Martínez and Fernandez dominate 49er Europeans

by sail-world.com / media on 27 Mar 2008
The Spanish teams dominate the 49er European championship – Madrid 2016, at the end of the third day in Club Nàutic S’Arenal. Spain's Iker Martínez and Xabi Fernández continue to lead with countrymen Federico and Arturo Alonso in second, although they are tied with third and fourth places. But the Athens 2004 gold medallists and Spain's representatives at the 2008 Beijing Games now have an eight point advantage over their immediate rivals.

Paul Campbell-James and Mark Asquith remain the top TeamGBR pair, they are 13th overall after the second day of racing. John Pink and Simon Hiscocks are in 18th, while Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes are 24th overall.

Strong, gusty and changeable SW winds of an average speed of 18 knots blew again in the bay of Palma. The Race Committee of Club Nàutic S’Arenal gave three starts today in the two racing areas in which each group competes. These were the last races of the qualifying series and tomorrow the 54 boats fleet will sail the final series, divided in Gold and Silver.

With a fifth, first and tenth Martínez and Fernández had an excellent day, but most crews had a more irregular performance. Three teams follow them with equal points. Second place is Federico and Arturo Alonso, who are the sparring partners of Martínez and Fernández. With a third, fifth and a first place the crew from Asturias are up from sixth to second place.

Third place on the podium is the Swedish team of Jonas Lindberg and Kalle Torlen, that maintain yesterday’s overall third position, while young Austrian sailors Nico Delle Kart and Nikolaus Leopold Resch dropped from second to fourth.

Italian sailors Pietro and Gianfranco Sibello, the class world leaders, also dropped one place and are now fifth after two sixth place finishes and a third. The battle for sixth place is for Ukrainian crew Rodion Luka and Geogiy Leonchuk, another of the strong teams in this event. Danish team Jonas Barrer and Martin Kirketerp showed their strength with two partial victories and a third place, climbing up eleven places to seventh overall.

Australian team Nathan Outteridge and Ben Austin (World champions last January in Australia) are back in 19th place.

Three races are scheduled tomorrow from 12:00 hours at Club Nàutic S’Arenal. These will be the first races of the final series, with the fleet divided in groups with the top 27 world teams and silver. The final round is sailed until Saturday to decide the top ten crews that will sail the Medal race – that scores double and cannot be discarded- scheduled on Sunday.

49er - Leading scores, 1 discard

1 ESP - 7 Iker Martinez / Xabi Fernandez 1 2 5 3 2 5 1 10 19
2 ESP - 19 Federico Alonso Tellechea / Arturo Alonso Tellechea 9 12 7 1 1 3 5 1 27
3 SWE - 25 Jonas Lindberg / Kalle Torlen 5 4 6 6 1 7 3 2 27
4 AUT - 10 Nico Delle Karth / Nikolaus Leopold Resch 3 1 16 5 4 4 4 6 27
5 ITA - 4 Pietro Sibello / Gianfranco Sibello 7 3 2 4 11 6 6 3 31
6 UKR - 3 Rodion Luka / Geogiy Leonchuk 7 13 1 4 11 7 2 1 33
7 DEN - 8 Jonas Warrer / Martin Kirketerp 2 OCS 8 8 13 1 1 3 36
8 USA - 5 Tim Wadlow / Chris Rast 2 5 22 2 8 2 16 2 37
9 CRO - 29 Kostov Pavle / Cupac Petar 1 6 4 15 14 1 5 9 40
10 FRA - 31 Monteau Alexandre / Guillou Damien 10 6 6 6 5 5 8 4 40
11 DEN - 21 Peter Krüger Andersen / Dennis Dengsø Andersen 14 4 3 RDG 10 2 2 14 42
12 FRA - 14 Emmanuel Dyen / Yan Rocherieux 4 8 9 10 9 4 3 12 47
13 GBR - 9 Paul Campbell-James / Mark Asquith DNC 9 3 7 2 12 11 5 49
14 POR - 12 Jorge Lima / Francisco Andrade 13 3 5 8 16 9 6 7 51
15 GER - 6 Jan Peter Peckolt / Hannes Peckolt 15 1 7 13 7 3 17 6 52
16 FRA - 20 Lagraviere Morgan / Christidis Stéphane 10 2 2 16 5 20 9 9 53
17 NOR - 17 Christopher Gundersen / Frode Bovim 14 7 10 1 10 12 10 11 61
18 GBR - 23 John Pink / Simon Hiscocks 8 9 10 7 7 9 12 17 62
19 AUS - 1 Nathan Outteridge / Ben Austin 4 10 13 9 6 10 20 11 63
20 BRA - 11 Andre Fonseca / Rodrigo Duarte 12 5 1 DSQ 14 21 7 4 64


The 49er European Championship is sponsored by Fundación Madrid 2016, the regional ministries of Tourism, Sports and Youth of the Govern de les Illes Balears and Llucmajor city council. Firms Engel & Völkers and Cadillac are collaborators and Seiko is the class sponsor.