470 European Championships attracts 31 nations

by 470 Class media on 8 Jun 2009
31 nations are set to come head to head on Lake Traunsee, Austria at the 2009 470 European Championships. Eighty-five men's-mixed and 40 women's teams will be competing at the opening 470 Championship of 2009, hosted by the Union Yacht Club Traunsee.

The Championships will welcome all the top three crews from the ISAF World Cup Standings for both the men's and women's fleets, which are currently led by Stuart McNay and William McBride (USA) and Henriette Koch and Lene Sommer (DEN) respectively.

Whilst for many of the 2008 Olympic Champions, it is still time out since their successes in Beijing, two of the medal placing Olympic crews who will be contesting victory are the silver medallist Nick Rogers with new crew Pom Green (GBR) and the bronze medallists Nicolas Charbonnier and Olivier Bausset (FRA). Rogers and Green will make the team's third appearance since Rogers' Olympic medal, having secured a fourth place at the ISAF Grade 3 Palamos Christmas Race and a 14 place at the ISAF World Cup Trofeo SAR Princesa Sofia MAPFRE. They currently hold an ISAF World Sailing ranking of 8 and are yet to score sufficient points to appear on the ISAF Sailing World Cup standings.

The Olympic bronze medallists, Nicolas Charbonnier and Olivier Bausset (FRA) have opened their 2009 season with top ten results at the three ISAF Sailing World Cup events which they have contested; second at the ISAF World Cup Trofeo SAR Princesa Sofia MAPFRE, fourth at the Semaine Olympique Francaise and fourth at the Delta Lloyd Regatta – to sit in fourth on both the World Cup standings and the ISAF Sailing World Rankings.

A mere point ahead of them on the World Cup standings in third place are fellow teammates Pierre Leboucher and Vincent Garos (FRA) who have contested four of the World Cup events. So the performances of these crews at the Europeans, whilst not counting to the World Cup Standings, will contribute towards the personal battle being fought between them.

The women's fleet will see teams from 20 nations facing each other on the race course, including three of the top ten crews on the ISAF Sailing World Rankings, including Ai Kondo and Wakako Tabata (JPN) who sit in second, Giulia Conti and Giovanna Micol (ITA) in third and on home waters with a world ranking of 5 and second on the ISAF World Cup standings, the Austrian pairing of Sylvia Vogl and Carolina Flatscher. For the renowned faces at the head of the fleet through to the relative newcomers, such as the crew of Kate Williams and Sarah Williams (GBR) who with a ranking of 114 sit towards the back of the ranked sailors, it will be interesting to see the racing unfold as they come head to head on the waters of Lake Traunsee.

With the 470 Junior Worlds taking place from 10-18 July, the Europeans may prove a form guide to see how some of the younger crews deliver amongst the more senior crews in the European fleet, before competing in the 21 and under age group at the Junior Worlds in Thessaloniki, Greece. The youngest helms in each fleet are both german crews, with Magnus Masilge at 17 years with crew Moritz Kliingenberg in the men's-mixed fleet, and Magdalena Hubert-Reh at 16 years and crew of sister Sophia in the women's keen to demonstrate that their young years will prove a bonus.

The Race Management team at the 470 Europeans is headed up by Helmut Csazny (AUT), with the International Jury chaired by Magriet Pannevis (NED) and the Measurement Team headed up by Andy Halcon (ESP) and Gabor Csernussi (HUN).

The qualifying series gets underway from 8-10 June, with the final series and medal race scheduled for 11-14 June.

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