DEFENDING 420 JUNIOR EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS INTO POLE POSITION

An exciting final day of qualification races established cut for final series.

Defending Junior European Champions Guillaume Pirouelle/Valentin Sipan (FRA) flawlessly executed two race wins in the yellow fleet today to oust the Italian pairing of Giacomo Ferrari/Giulio Calabro off the top of the leaderboard, and position themselves perfectly going into the final series. With the discard coming into place after race 5, Pirouelle/Sipan were able to throw out their disastrous 27th finish from race 1 and accelerate up the leaderboard from 7th at the start of the day to first at the end.

Lake Garda’s Ora wind threw up another 18-20 knot race day – hard to predict from the mill pond that greeted teams as they arrived at Fraglia Vela Riva this morning. Several attempts to get racing underway caused a delayed start for the 420 fleet, with general recalls leading to black flag starts and the ultimate penalties for some teams.

With the final series cut now made, of the 19 nations competing at the Junior Europeans, 16 nations have qualified through to the thirty-eight boat gold fleet – a perfect example of the spread of talent in the 420 class.

420 Open fleet downwind © Davide Turrini

Annabel Vose/Kirstie Urwin (GBR) achieved the top finish of the day from a ladies team, coming second in race 6 in the blue fleet. Just reward for them to go into the final series well inside the gold fleet pack at #23 and as the second overall ladies team.

Vose is a big fan of Lake Garda, commenting, “Sailing here is ideal, it is so nice,” before adding her view on the challenge of an open fleet. “Sailing with the boys is really different, but that is what we train with in the UK, so we are kind of used to it. It is a lot harder, especially when it is windy and to be able to hold your lane is quite difficult. But it adds a new element and is quite exciting.“

On their performance through the qualifiers, Urwin continued, “We have had a solid start. It could have been better, but we haven’t completely thrown ourselves out of the regatta so that is good.”

The only ladies team ahead of the British are Lena Stückl/Franziska Máege (GER) in #16 overall.

Aside from Guillaume Pirouelle/Valentin Sipan (FRA) who dominated the yellow fleet, the two races in each of the blue and red fleets were won by different teams. Deniz Bagci/Kaan Tuna (TUR) won race 5 in the blue fleet, with Greece’s Fratzeskos Mpakatsias/Evaggelos Christopoulos taking the race 6 win. The Turkish pair were thrilled to move up to second overall on the leaderboard from their victory, despite dropping back down to fourth after race 6.

Top Image: Fratzeskos Mpakatsias/Evaggelos Christopoulos (GRE) © Davide Turrini

A delighted Bagci said, “For now it is great yeh. We never really imagined getting such good scores. Our aim was top 15 or top 10, but it has been a really good regatta for now for us.”

Ahead of the Championship training has been intense, as Bagci continued, “We have been in Kiel Week training and then one month in between we were back in Turkey. We were on the water every day.” The pair have been racing together for two years as this is their first major Championship.

“It is not so hard to predict what is going to happen. It is about boat speed, not taking risks, having good starts and being able to tack to the right. We are comfortable with the higher breeze,” concluded Bagci.

Deniz Bagci/Kaan Tuna (TUR) © Davide Turrini

In the red fleet, Francesco Rebaudi/Pietro Canepa (ITA) won race 5 and Reiner Eenkema van Dijk/Spencer McDonough (USA) took the race 6 gun.

The day ended in disappointment for the recently crowned gold medallists in the 420 girls’ event at the Four Star Pizza ISAF Youth Worlds, Ilaria Paternoster/Benedetta Di Salle (ITA) who have plummeted out of the gold fleet and into silver after an early start penalty in race 6. Track back two days to race day 1 and this team were leading the entire Championship.

After such a great start, the pair are naturally disappointed with their placing from the qualifying series. “It was very hard yesterday. We are not heavy, so it is difficult,” said Di Salle. “Today we wanted to get a good result, so we tried to start at the pin end on starboard, but we were over. We did the race, but realized during the race that we were OCS.”

Points are very close going into the final series, and with Pirouelle/Sipan carrying a discard score, they cannot afford to make another mistake and give an opening to their opponents.

420 Open - Top 10 Overall after 6 Races
1. Guillaume Pirouelle/Valentin Sipan (FRA) – 6pts
2. Giacomo Ferrari/Giulio Calabrò (ITA) – 13 pts
3. Fratzeskos Mpakatsias/Evaggelos Christopoulos (GRE) – 18 pts
4. Deniz Bagci/Kaan Tuna (TUR) – 19 pts
5. Craig Dibb/Charlie Cox (GBR) – 21 pts
6. Francesco Rebaudi/Pietro Canepa (ITA) – 23 pts
7. Taylor Burn/Oscar Rorvik (NZL) – 23 pts
8. David Charles/Alex Charles (ESP) – 24 pts
9. Wade Waddell/Henry Fernberger (USA) – 24 pts
10. Callum Airlie/Joseph Butterworth (GBR) – 26 pts

Five ladies teams are qualified to the gold fleet, so it will be these teams now contesting their positions on the overall leaderboard and for the ladies podium places.

420 Ladies – Top 5 Overall after 6 Races
1. Lena Stückl/Franziska Máege (GER) - overall position in gold fleet #16
2. Annabel Vose/Kirstie Urwin (GBR) - overall position in gold fleet #23
3. Noya Bar-Am/Rimon Shoshan (ISR) - overall position in gold fleet #32
4. Megan Grapengeter-Rudnick/Abigail Rohman (USA) - overall position in gold fleet #36
5. Tsuf Zamet/Stav Brokman (ISR) - overall position in gold fleet #37

Tuesday 14 August 2012 is a lay day for all fleets. Racing resumes on Wednesday 15 August 2012 at 1300 hours for the first two races of the 6 race final series. The 420 Junior European Championships will move to a very different pace, with all the top teams coming face to face for the first time in the gold fleet, which is certain to rock the leaderboard around.

Results

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Top Image: Guillaume Pirouelle/Valentin Sipan (FRA) © Davide Turrini

13/8/2012 19:15