| CASCAIS, PORTUGAL-(6-9-2003) It was 14h05 when the Race Committee started the fourth race of the 2003 Star European Championship. With four of the six scheduled races completed and with the worst score discarded, a series is already constituted. The course covered by the 62 crews was number 3, that accords to three upwind and two downwind legs. Although the wind always blew from the same direction - northwest - its intensity changed during the race: in the start it was 14 knots, in the second upwind fell to ten, finishing in 25 knots.
For that reason it was «a tough race» for Ross MacDonald and Kai Bjorn, the canadian team that shined in today's race. In a rising performance, they were third in the first mark, second in the following one and first in the last two marks. Despite assuming this European as training for the Wolrd Championship, they hope to get a «good result» in Cascais, but «every race is different» and they prefer not to create big expectations for the final races. On what concerns to the Worlds, the goal is clear: «to qualify the country». And they are optimistic, after all they're going to Cádiz «to give the best», said Ross MacDonald.
The austrians Hans Spitzauer/Andreas Hanakamp were the protagonist of the second best performance of the day. According to the crew, the biggest problem were the wind holes. After rounding the first mark fifth, they found the right way: «go by the left, where there was more wind», being second on the first downwind. After that, «it was almost match racing with MacDonald», finishing second. Until the end of the championship the team hopes to «keep the rhythm», although they know that there's a high competitive level in this European Championship.
Afonso Domingos e Bernardo Santos are still giving their best in a familiar race area and keeping the good results. They started well and chose the right side of the race area. Meanwhile, the wind of the sea that has rosen a little before the start found the bay winds and then «everybody were beneficed», said the skipper. In the downwind leg the wind became steady and allowed the portuguese team to win a few places, but it didn't had great result, because in the second upwind leg the fleet was all together. In the final the finished sixth.
Looking at the overall, there are no changes in the top places. Mark Neeleman/Peter Van Niekerk, from Netherland, keep the lead, while Torben Grael/Marcelo Ferreira and Iain Percy/Steve Mitchell are the holders of the second and third places respectively.
Tomorrow is a reserve day for the sailors. Some will take the opportunity to, in a bus tour by costa do Estoril, meet some touristic points of the area as well as take a glince to what could be the future America's Cup race area and dockyard (nowadays Docapesca), if Lisboa/Cascais is elected venue by AC Management.
The action will be back in Cascais on monday, where is scheduled one more race, starting at 14h00.
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