Barbara Kendall (NZL) won the first race; came 7th in the second; discarded the 7th place and now sits on top of the leader board by a clear 4 points. Faustine Merret (FRA) put in two 2nd places today and pulled up to second overall just in front of Anja Kaser (SUI) who is, so far, having the regatta of her life.

The chasing pack includes some awesome competitors. Amelie Lux (GER) silver medallist in Sydney lies 4th equal with Sandrine Nuvolone (FRA) just in front of the 2000 gold medallist, Alessandra Sensini (ITA). These three are on a charge and will be difficult to hold off. Alessandra recently won the Mistral Europeans so is in form; Amelie has been training hard in Cadiz, Spain for the last month and is on the come back trail after two years out of the game; Sandrine … well the French women racers are not to be trifled with when the going gets tough !

In the men’s fleet, the battle for the top spot is beginning to become clear. Gal Fridman (ISR) and Nikos Kaklamanakis (GRE) are old friends but they are the two main contenders for the title. Nikos has achieved so much in his career and has won the worlds many times but Gal has never done so. Now being coached by Mike “Gebi” Gebhardt (USA), Gal claimed 2nd place at the 2002 Europeans and now wants to claim his first world championship title. He was able to drop his lowly 19th place today so now only counts two 1sts and a 2nd.

There are some notable absentees from the top 10… Joao Rodrigues (POR) resides at 1st; Alexandre Guyader (FRA) lies 27th; Jon Paul Tobin (NZL) is down at 35th.

Racing continues tomorrow with the men now split into Gold and silver fleets. Women are scheduled to race on the same course as the Men’s Gold fleet… Conditions are expected to continue light.

Source: Event editor