49erFX European Championship at Porto - Day 3
by International 49er Class 9 Jul 2015 08:08 AEST
6-11 July 2015
Bigger breeze and two-metre Atlantic swell delivered some challenging conditions for day 3 of the 49er FX European Championships in Porto. Boats were leaping off waves with clear daylight showing between hull and water. Avoiding the dreaded pitchpole was one of the big goals on the downwind legs.
These were not the conditions that Victoria Jurczok and Anika Lorenz had been looking forward to. The lightweight German crew had revelled in the lighter breezes of the previous day, and Jurczok was hoping those conditions might have continued a little longer into the week. But maybe after today's performance she will revise her view of big breeze, big wave competition. Two 2nd places launch them into the overall lead of the 39-boat FX fleet.
Annemiek Bekkering was grinning after coming ashore today, partly out of relief at having survived a big day and escaped without a capsize. "It was a hard day, but fun too," said the Dutch sailor who with crew Annette Duetz sits in 2nd overall, 3 points behind the lead. "Quite relieved to have come through the day." Maiken and Anne-Julie Schütt hold on to 3rd place, helped by a victory in race 8. Their Danish team mates have closed the gap, with Jena Hansen and Katja Iversen in 4th, the reigning European Champions Ida-Marie Nielsen and Marie Olsen in 5th.
Today was the end of FX qualifying, and some big names sit on or around the 25-place cut-off. Winners of the Dutch Olympic trials, Nina Keijzer and Claire Blom, sit in 25th overall, and 2012 match racing Olympic Champion Tamara Echegoyen and 470 world champion Berta Betanzos are just outside the cut in 27th overall. With a flurry of protests this evening, some of these places could yet change the fortunes of some crews – for better or worse.
Thursday sees the FX fleet begin their Gold fleet finals. With a forecast of softer breeze, it will be a different challenge from today's brutal contest.
For all the event details, highlights, interviews, results, photos, tracking and more, head to 49er.org/event/2015-european-championship