 29er class continues to prove itself to be a very exciting and entertaining youth double handed boat that grows in technical level from year to year. The speed of these skiffs entices and fascinates an increasing number of sailors, including many female and mixed teams, who will be very well prepared to step up into the Olympic classes including Nacra 17, 49er and foiling classes and participate in the sport of sailing for life. Tuesday's start is scheduled for 10 a.m.
Full Rankings available here.