470 Junior Europeans Championships day 2 another big wave day

by International 470 Class Association on 11 Aug 2011 470 Junior Europeans Championships are being held in Nieuwpoort Belgium. Two races were held for each of the fleets in another blustery and big wave day for the competitors, with the wind increasing throughout the day to around 22 knots by the time racing finished.

A repeat day of top sailing from Gabiel Skoczek/Achille Nebout (FRA) sees them remain at the head of the men/mixed leaderboard, whilst Nina Keijzer/Anneloes van Veen (NED) take over the lead in the women's division.

France now hold first and second overall in the men/mixed division as Kevin Peponnet/Julien Lebrun move into second with a 2.4 and sit just one point behind their teammates. Behind these top two teams, third through to sixth place are all on an equal eight points, with the frontrunners of the pack determined by tie-break.

Italy's Simon Sivitz Kosuta/Jas Farneti were delighted to take a win in race four and the tie-break advantage to move into third overall. The top three teams last faced each other at the 2011 470 Junior Worlds two weeks ago. They almost had race three in the bag too, but dropped down the fleet to finish sixth. Sivitz Kosuta commented, 'We didn't do good tactics in race three. Our speed was good, but we don't have these conditions where we sail in Trieste, Italy,' before making mention of the forecast 20-25 knots for Thursday.

Nicklas Dackhammar/Fredrik Bergstrom (SWE) also took a win in race four, which Bergstrom put down primarily to their very good boat speed, particularly upwind, commenting, 'the current was different from yesterday, so we had very long upwinds and shorter downwinds – we liked it.' And with it the Swedes move up into fourth overall.

470 Men – Top 10 after four races
1. Gabriel Skoczek/Achille Nebout (FRA) - 6 pts
2. Kévin Peponnet/Julien Lebrun (FRA) - 7 pts
3. Simon Sivitz Kosuta/Jas Farneti (ITA) - 8 pts
4. Nicklas Dackhammar/Fredrik Bergström (SWE) - 8 pts
5. Philip Sparks/Ben Gratton (GBR) - 8 pts
6. Matthew Crawford/Robert Crawford (AUS) - 8 pts
7. Jan-philipp Hofmann/Felix Brockerhoff (GER) - 9 pts
8. Pablo Völker/Agustín Cunill Martinez (ARG) - 9 pts
9. Sacha Pelisson/Nicolas Rossi (FRA) - 10 pts
10. Magnus Masilge/Moritz Klingenberg (GER) - 13 470 Men Results - before protest

In the women's division, equipment problems with the trapeze harness, meant more focus was on fixing that than sailing the boat for Anna Kyselova/Anastasiya Krasko (UKR), who finished race three in 18th. Despite an improved finish of sixth in the final race of the day the Ukrainians drop from third to fifth overall. 'It was not a good day for us. We made stupid mistakes and capsized.' Fortunately the discard came into play after race four, so their mistake has not pushed them too far down the leaderboard. The pair have been busy since the 2011 470 Junior Worlds, where they finished 14th, with a whistle-stop tour in Kiev where they successfully passed their university entrance exams ready to start their studies in September 2011, before heading to Belgium.

A stunning performance from Nina Keijzer/Anneloes van Veen (NED) who finished 1.3 pushes them into first overall, just one point ahead of Annika Bochman/Anika Lorenz (GER). Bochman/Lorenz had a bad opening yesterday with a DNS penalty score followed by a third place, which left them trailing deep in 17th overall. But a return to form with a 1.2 scoreline today puts them firmly back on track for a top finish and brings closer the possibility of a repeat of their victory at the 2011 470 Junior Worlds.

German teammates Tina Lutz/Susann Beucke drop from first overall yesterday to third with a 4.2 result.

470 Women – Top 10 after four races
1. Nina Keijzer/Anneloes Van Veen (NED)- 5 pts
2. Annika Bochmann/Anika Lorenz (GER) - 6 pts
3. Tina Lutz/Susann Beucke (GER) - 6 pts
4. Sasha Ryan/Chelsea Hall (AUS) - 11 pts
5. Anna Kyselova/Anastasiya Krasko (UKR) - 14 pts
6. Anna Burnet/Flora Stewart (GBR) - 14 pts
7. Victoria Jurczok/Josephine Bach (GER) - 20 pts
8. Amy Seabright/Eilidh Mcintyre (GBR) - 20 pts
9. Cassandre Blandin/Charlotte Mery (FRA) - 24 pts
10. Sanne Crum/Lana Keijzer (NED) - 26 470 Women Results - before protest

Thursday is scheduled to be the final day of qualification, but if the predicted strong winds impact racing tomorrow, then the lay day can be used to complete the qualification series. A further six races are scheduled in the final series, including the medal race. Racing is scheduled to get underway on 11 August at 1400 470 Junior European Event Website