Hungary and Croatia take first day of D-One's in Valencia

D-One in action in Valencia Pierre Orphanidis/VSail.info http://www.vsail.info

D-One in action in Valencia © Pierre Orphanidis/VSail.info http://www.vsail.info

Two fantastic races were sailed with lots of fun and tough racing by the 31 helmsmen fleet from 14 countries. This is the first event of the adrenaline-pumping single-handed dinghy designed by UK dinghy master Phil Morrison, tested and developed by Olympic Silver Medallist Luca Devoti, and built by Devoti Sailing managed by Roman Teply. The early winners ot the Championship are Hungarian Zsombor Berecz and Croatian finn sailor Ivan Gaspic. The organization by the world renowned Real Club Nautico de Valencia and Devoti Sailing was perfect. At the end of the day, sailors were welcomed onshore with a marvellous Valencian Paella.

D-One in action in Valencia © Pierre Orphanidis/VSail.info http://www.vsail.info

Talking about the day, Luca Devoti said: 'Who will win in a couple of days? There are a lot of good guys out there that can win this event. The fleet in very high-talented and I want to point out that there are sailors in the top positions with very different weights, ranging from 100 kg like Gaspic or Wright down to Zabalua's 72 kg, all can be competitive in the D-One'.

Croatian Ivan Gaspic, top ranked after two races, said: 'Today was all about speed, both upwind and downwind. This boat is a perfect idea by Luca Devoti, nice hull and lots of fun'.

D-One in action in Valencia © Pierre Orphanidis/VSail.info http://www.vsail.info

Today's races resulted in a very short leaderboard, which suggests a hard fight in the next two days, because the double point score of the last race will keep everything open untill the end. Croation Ivan Gaspic (3-1) took an early lead with a two point advantage over Argentinean Agustin Zabalua (4-2). Third was Hungarian Zsombor Berecz (1-6). British Ed Wright, winner one month ago of the Finn Gold Cup, took the fourth place (6-3). In the fifth there is the first Italian,

Andrea Giammarini (5-4). The event resumes tomorrow with two more races.

The event is sponsored by Magic Marine and BetPro.it

For New Zealand Finn sailor, matt Coutts' impressions of the D-One http://valenciasailing.blogspot.com/2010/09/matt-coutts-talks-about-d-one.html!click_here