2026 470 European Championships Day 2: Ferrari & Dubbini lead after qualifying
by International 470 Class Association 10 Mar 11:33 PDT
6-14 March 2026
2026 470 European Championships Day 2 © International 470 Class Association
The qualifying series at the 2026 470 European Championships has just finished. The top 25 teams will begin racing tomorrow in the gold and silver fleets. Giacomo Ferrari and Alessandra Dubbini continue to lead the standings.
The sailing conditions were totally different than yesterday. While Monday offered more stable breezes from the Atlantic, Tuesday brought unstable winds blowing off the land. The fleet had to deal with shifts and gusts.
"Today was quite tricky, it was coming from the land and a direction we don't get so much, like further round to the north than normal. Really shifty, really gusty, made for quite hard racing," said Martin Wrigley.
The leaders started the day with another race win. In today's second race, they finished 10th and now hold a two-point lead over Great Britain's Martin Wrigley and Bettine Harris. Wrigley and Harris also opened the day strongly, but in the second race, they were scored UFD.
Asked what made the difference today, Wrigley said: "I think being quick always helps. And then I think just being able to read the wind and sailing as a team, two minds are always better than one."
In third place are last year's European and World Champions Jordi Xammar and Marta Cardona. After finishing second in race four, they recorded their worst result of the series in the following race, finishing 21st.
Tomorrow, the championship moves into its next phase with the fleet split into Gold and Silver groups. The Gold Fleet includes the top 25 teams after the qualifying series. For the first time this season, the sailors will compete under the new regatta format, which introduces changes to the final racing system.
"I think to stay consistent, you probably have to be good at everything because it can present quite a few different challenges. Now we go into Gold Fleet, and we take the score from qualifying as one non-discardable race. It's a long way to go; seven Gold Fleet races are quite a lot," added Wrigley.
Three races are scheduled for Wednesday, with the first warning signal at 13:00 Portuguese time. Live Tracking for March 11 will available here.
More information at 470.org