470 Class 50th Anniversary celebrations launched in La Rochelle!
by International 470 Class Association on 30 Jul 2013

Opening Ceremony Christophe Breschi
Today, there was no gentle introduction to the opening events at the International 470 Class 50th Anniversary celebrations in La Rochelle, with a blustery and building breeze greeting teams on the race courses.
The 2013 470 Junior World Championships, Masters’ Cup and Open Classic have launched the 50th Anniversary Celebrations for the International 470 Class, by showcasing the youngest 470 sailors through to the more senior connoisseurs of 470 sailing.
Averaging 14 knots, with 18 knot puffs many of the younger teams relished the conditions, but the same could not entirely be said for some of the teams in the Grand-grandmasters division, where the combined age of the crew must be at least 120 years.
Last night’s Opening Ceremony was all about celebrating the generations of 470 sailors, from the most recent newcomers to the fleet through to the teams of more senior years competing in the Masters’ Cup. The younger club members of La Société des Régates Rochelaises greeted the teams from around the world by saying 'hello' in the language of the competing nations.
Racing got underway today soon after 1300 hours with two races held for each fleet.
470 Junior Worlds Men
Making their debut appearance in the ranks of the 470 Junior World Championships are all three medallists from the 2012 420 World Championship; brothers Alex and George Kavas (GRE), Guillaume Pirouelle/Valentin Sipan (FRA) and David Charles/Alex Charles (ESP), who are facing off against some of the top teams who have been contesting the junior fleet over the past few years.
Pirouelle and Sipan have been training in La Rochelle for about three weeks, and their efforts showed with a race win and a second place in the blue fleet, placing them at the front of the men’s leaderboard. They almost won the second race too, but lost their lead just at the end of the last downwind. The pair have been sailing the 470 for one year and raced the 470 Europeans in Italy last month, finishing 35th in the senior fleet. 'It was exciting to go on the water today,' said Pirouelle, 'and to get a first and second was great.'
Sipan has taken inspiration from the history of the class, saying, 'I read the 470 Great Book about the history of the 470 and everyone is very passionate about the Class. It is great to have all the events here in France where the class was born.'
The opening race win in the yellow fleet today went to Pierre Quiroga/Clement Pequin, which they followed up with a third to lie in second overall. Italy’s Matteo Capurro/Matteo Puppo are in third.
South Africa’s new pairing of Asenathi Jim/Sibu Sizatu showed excellent form posting a 3,5 to end day one in seventh on the leaderboard, but Jim was not happy. 'We are learning a lot, but I made a lot of mistakes today and there is lot I am missing.'
Jim and his usual crew Roger Hudson have been the face of South African 470 sailing for the past few years, representing South Africa at the 2012 Olympic Games in Weymouth. For the 470 Junior Worlds, Hudson is in the coach boat. 'There is a lot to improve and a lot I am missing from Roger, but we are working hard to fill the link and cut off the mistakes,' continued Jim. 'Today was a nice opener, but I know what went wrong and it is the small things which make a big difference at the end. In the starting we just didn’t shoot up as I was nervous getting caught over, so I held back in both races, which was a bit of a disaster.'
Back home in South Africa, there is a major programme taking place to prepare the next generation of 470 talent and Jim’s crew Sibu Sizatu is one of the young stars. Having committed to the RaceAhead 470 training squad in September 2012, Sizatu has completed numerous training sessions which rewarded him with selection to partner Jim at the Junior Worlds. Jim and Hudson will return to their usual combination to race in the 470 World Championships which start on 5th August.
The 59 teams in the 470 Men Junior Worlds have been split into two fleets for the two day qualification series of five races, before qualifying to the gold or silver fleet for the seven race final series. The top eight boats will then advance to the Medal Race stage.
Racing is scheduled to start at 1300 hours on Tuesday 30 July 2013.
470 Junior Worlds Men Overall Results
470 Junior Worlds Women
Two straight wins puts France’s Maelenn Lemaitre/Alise Retornaz in great shape after day one, racing in a breeze averaging around 18 knots.
'We had really good speed today and a very good feeling in our new boat,' said Retornaz. 'It is very special to see so many people here and we want to do our best.'
In the first race, a great start and excellent boat speed combined to propel them round the track from start to finish with the pair pumping hard. Last week, they put one of the classic 470s which is here in La Rochelle through it's paces, with Lemaitre explaining, 'For three days we sailed an old 470 and it wasn’t so different, but now we do have a lot of new things in the boat.'
Joanna Freeman/Katie Tomsett from Great Britain are in second and Germany’s Greta Markfort/Anna Markfort in third.
Anna Kyselova/Anastasiya Krasko from the Ukraine are one of the teams racing back to back, with the Junior Worlds being followed by the 470 Worlds. First day and they are happy with their fourth on the leaderboard. 'The first race was not really good for us as we thought we had started early, so went back, and then we finished 10th,' said Kyselova, 'but in race two, despite a bad start we fought back to finish second.'
