Bridge and Kalinina on course for Formula Kite European Titles 2014

by Markus Schwendtner on 6 Sep 2014 Formula Kite European Championships 2014 - The fourth day of the competition was dedicated to the last races of the men's fleets gold and silver and the women's fleet, before the medal races on Sunday. After waiting the whole day the Race Committee managed to get racing underway in marginal breeze, with three races for the gold fleet and one race each for silver and women completed.

Oliver Bridge (GBR-North) is defending his top podium spot with a one-five-one score. Back in second place now is Florian Trittel (ESP, UC-Ozone) while yesterdays second ranked Alejandro Climent (TMV-Ozone) dropped his kite in the first race right in front of the finish line and couldn’t finish, dropping him down to eighth position. Riccardo Leccese (ITA, ML-Ozone) defended rank three with only two points ahead of fourth ranked Ivan Doronin (RUS, ML-Elf) who had a strong performance with a two-one-four score in the light winds.

Over in the women’s fleet, Elena Kalinina (RUS, UC-Elf) is still in top position but had to take her first defeat in this championship with Aga Grzymska (POL, ML-Ozone) having the bullet of the day. Tatiana Sysoeva (RUS, ML-Ozone) is sitting in third position, but except for Kalinina the competition is still fully on.

Although the most important part of the day began in the afternoon, many spectators spent the whole morning at the beach in front of the DUNE apartment building. We also had some special guests on the beach - people with disabilities that took part in the ‘You and me' integration programme. They were supposed to take their first kitesurfing lesson with a small kite, yet the wind was too weak for that.

Maks Zakowski, defending Polish Champion in Kiteracing, is content with the course of the day: 'Today the wind came at around 4 pm, as forecasted, so we had been waiting from the morning and we had some good races afterwards. I got a sixth place twice and a tenth once, which let me keep my seventh place in the ranking'.

Andy Curnow, the race officer at the Championship, explains his decision to move the course: 'We started off quite close to the shore with the first race, but the wind died below the acceptable level, so we went out, about three kilometer to the sea, where we had six-eight knots and had four more quality races'.

Day four - 2014 Formula Kite Europeans, Mielno, Poland from Sieplywa.pl on Vimeo.

Overall Standings after day four:

Men:
1. Oliver Bridge (GBR, North) - 9 pts
2. Florian Trittel (ESP, TMV-Ozone) - 22 pts
3. Riccardo Leccese (ITA, ML-Ozone) - 27 pts
4. Ivan Doronin (RUS, ML-Elf) - 29 pts
5. Florian Gruber (GER, UC-Ozone) - 33 pts

Women:
1. Elena Kalinia (RUS, UC-Elf) - 6 pts
2. Aga Grzymska (POL, ML-Ozone) - 11 pts
3. Tatiana Sysoeva (RUS, ML-Ozone) - 16 pts
4. Jade O'Connor (IRL, TMV-Ozone) - 18 pts
5. Anastasia Akopova (RUS, ML-Ozone) - 18 Event website