2020 Laser Senior Europeans in Gdansk, Poland - Day 4
by Agustin Arguelles 12 Oct 2020 18:39 NZDT
6-13 October 2020
2020 Laser Senior Europeans in Gdansk, Poland day 4 © Thom Touw /
www.thomtouw.com
Light breeze dominated the first Final series day at the 2020 Laser Senior European Championships & Open European Trophy in Gdansk, Poland.
Tricky sailing conditions with the wind dropping or shifting and literally vanishing on some of courses areas, rewarding or punishing the sailors regarding the sides chosen.
Race Day 4 - Laser Standard
Two races were added to scores in the Laser Men's Gold competition, with a good day for the British sailor Michael Beckett GBR (4-15-4-1-2-7-4), reinforcing his leader with 22 points, getting a nice gap to second placed Elliot Hanson GBR (3-8-1-7.3RDGq-17-17-2) with 38.3 points. Third place is still in the hands of Pavlos Kontides CYP (2-21-2-9-4-37-7), although with a worse discard and counting 45 points.
It was a bad day for the overnight co-leader Filip Jurisic CRO (1-4-3-3-40-32-28), adding 60 points to his score and dropping to 12th place.
Sergey Komissarov RUS and Lorenzo Chiavarini GBR are close to the podium positions in fourth and fifth, with 50 and 52 points respectively.
William De Smet BEL is now sixth in the ranking with 57 points, based on great consistency. Alessio Spadoni ITA is also climbing positions and is now ranked seventh with 64 points.
"So far, so good. The bar has been raised in the gold fleet. The wind was very challenging so I'm very happy with my position.", said William De Smet from Belgium.
Charlie Buckingham USA is the best of the non-European sailors participating at this competition, holding 8th place overall with 64 points.
Race Day 4 - Laser Radial Women
Reigning 2019 European champion Anne Marie Rindom DEN (1-4-1-1-2-2-7) looks determined to repeat her win, although scoring her worst race today in the single race contested, leading the Radial Women's championship with 11 points.
Polish sailor Agata Barwinska POL (22-1-3-4-2-8-2) is also determined to fight for that Gold medal, scoring a great result today in very difficult conditions and following the leader just 9 points behind.
Third place is now for the consistent 2018 World champion Emma Plasschaert BEL (7-5-4-5-11-4-6) with 31 points.
2020 World champion and overnight second Marit Bouwmeester NED (2-3-2-7-23-3-20) is fourth now with 37 points, with her team mates Maxime Jonker NED - 41 points - and Mirthe Akkerman NED - 44 points - in 5th and 6th.
Greek sailor Vasileia Karachaliou GRE has entered the top 10 now after winning the race on Sunday and holds seventh position with 45 points.
"I'm happy with everything! The beginning of the regatta didn't go very well for me since we have never sailed in this place, so it was very easy to get it wrong. Learning day by day, I am getting familiar with the conditions. We had a bit of hiking the first days and today a bit lighter but very tricky conditions. Still a very long way to go.", said Vasileia Karachaliou from Greece.
Race Day 4 - Laser Radial Men
The Radial Men's championships added two races to the scores today, with Dutch sailor Paul Hameeteman NED (7-3-1-1-2-6-3-7) dominating the overall and U21 fleets with 23 points, although closely chased by Polish Filip Ciszkiewicz POL (6-1-2-2-7-8-31 BFD-6) with 32 points. Ukranian sailor Oskar Madonich UKR (16-2-5-8-1-21-1-2) is also close to the leaders with 35, after showing a great performance today, holding the third place overall and second U21.
"It's my first competition after a while. I haven't been training for one year and a half, so thought it would be great to take part here in the European Championships. During the first two days we had various but great conditions. Even thought there are only 30 sailors competing in the Laser Radial, I think that the fleet is tight and racing is full of ups and downs. It's good because it is not boring and because of that I am really enjoying my time here.", said Filip Ciszkiewicz from Poland
Fourth place overall and third U21 is the 2020 Laser 4.7 Youth European runner-up Przemyslaw Machowski POL (1-18-20-5-4-1-31DNF-1) with 50 points.
"I have had some adventures so far. I capsized and got two yellow flags so it's not as well as I expected. I am quite pleased with my sailing though.", said Przemyslaw Machowski from Poland.
The Final series will continue Monday with 2 scheduled races for the Laser Standard, first warning signal at 11:30, 3 races for the Radial Women's fleets and 2 races for the Radial Men's, first warning signal at 11:00. The day will start with the Coaches/Team Leaders online meeting at 09:00.
Full results from the regatta can be found here.