Racing is scheduled to start at 1300 hours on Tuesday 30 July 2013.
The 25 teams in the 470 Women Junior Worlds will race a single series of 10 races, with the top eight boats then advancing to the Medal Race stage.
470 Junior Worlds Women Overall Results
470 Masters' Cup and Open Classic
A record breaking 91 teams are competing in the 470 Masters’ Cup, racing in divisions based on age, from the youngest Apprentice Masters through to the Grand-grandmasters, whose combined age must be more than one hundred and twenty years before the end of the year.
In the Apprentice Masters division, where one of the crew must be 30 years old during 2013 and the combined age more than 60 years, the brother and sister team of Iulia Fulicea and Paul Negoescu from Romania claimed a clean sweep to win both races. Raphael Duchoud/Nicolas Duchoud (SUI) are in second and Ott Rene/Christian Sprecher (SUI) in third.
Moving up a division to the Masters’ fleet and a double-race win puts Italy’s Fernando Zicarelli/Davide Gamba in first overall, with Stefan Seger/Benjamin Wagner (SUI) in second and Ivica Bonacin/Federioc Zampolini (ITA) in third.
Onto the Grandmasters, and defending champion Bernard Boime/Gilles Espinannes made a strong start to their defence with a 2,1 scoreline and are in first on equal points with the second placed Francois Brenac/Jacques Dirusso. Germany’s Joachim Oetken/Stafan Oetken are in third.
On to the connoisseurs of the Masters’ fleet, the Grand-grandmasters, where Robert Maurel/Gerard Daugey (FRA) also claimed two bullets to lead, with Marc Besson/Pierre Denis (FRA) in second and the reigning champions Martin
Steiger/Hans Vonmoos from Switzerland in third from a 2,3 scoreline in today’s breezy conditions.
470 Masters Overall Results
Pos |
Sail |
Competitors |
P Net |
P tot |
r.1 |
r.2 |
Club/Country |
1 |
ITA 4280
|
ZICARELLI Fernando
GAMBA Davide
|
2.00 |
2.00 |
1
1.00 |
1
1.00 |
CN PESARO
-
|
2 |
SUI 1421
|
SEGER Stefan
WAGNER Benjamin
|
4.00 |
4.00 |
2
2.00 |
2
2.00 |
RC OBERHOFEN
-
|
3 |
ITA 57
|
BONACIN Ivica
ZAMPOLINI Federico
|
6.00 |
6.00 |
3
3.00 |
3
3.00 |
CN PESARO
-
|
4 |
ROU 101
|
BUJOR Rosca
MIHAI NICOLAE Fagarasan
|
9.00 |
9.00 |
4
4.00 |
5
5.00 |
SPORTUL STUDENTESTI BUCUREST
-
|
5 |
ITA 4463
|
GAMBA Luca
BARBARINI Stafano
|
12.00 |
12.00 |
6
6.00 |
6
6.00 |
CN PESARO
-
|
6 |
GER 49
|
PIESKER Thomas
GLUSCHKE Andreas
|
13.00 |
13.00 |
9
9.00 |
4
4.00 |
YC BERLIN GRUNAU
-
|
7 |
GER 4853
|
NEUROTH Franck
JUNG Stephan
|
14.00 |
14.00 |
7
7.00 |
7
7.00 |
YCB LEVERKUSEN
-
|
8 |
ITA 24
|
GALANTI Maurizio
MARINO Fabio
|
16.00 |
16.00 |
5
5.00 |
11
11.00 |
LNI ANZIO
-
|
9 |
BEL 7
|
DE MEESTER Marc
DE MEESTER Thibaud
|
16.00 |
16.00 |
8
8.00 |
8
8.00 |
CV AMAURY
-
|
10 |
NZL 112
|
POWER RICHARD
POWER JOHN
|
24.00 |
24.00 |
14
14.00 |
10
10.00 |
MANLY SC
-
|
11 |
ITA 4438
|
STARNONI Sandro
FABRIS Mirco
|
26.00 |
26.00 |
17
17.00 |
9
9.00 |
ITALIE
-
|
12 |
SUI 1424
