Competitors battle the elements at 470 European’s

by Di Pearson on 12 Jun 2005 Competitors were kept waiting for conditions to stabilise at the latest races in the 470 European Championships in Poland, as winds oscillated as much as 180 degrees throughout the morning and into early afternoon.

The planned 11.00am start did not come to fruition, with the Race Committee finally getting the Womens Gold group away just before 2.00pm local time, but persistent shifts came from the east and the race was stopped on the third leg.

Finally, the wind stabilised at 10 knots from the east and racing commenced.

Of the Australians, Elise Rechichi/Tessa Parkinson and Lauren Jeffries/Rike Ziegelmayer both made it to the Gold fleet, where the earlier pair have exceeded all expectations and are currently placed third behind the unstoppable French pair of Ingrid Petitjean/Nadege Douroux and Nike Kornecki, Vered Bouskila (ISR).

Whilst the West Australian girls, who scored a win in race eight, will be hard put to catch the French, beating the second placed Israelis is not out of the question; only eight points separate them, with a second race drop to come into play after nine races.

Jeffries/Ziegelmayer did a fantastic job to even get to the Gold fleet and are in 17th place overall.

Mixed blessings for Australia’s Mens competitors.

Mat Belcher/Nick Behrens disappointingly for them, did not make the Gold fleet. They were second in the first race of the series. Lying third in the second race, the rubber gasket on the underside of their hull, the thin flaps around the centreboard case, producing drag like a giant piece of seaweed, which dropped them back in the fleet to 14th,

They then could not complete in the following race.

They are currently leading the Silver fleet from two German teams, Nils Schroder/Jens Steinborn and Max Dzembritzki/Stefan Schmoldt, by five and six points respectively.

In the Mens Gold fleet, Nick Rogers/Joe Glanfield (GBR), have been at the top of the board throughout and lead Javier Conte/Juan de la Fuente (ARG) by a marginal one point and Gideon Kliger, Ehud Gal (ISR), by three points in their now close series.

Racing continues tomorrow with organisers planning an 11.00am start – should conditions allow!

Provisional top five results:

Mens – Gold Fleet – 1 discard – 8 races

1 GBR Nick Rogers/Joe Glanfield 16

2 ARG Javier Conte/Juan de la Fuente 17

3 ISR Gideon Kliger/Ehud Gal 19

4 FRA Benjamin Bonnaud/Romain Bonnaud 26

5 FRA Ronan Dreano/Ronan Floch 27


Mens – Silver Fleet – 1 discard – 8 races

1 AUS Mathew Belcher/Nick Behrens 49

2 GER Nils Schroder/Jens Steinborn 54

3 GER Max Dzembritzki/Stefan Schmoldt 55

4 ISR Eyale Levine/Yam Amir 55

5 ITA Fonda Enrico/Zucchetti Pietro 57


Womens – Gold Fleet – 1 discard – 8 races

1 FRA Ingrid Petitjean/Nadege Douroux 13

2 ISR Nike Kornecki/Vered Bouskila 19

3 AUS Elise Rechichi/Tessa Parkinson 27

4 NED Marcellien de Koning/Lobke Berkhout 30

5 SWE Therese Torgersson/Vendela Zachrisson 30

*17 AUS Lauren Jeffries/Rike Ziegelmayer 67


Full results: http://www.euro470.pl