Cadet Europeans at Club De Mar de Almeria, Spain – Day 4
by David Elliott 24 Jul 2009 12:39 BST
18-24 July 2009
Racing finally gets underway at the Cadet Europeans on day four © Neil Hardie
GBR teams first and third
The championship finally got under way today and what a day it was for British teams. Chris Brewer & Ole Alcock in GBR 8997 won three of the day’s four races and head the fleet of 111 entries with 18 points. In second place on 29 points are Krzysztof Matecki & Mikolaj Mickiewicz in POL 9734 with Sophie Dingwall & Chris Sycamore third in GBR 5000 with 30 points.
All the day’s races were sailed using a triangle/windward/leeward course finishing on a windward beat. The wind strengthened gradually throughout the day from F3 and progressively swung round from 210 degrees to 235 degrees by the start of the last race.
Chris & Ole’s first victory came in Race 1. Lying fourth at the first windward mark, they had improved to third by the completion of the triangle before taking the lead on the second beat from Oleg Yatsenko & Yurly Kriger in UKR 9251. By the second leeward they had opened up a 15 second lead over the Ukrainian team, who in turn had a 15 second lead over the initial leaders, Butenko Ivan & Moroz Ivan in UKR 8134. John & Alex Page in GBR 8521 took fourth place, having been seventh at the first windward mark.
Race 2 produced a Polish one-two. Sophie & Chris led at the Gybe mark, but had slipped back to fourth place by the end of the triangle. Szymon Wierzbicki & Wojciech Lewand in POL 9489 took the gun from Krzysztof Matecki & Mikolaj Mickiewicz in POL 9734 with Oleg Yatsenko & Yurly Kriger in UKR 9251 close behind for their second top-three finish of the day. Sophie & Chris held on to take fourth place. Chris Tiernan & Ashley Dunford in GBR 9730 finished tenth.
Marta Hernandez & Cristina Laucirica from the host club in ESP 9119 and Roi Rogel & Juan Luis Millan in ESP 8695 led into the windward mark in Race 3 with Chris & Ole lying third and Sophie & Chris, fourth. Chris & Ole made their move on the second beat, taking the lead and then holding off the challenge of first Roi & Juan and then Marta & Cristina for their second victory of the day. Sophie & Chris finished fourth with Arthur Henderson & Matt Currell in GBR 7630 two places further back.
Race 4 produced the closest of the day’s finishes. Alfonso Bauza & Luis Irisarri in ESP 9652 led until the final beat when they were overhauled by Chris & Ole and Toon De Munck & Eline Spittaels in BEL 8909. Chris & Ole went on to take the race by less than a boat length to make it three victories out of four. Chris Tiernan & Ashley Dunford in GBR 9730 finished seventh.
Friday is the final day and the start time has been brought forward by one hour, which could see two races sailed. With a discard kicking in with the fifth race, the title has still to be decided.
Provisional results can be found at www.clubdemaralmeria.es/index.php?modo=contenidos&id=169&ver=57