Fair winds to all the 166 competitors at EUROSAF youth event

by John Friend / Dan Ibsen on 30 Jul 2015 The Moulin Blanc marina was buzzing this morning with everyone rushing to the dock to be the first on the water! At exactly 11:00, the first races started on the two racing areas (420 / Laser Radial and RSX / SL16 / 29er).

The sun had turned up and with it a nice breeze of a dozen knots. A few wind shifts in the afternoon forced the referees to make the competitors wait.

In the end, three races took place for the five classes. The fastest sailors were back ashore by 14:30, greeted by some delicious crêpes prepared by the volunteers!

29er
Thanks to the consistency in their results, British sailors Dan VENABLES and Tom KEECHE are tonight leading the general classification followed by the French pair Gwendal NAEL (CNBPP) and Pierre TYDGAT (CN Pornic), recently crowned European Champions in this class.

In the Girls competition, the Polish team has stamped its authority on the competition with the two pairs Michalina MANIKOWSKA / Emilia ZYGARTOWSKA and Alexandra MELZACKA / Maja MICINSKA on the podium.

RS:X
With two victories it was a great day for Russian sailor Mariam SEKHPOSYAN (RUS). A single point separates her from the second competitor overnight, French girl Bérénice MEGE (ASPTT Meyzieu Décine), who finished third in this year’s RS:X Youth World Championship.

As for the boys, local sailor Titouan LE BOSQ (CN Fouesnant) has made his experience of the Rade de Brest count, finishing second, first and third today. Titouan is the overnight leader but he’s closely followed by the Italians, including Carlo CIABATTI who won two races today.

SL16
Double SL16 World champions, La Rochelle’s pair Louis FLAMENT and Charles DORANGE (SR Rochelaises) almost scored a hat-trick with two victories and a second place. They’re already 5 points ahead of the second team, Matteo CHEVRIER and Gaspard COSSE (EV Cataschool).

Laser Radial
Hungarian sailor Maria ERDI is the overnight leader in the Girls competition while Norway’s Mads Severin HASSUM OLSEN leads the Boys classification. Behind him, it’s an all Italian battle between Paolo GIARGIA and Gianmarco PLANCHESTAINER, totalling 12 points each.

420
British pair Jenny CROPIEU and Emma BAKER leads the Girls competition while Theo CARAYON and Erwan LUCAS (YC Crouesty Arzon) are tonight at the top of the Boys classification.

The forecast for tomorrow is a 12 to 13 knots North-Westerly wind and the first start will be at 12:00.

What was said today

Carlo CIABATTI (ITA) – RSX
“This first day wasn’t perfect for me, I broke some gear in the second race and fell while gybing but thankfully I did a lot better in the other two as I won them! I hope the weather conditions won’t be too rough this week because there are some bigger guys out there that could benefit from such conditions. As for the French, Titouan (LE BOSQ) is really strong, I’ve got to keep my eye on him! ”

Mimi EL-KHAZINDAR and Emma LOVERIDGE (GBR) – 29er
“Weather conditions were great today. The sun was shining so it was a lot better than yesterday. We did well, especially in the first race. We started off well and the pressure was on, but that helped us because we kept the lead and managed to win the
race.”

Charles DORANGE and Louis FLAMENT (FRA – SR Rochelaises) –SL16
“The wind was really shifty during the first leg but we managed a good start and passed the first buoy in second position. We then put the pedal to the floor and managed to overtake the team ahead and win the race! We hope we can keep this momentum going throughout the week.”

See the results HERE!

The schedule this week will see a up to 4 races every day for the 420, Laser Radial and 29er classes, and 3 races, between tomorrow and Saturday evening, for the RSX and SL16 classes.

On Sunday, the top 8 in each series will compete in the Medal Race, a single race where points will count double towards the general classification that will decide between the best sailors.