Event [ 15/08/2009 ]

6th day summary

On Saturday none of the classes could fulfill any races.

Because of no wind in Balatonfüred the organizers couldn’t held any races for the participants of the European Champinship. On Sunday the 420 will continues the race, the 470 class will do the Medal Race with the first ten of the gold group.

 

There aren’t many reasons to celebrate a lack of wind in sailing, but with no breeze on Lake Balaton for day 5 of the 470 Junior European Championship, Viktoria JURCZOK and Josephine BACH (GER) were confirmed as Women’s Junior European Champions.

 

The lack of stable breeze in the race area of Hungary’s largest lake prevented the 92-boats competing today, and so the top 10 teams now go forward to contest a Medal Race tomorrow morning. Already with a 21-point lead over the next women’s team from Greece, the German girls are uncatchable in the overall standings. In the combined fleet of men’s and women’s competition, JURCZOK and BACH are in 10th overall, which means they will be the only women’s crew in the Medal Race. “We can race in the Medal Race against the boys with no pressure,” said Jurczok.

 

This is a particularly sweet victory for the German girls, who ruined their chance of a silver medal in the 470 Junior World Championships in Greece just a few weeks ago. “It is nice to win here after what happened in Greece,” said JURCZOK. “We were leading the Medal Race and we were too excited. We went the wrong way around the leeward mark and we went from first to last.” Hopes of a silver, or even a bronze, evaporated as the girls slipped to 4th overall.

 

No such mistake here, and JURCZOK was pleased with how she and BACH had sailed in such challenging conditions on Lake Balaton. “I think the key was to make a plan, make a decision, and then stick to your decision,” she said. “That’s what we did and it seemed to work for us.” The fight for the Men’s title has yet to be decided, and while the French team of Sofian BOUVET and Jeremie MION have a useful lead of 13 points over second-placed Germans Ferdinand GERZ and Tobias BOLDUAN, the unpredictability of Lake Balaton means nothing can be taken for granted.

 

Sebastián PERI BRUSA, helmsman of the Argentinean boat in 5th overall, has now lost even a mathematical chance of catching the French for the overall European title. The former ISAF Youth World Champion has had to readjust his target on beating one of the three teams ahead of him in the battle for silver and bronze tomorrow. “It is disappointing to have lost a chance of competing for the overall Championship,” he said, “but we are paying for the mistakes we made earlier in the week. Now we have to put a good race together and see if we can get to silver.”

 

The 10 teams due to contest the Medal Race went to a special briefing this evening with the umpires who will provide on-the-water, instant judging during the race. The other 21 boats in Gold fleet, along with the Silver and Bronze fleets will conclude their Championships tomorrow with conventional fleet races.

 

Just a point separates the top two teams in Silver fleet, so the Italian leaders Paolo CATTANEO and Vittorio ZAOLI will be carefully watching their Hungarian rivals Botond SZIGETHI and Kristof JOO.

 

In Bronze, a whole host of men’s teams are waiting to pounce on the current fleet leaders, the Hungarian women’s team of Réka VIGH and Kinga SZABÓ. Tension will be running high on the concluding day of competition in Hungary, not just in the Medal Race but in every 470 fleet.

 

 

The participants of the Medal Race:

 

Bouvet Sofian - Mion Jeremie (FRA) 23
Gerz Ferdinand - Bolduan Tobias (GER) 36
Sivitz Kosuta Simon - Farneti Jas (ITA) 38
Stavrou Michalis - Papadopoulos Stathis (GRE) 42
Peri Brusa Sebastián - Masseroni Santiago (ARG) 45
Brauchli Yannick - Hausser Romuald (SUI) 49
Neoclaras Makarios - Tsangk Orestis (GRE) 52
Mikulin Mitja - Princic Sebastian (SLO) 59
Balzeau Beranger - Fountaine Mathieu (FRA) 62
Jurczok Vicktoria - Bach Josephine (GER) 76

 

 

photos of Andrea Mag: