Brits climbing the rank at 470 Europeans

Athens, Greece (July 13, 2014) – Another testing day on the Saronic Gulf waiting for the sea breeze to fill in across the race track on race day 4 at the 2014 470 Open European Championships. Two more races completed for each fleet, with just two more to go on Monday 14 July to determine the top 10 who will advance to Tuesday’s double-points Medal Race.

The breeze looked hopeful as the fleet headed out around midday for a 1300 hours scheduled warning signal, but a combination of general recalls, shifting breeze and lack of breeze meant patience was the name of the game. A wait of over two hours for the sea breeze to fill in, saw the first race for the 470 Men Gold fleet get underway in a 10 knot breeze.

470 MEN
After several attempts to start the thirty-seven boat 470 men gold fleet due to general recalls, wind shifts and postponement, the first race of the day got underway at 1528 hours.

By their standards, Mat Belcher/Will Ryan (AUS scored their worst day’s race results of the Championship so far, with finishes of 5,9, but the pair still remain the class act here in Athens and are way ahead on points over the rest of the fleet after 8 races. The Australians have no result worse than a 9th place, so room on their scorecard for a bad day if it unexpectedly happens tomorrow.

In a contrast of form Great Britain’s Luke Patience/Elliot Willis enjoyed their best day of racing, scoring a 4,2 and shift up to second overall, 11 points adrift of the Aussies.

Front of the fleet racing for the world #1 ranked pair of Sime Fantela/Igor Marenic (CRO), who secured two confident starts at the pin end and knocked out their best scorecard with 6,1 finishes shifting them up to third overall.

Plummeting out of the top three and the top 10 go Spain’s Onan Barreiros/Juan Curbelo. The pair had to play it safe today, with a 32 score already in their hands, but a black flag penalty followed by a 22nd place finish marked a disastrous day of racing. A big challenge ahead tomorrow to get back onto their usual consistent form tomorrow and leap back into the top 10 for the Medal Race.

470 Men – Top 10 after 8 Races
1. Mathew Belcher/Will Ryan (AUS) – 20 pts
2. Luke Patience/Elliot Willis (GBR) – 31 pts
3. Sime Fantela/Igor Marenic (CRO) – 37 pts
4. Joonas Lindgren/Niklas Lindgren (FIN) – 40 pts
5. Sofian Bouvet/Jeremie Mion (FRA) – 44 pts
6. Lucas Calabrese/Juan de la Fuente (ARG) – 44 pts
7. Matthias Schmid/Florian Reichstaedter (AUT) – 55 pts
8. Panagiotis Mantis/Pavlos Kagialis (GRE) – 58 pts
9. Pierre Leboucher/Nicolas Le Berre (FRA) – 61 pts
10. Panagiotis Kampouridis/Efstathios Papadopoulos (GRE) – 63 pts

470 WOMEN
A demanding day for the 470 Women who spent four hours on the water before getting their first start underway.

Leaderboard change as the 2012 Olympic Silver Medallists Hannah Mills/Saskia Clark (GBR) reclaim the lead over Austria’s Lara Vadlau/Jolanta Ogar (AUT). Olympic Gold Medallist Jo Aleh/Polly Powrie (NZL) remain in third.

Defending 470 Women’s European Champion helm Camille Lecointre of France, racing with new crew Helene Defrance moves up into the top 10 after winning race 7 and following up with a 9th in race 8. They are still 41 points off the top three, but with two race tomorrow everything is still possible in this fifty-one boat women’s fleet.

All the top teams are carrying big point results, so safe racing and consolidation will be the priority with just two races remaining ahead of the Medal Race on Tuesday.

470 Women – Top 10 after 8 Races
1. Hannah Mills/Saskia Clark (GBR) – 27 pts
2. Lara Vadlau/Jolanta Ogar (AUT) – 28 pts
3. Jo Aleh/Polly Powrie (NZL) – 33 pts
4. Sophie Weguelin/Eilidh Mcintyre (GBR) – 49 pts
5. Anne Haeger/Briana Provancha (USA) – 57 pts
6. Fernanda Oliveira/Ana Barbachan (BRA) – 59 pts
7. Tina Mrak/Veronika Macarol (SLO) – 63 pts
8. Afrodite Kyranakou/Anneloes Van Veen (NED) – 69 pts
9. Camille Lecointre/Helene Defrance (FRA) – 74 pts
10. Alisa Kirilyuk/Liudmila Dmitrieva (RUS) – 86 pts

Overall Results: europeans.470.org/en/default/races/race-resultsall
Event website: Europeans.470.org

Racing Schedule for Monday 14 July 2014
Two races are scheduled for all fleets on Monday 14 July 2014. The 470 Women get underway first with a scheduled warning signal of 1200 hours, followed by the 470 Men Gold and the 470 Men Silver fleets.

About the 2014 470 Open European Championships
Nautical Club of Tzitzifies Kallithea (NOTK) in the iconic Olympic sailing city of Athens, Greece is hosting the six days of racing at the 2014 470 European Championships which kicked off on Thursday 10 July 2014. The racing format is an 11 race series scheduled for the 470 Men and 470 Women fleets, after which the top 10 advance to the final Medal Race on Tuesday 15 July 2014.

Report by event media.