US Team lead Yngling European Championship Day 1

by yngling.org on 2 Apr 2008 On the first day of the Yngling Europeans in Blanes, Spain 3 races were sailed in sunshine and 8-12 knots of southerly winds. In the lead after the first day the team of Sally Barkow (USA). With the series 4-1-4 the American team is having a good grip at the early stages of the regatta.

The weather situation in Catalonia in the northeast of Spain was complicated. It was explained to sailors and coaches at the morning weather briefing that a weather system area just to the north had strong winds and 30-40 knots had been measured only 30 km to the north. However the mountains shielded the Blanes Bay from this weather system and after the sun had heated the land enough a nice see breeze like wind stabilized. The first start was delayed about 2 hours waiting for the breeze to stabilize.

However the swell from the windy north came down to the race area and created two sets of wave patterns. This together with a current going against the wind created some difficulties for the sailors especially at the start. World Champion Sarah AYTON (GBR) and her team found themselves trapped on port tack in front of the fleet in the second start unable to find a gap to go down in. They were pushed above the line and forced to restart after an individual recall.

As usual in Yngling racing the time difference is small between the first and last boat in the fleet and it was very crowded in some mark roundings. The jury have received protests and displayed results are preliminary.

The weather forecast for tomorrow and the rest of the week is that the breeze will build later in the day and the Race Committee, with IRO Rafael 'Luky' Serrano (ESP), have decided to change the schedule to a start time at 12:00 for the rest of the opening series.

Regatta results, images and reports will be posted at www.yngling.org and at the Event website - http://cvblanes.esportcatala.com

Prelimary results after 3 races:

CLASIFICACION GENERAL (provisional)
Overall	Sail Nr	Crew	Name/Sponsor	Points	1	2	3
1	USA 337	Sally Barkow/Carrie Howe/Debbie Capozzi		9	4	1	4
2	NED 1	Mandy Mulder/Brechtje Van der Werf/Floortje Hendriksen		13	5	7	1
3	GBR 12	Sarah Ayton/Sarah Webb/Pippa Wilson	Mirabaud	16	1	9	6
4	NED 11	Renee Groeneveld/Annenieke Bes/Merel Witteveen		19	13	4	2
5	GER 261	Schuemann, Ulrike/Bleck, Julia/Hoepfner, Ute	T-Systems	24	9	6	9
6	RUS 8	Ekaterina Skudina/Diana Krutskikh/Natalia Ivanova	Maritime Bank	25	15	5	5
7	NED 350	Annelies Thies/Lieske Wierenga/Caroline Heerema		26	2	13	11
8	RUS 4	Basalkina Anna/Ukraintseva Vladislava/Maximova Ekaterina		31	16	2	13
9	ESP 3	Monica Azon/Graciela Pisonero/Sandra Azon		32	14	3	15
10	FRA 7	Le Helley Anne/Lepesant Catherine/Gerecht Julie	Snef/Aigle	33	3	11	19
11	CHN 3	Li Jie/Wang Ru/Gao Yang		33	6	10	17
12	FRA 9	Le Berre Anne-Claire/Ponsar Alice/Deplanque Marion	Equipe De France Militaire	36	19	14	3
13	CHN 1	Song Xia Qun/Li Xiao Ni/Yu Yan Li		40	21	12	7
14	AUS 59	Krystal Weir/Karyn Gojnich/Angela Farrell	Audi / Hamilton Island	40	22	8	10
15	RSA 1	Dominique Provoyeur/Penny Alison/Kim Rew		43	7	20	16
16	ITA 16	Chiara Calligaris/Francesca Scognamillo/Giulia Pignolo	PRYSMIAN/TACCHIFICIO MONTI	45	20	17	8
17	GRE 7	Sofia Bekatorou/Sofia Papadopoulou/Virginia Kravarioti	Eurobank	47	11	15	21
18	NED 111	Marjon Kooistra/Marye Faber/Marye Kampen		47	17	18	12
19	NED 335	Jildau fer Horst/Amy Righolt/Hilke Harns	Volvo	49	12	19	18
20	DEN 195	Trine Palludan/Susanne Boidin/Ida Hartvig	Torm	53	8	21	OCS
21	NED 336	Lianne Kedde/Margot Eelkman - Rooda/Chantel Hakkel	Volvo	54	18	22	14
22	NOR 406	Siren Sundby/Lise Birgitte Fredriksen/Alexandra Koefoed	Jan Herman	58	10	DNF	OCS
23	ESP 8	Silvia Roca/Eva Gonzalez Moujir/Lara Cacabelos Afonso		59	23	16	20