HYERES, FRANCE-(28-4-2003) In the Yngling, today’s races were won by the Spanish team skippered by Monica Azon, and Ulrike Schuemann from Germany. They are placed 2nd and third overall while Dorte Jensen’s crew, sailing consistently took the lead of the Women keelboat’s fleet.
Yesterday leaders, Robertson / Ayton / Leask from the UK and Australians Dennison / Herbert / Aders had an average day, relegating them in 5th and 4th positions. Shirley Robertson explains her results (15th and 12th): “We were trying new things today and it didn’t prove very convincing. I am still learning.” The British Gold medallist in the Europe class compares the difference between the Yngling and the Europe. “The Yngling requires lots of precision as the Europe is more a question of feeling and we are working on it.”Change of lead also in the Mistral Women fleet with Chinese sailor Jian Yin winning 2 races out of 3. With 5 races already sailed she can discard today’s OCS (premature start) in the 4th and win the overall results. Israeli Lee Korzitz keeps her second position while the Australian Allison Shreeve, looses yesterday’s lead after scoring 3 bad races (16, 14, 16) to place 11th. A good day for Japanese Yasuko Kosuge who climbed to third after scoring a 2nd, 1st and 3rd. In the Men’s division, Jon-Paul Tobin (NZL) kept his lead but is threaten by Gal Fridman only 2 points behind after winning today’s 3 races. He is on equal points with Frenchman Nicolas Huguet. Five races have now been completed in the 49ers. The race committee had to schedule a second race, late in the afternoon yesterday, to catch up with the delay caused by the strong winds. British pair of Draper / Hiscoks is sharing the top of the rankings with Luka / Leonchuk from Ukraine, on 8 points. The Spanish teams collected mixed results. While Lopez Vasquez / de la Plaza placed 3rd with a 3rd and a win, yesterday’s leaders, the World and European champions, Martinez / Fernandez, were penalised with two OCS’ (premature starts) dropping to 17th overall. Tight fight in the Laser class where the favourites are sharing the top of the board: Michael Blackburn is still in the lead on equal points with Daniel Birgmark from Sweden, 2 points in front of Suomalainen (FIN) and Suneson (SWE). World champion Robert Scheidt is ranked 13th after scoring a 14th in the last race while Paul Goodison was penalised on the start of the 3rd race. He dropped from 4th to 40th in the overall results.
Closed results in the Europe class as well with only 6 points separating the top 6. Steady results for Pietra Niemann who is leading the pack without winning any races. Maria Coleman made a come back to the score to place 2nd after scoring a 2nd and a third. She is only one point in front of World Champion, the Australian Sarah Blank. Today’s performers include Monika Bronicka (16th) and Marina Gallego (23rd ) both placing 3rd and 1st. Yesterday leader, Sari Multala added a 3rd victory to her score but a 18th in the 4th race put the Finnish in 5th position. Mateuz Kusznierewicz is coming back to the score in the Finn fleet after winning today’s both races. He is placed third overall behind regatta leader Ben Ainslie and Croatian Karlo Kuret in second place. Sebastien Godefoid dropped to 5th behind Michael Fellmann (GER). The Belgium explains an 18th in the last race: “I went to the wrong side of the course with less pressure and lost lots of ground. With the top mark crowded, I was blocked by other boats. I didn’t catch up in the down wind legs.” In the Tornado class, today’s wins went to Spanish team of Echavarri / Paz who climbed from 3rd to 1st overall and to French Backes / Voiron in second position. The 18 crews who had missed the start in yesterday first race won their protest gaining redress (average point). In the 470 Men, today winners include Swedish Molund / Andersson and Alvaro / Nunes (POR), 1st and 2nd overall. Despite having won the first race of the day, early leaders, Australians Wilmot / Page lost 5 places to 6th after scoring a 19th in the last race.Natalia via Dufresne and Sandra Azon from Spain have taken the lead from French team in the women division. The Greek Champions are 2nd after scoring a 5th and winning the last race. In 2.4, French Olympic hopeful, Damien Seguin dominated the day winning both races in front of Thierry Schmitter from The Netherlands.
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