European Youth Sailing Games completed

by Elena Giolai on 19 Aug 2011 The European Youth Sailing Games, organized by Fraglia Vela Riva in collaboration with Eurosaf, have now concluded its first edition with the maximum number of races.

The wind arrived later than usual today with light winds varying from 10- 14 knots. It was a fight to the finish for the gold medals in the 29er and Byte M (similar to Laser) classes. For the Techno 293 M and F it was a clean victory for the two gold medal winners with an important final win from Marta Maggetti.

29er: it was a real fight for the top two positions in the acrobatic 29er: up until the final leg there was a tie between Salskov Iversen-Christfort Gormsen of Dennmark and fellow Danes Stephensen Lubeck-Thusgaard. The former took a first in the 13th race and the latter took a fifth. The 14th and final race was decisive for the gold and it went to the crew of Salskov Christfort who notched up their second victory of the day giving them a nine point lead over Stephenson- Thusgaard who came 10th in the last race. Bronze went to Llena Marti-Mahiques of Spain.

Techno 293 F, six nations in the top 10; It was a great win for Italian Marta Maggetti (Windsurfing Club Cagliari), who was in no way put off by the might of the British Sills sisters fresh from their gold and bronze medals at the Techno World Championships in San Francisco. Maggetti had held the lead from the very first day and had mathematically won the event on the penultimate race, which she won. Still not satisfied, she went on to win the 11th and final race with an impressive 17 point lead over World under 17 Techno 293 Champion Saskia Sills.

'This was excellent training for the European Championships in Cagliari next October, after that, Marta will progress to the RS: X Olympic class' - commented Mauro Covre, coach of Windsurfing Club Cagliari. Stefania Elfutina took the bronze medal.

Techno 293M, six nations in the top 10: A well-deserved victory for World Champion Martin, who took the gold medal with seven partial wins, two seconds, a third, a fourth and an impressive 22 point lead over Javadav of Belarus. Bronze went to Ayvazyan of Russia who managed to snatch the podium away from the other Brit Adam Purcell.

BYTE CII M, five nations: Michele Benamati had been leading since day one, but in the last race had to watch his back as fellow club member (Fraglia Vela Riva Italy), Marco Benini had no intention of giving up so easily in fact he took a first in the penultimate race followed by a third. Benamati, however, went on to win the gold with a third and a fourth giving him a four point advantage over an outstanding Benini. Third place went to Zelk Zan Luka of Slovenia who today had two partial seconds.

BYTE CII F, six nations: Carlsen Behr of Dennmark completely dominated this event and took the gold medal with an impressive 10 partial victories and a third. Cecilia Zorzi came in second followed by team member (Fraglia Vela Riva Italy), Joice Floridia in third.

'We had a very good turnout for the first edition of this event organized by Fraglia Vela Riva on request from Eurosaf. -Commented Mauro Stanga, President of Fraglia Vela Riva Italy- we had a high international participation with over 20 countries taking part and a very high technical level with several world Champions. Compliments also to Fraglia Vela Riva who, not only organized the event, but also completed all the races thanks to the great wind conditions on Trentino Garda. It was also a great event given that all four chosen in the Byte class M and F , reached the podium. Gold for MIchele Benamati, silver for Marco Benini and Cecilia Zorzi and bronze for Joice Floridia'.

Tomorrow is another day, and another day means another event at Fraglia Vela Riva with the start of the FD North Trophy. The Flying Dutchman class, which from 1960 to 1992 was a splendid Olympic class and which is still much loved for its elegance and technical prowess. The FD North Trophy is the only Italian stop in the Eurocup European tour which consists of five stops with 25 rounds total. Although the FD is no longer an Olympic class, it has wide popularity in competition in Europe, USA and Oceania.

Classifiche 29er: Results here
Classifiche Byte CII F: Results here
Classifiche Byte CII Maschile: Results here
Classifiche Techno 293 F: Results here
Classifiche Techno 293 Maschile: Results here

European Youth Sailing Games website