Beashel and Giles in top ten at Star European’s

by Di Pearson on 29 Mar 2004 Versatile Canadian sailor, Ross McDonald, with his crew Mike Wolfs, has taken an early lead in the Star European Championship with a 4-2 scoreboard yesterday.

The exceptionally talented Swedishman Fredrik Lööf and crew Anders Ekstrom, won the first race, however, a 12th in the second race dropped them down to fourth place overall.

The Europeans, which are a precursor to the Athens Olympic Games, are being sailed from Club Náutic L`Escala, Girona in Spain.

Two Australian teams are at the event; Colin Beashel/David Giles, who will represent in Athens and Iain Murray/Andrew ‘Dog’ Palfrey.

Beashel and Giles stumbled in the first race with a 20th place, but came back with a fifth in the second race to hold down eighth overall. Murray and Palfrey also got off to a wobbly start, with an 11,35 score for 22nd overall.

In the second race of the short six-race series, tension between the sailors resulted in three general recalls, the fleet finally getting away after the fourth gun was fired.

Weather conditions were difficult in Spain, the wind oscillating between 030 and 010, to finally settle around 045, (north-east), at 6-8 knots and increasing to 10-12 knots in the afternoon.

Forecasters predicted rain and storms for Monday (GMT), but race officials were hopeful of finishing two more races to keep the Championship on track.

Current Results:

1 CAN ROSS MCDONALD/ MIKE WOLFS 4, 2 - 6

2 GER ALEXANDRE HAGEN/ JOCHEN WOLFRAM 8, 1 - 9

3 NED MARK NEELEMAN/ PETER VAN NIEKERK 3, 6 - 9

4 SWE FREDERIK LÖÖF/ANDERS EKSTROM 1,12 - 13

5 FRA XAVIER ROHART/ RAMBEAU PASCAL 9, 4 - 13

6 NED SERGE KATS/ JEAN PIERRE MARTENS 15,3 - 18

7 NED ROY HEINER/ALEX BREUSEHER 5, 13 - 18

8 AUS COLIN BEASHEL/DAVID GILES 20, 5 - 25


22 AUS IAIN MURRAY/ANDREW PALFREY 11, 35 - 46


Full results from Day 1 and information: www.star.nauticescala.com