RS-X European Windsurfing Championship - Alabau extends lead

by Michalis Pateniotis on 1 Mar 2012 RS:X European Windsurfing Championship is taking place this year in Madeira, Portugal. Today, the fifth and penultimate day of racing, the athletes were waiting in the sun for the races to start and all they had in their minds is to give their best before entering the medal race.

In this last day of racing before the medal race, they have to be very careful, especially as there is just one discard in this championship.

The breeze arrived at Funchal at 12.00 and it was the time to hit the water and start racing!

This was a day with the best of conditions: 15 knots winds under the glorious sun of Madeira!

Kokkalanis from Greece had the best start after Miarczynski in the first race of the day. The left side of the upwind was gustier and it was not a surprise that most of the fleet chose this side! The ones that picked the right side encountered problems…

Miarczynski came on top at the downwind mark – Kokkalanis was now a few meters behind the Polish, with Mashiah from Israel following third. Local hero Rodrigues was fourth at this point – a pleasant surprise for his fans!

This was not a day for taking things easy, all windsurfers rounded the mark at full speed. Kokkalanis was the leader until the end, keeping safe distance from the second… But after all their vigorous efforts, the race committee decided to abandon the race in the end.

The first race of the womens fleet race saw Bilska and Mollestad making such a great start… with Davidovich and Skarlatou trailing them a few meters behind.

The girls all chose the left side of the upwind. Alabau kept her steady performance and after scoring a second and a first today extended her lead even more and now she is 24 points in front of the second, Maayan Davidovich. With only the medal race tomorrow, that means that she is already the 2012 RS:X European Champion in women!!

In the men’s fleet race, the top windsurfers picked the race committee boat side. Greece’s Kokkalanis, and Pastor from Spain were in the middle.

Now everybody knew which side was the favorable one and this made the race even tougher!

Mashiah rounded on top at the downwind mark this time, even if he hadn’t had the best of start. Wihelm from Germany was behind him and the other Polish, Myszka, was third. Pastor was fourth now, and Miarczynski followed behind him.

Again the Greek was the one doing wonders! Kokkalanis may have rounded the mark in the sixth place, right in front of Rodrigues, but he managed to gain several places by the end! He scored a third today and he’s now at the top together with Miarczynski, they have a tie!!

That’s it for today! The big day of this championship is tomorrow of course! Each place counts for double in the medal race; and only one of these windsurfers can be European Champion.

So stay with us!

RS:X Class Association website