|
SCHULTE Christine
SCHULTE Bodo
|
28.00 |
28.00 |
11
11.00 |
17
17.00 |
YC SCHAFFAUSEN
-
|
13 |
FRA 2563
|
VALERY Kleber
PASZKOWSKI Gregory
|
28.00 |
28.00 |
12
12.00 |
16
16.00 |
Y C Grenoble Chara
Y C Grenoble Chara
|
14 |
GRE 91
|
GEORGOPOULOS Fotis
MATTYUS Klara
|
29.00 |
29.00 |
10
10.00 |
19
19.00 |
OMILOS FILON THALASSIS
-
|
15 |
FRA 2651
|
CHAMP Guillaume
CHAMP Didier
|
29.00 |
29.00 |
16
16.00 |
13
13.00 |
C N ABLON
A S BANQUE DE FRANCE
|
16 |
GER 4949
|
LEMPERTZ Philipp
HETTICH Stefano
|
32.00 |
32.00 |
20
20.00 |
12
12.00 |
STUTTGARTER SEGEL CLUB
-
|
17 |
FRA 2343
|
LESAINT Clement
COURBO Manuel
|
33.00 |
33.00 |
18
18.00 |
15
15.00 |
S N P H
C N ABLON
|
18 |
GER 4940
|
VAN DER HOUT Miriam
JAECKEL-DOFFING Sabrina
|
37.00 |
37.00 |
19
19.00 |
18
18.00 |
USV
-
|
19 |
ESP 1792
|
RAGA Elena
FERRER Federico
|
41.00 |
41.00 |
21
21.00 |
20
20.00 |
C DE REGATAS VALMAYOR
-
|
20 |
GER 67
|
SCHALTE Berndt
FORSTER Christian
|
44.00 |
44.00 |
23
23.00 |
21
21.00 |
AKADEMISCHER YC
-
|
21 |
GER 4536
|
GARCIA ESPIRO Andres
GARCIA ESPIRO Isabel
|
45.00 |
45.00 |
22
22.00 |
23
23.00 |
SCOR
-
|
22 |
FRA 2636
|
ARANDA Patrick
ANGENIEUX Christophe
|
46.00 |
46.00 |
24
24.00 |
22
22.00 |
ASPTT MARSEILLE
ASPTT MARSEILLE
|
23 |
FRA 67
|
CANDELA Celine
CANDELA Michel
|
50.00 |
50.00 |
13
13.00 |
DNF
37.00 |
Y C TOULON
Y C TOULON
|
24 |
ITA 4434
|
AJROLDI Max
GAROFALO Andrea
|
51.00 |
51.00 |
DNF
37.00 |
14
14.00 |
CIRCOLO VELA DERVIO
-
|
25 |
FRA 2462
|
TOUROVEROFF Igor
BLANCHARD Laurent
|
51.00 |
51.00 |
27
27.00 |
24
24.00 |
YC PORT MANECH
C N ANGOULINS
|
26 |
FRA 2601
|
GUITTON Jean claude
PIOT Charles-eddy
|
51.00 |
51.00 |
26
26.00 |
25
25.00 |
YACHT CLUB BASQUE
C N ABLON
|
27 |
BEL 1240
|
MONTENY Wim
MIKHAILITCHENKO Valentina
|
52.00 |
52.00 |
15
15.00 |
DNF
37.00 |
OSTEND SAILING CLUB
-
|
28 |
GER 4913
|
SCHMIDT Steffen
SROWITZ Tom
|
53.00 |
53.00 |
25
25.00 |
28
28.00 |
SAIL LOLLIPOP REGATTA VEREIN
-
|
29 |
FRA 260
|
JEAN Isabelle
JEAN Berengere
|
54.00 |
54.00 |
28
28.00 |
26
26.00 |
C N TREGASTEL
C V MULHOUSE
|
30 |
FRA 1704
|
FAURE Jerome
JAOUEN Egareg
|
58.00 |
58.00 |
31
31.00 |
27
27.00 |
C N ABLON
C V FRANCEVILLE
|
31 |
FRA 727
|
BRISARD Vincent
BRISARD Jean michel
|
58.00 |
58.00 |
29
29.00 |
29
29.00 |
CAPA VOILE
CAPA VOILE
|
32 |
FRA 2686
|
DUPREZ David
TIBERGHIEN Gauthier
|
67.00 |
67.00 |
30
30.00 |
DNF
37.00 |
C V DES FLANDRES
S N O NANTES
|
33 |
FRA 10353
|
METZINGER Jean-luc
METZINGER Jean-yves
|
69.00 |
69.00 |
32
32.00 |
DNF
37.00 |
C N MUTCHE
C N MUTCHE
|
--- |
GER 4985
|
GIESSMANN Axel
GIESSMANN Christiane
|
74.00 |
74.00 |
DNF
37.00 |
DNF
37.00 |
SC BOSEN
-
|
--- |
GER 5044
|
SCHEFFLER Olivier
ZWEERS Daniel
|
74.00 |
74.00 |
DNF
37.00 |
DNF
37.00 |
BOOTSCLUB NORDHORNT
-
|
--- |
FRA 2653
|
LEMALLIER Caroline
LEMALLIER Guillaume
|
74.00 |
74.00 |
DNF
37.00 |
DNF
37.00 |
C V JULLOUVILLE
C V JULLOUVILLE
|
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