470 Junior European championships day 5 - Challenging conditions

8:38 AM Sun 14 Aug 2011 GMT

'Kevin Peponnet and Julien Lebrun (FRA) take control - 470 Junior European Championships 2011' Christophe Favreau ?

International 470 Junior Europeans Championships are being held in Nieuwpoort Belgium. Light wind and big current challenged the teams.

A grey overcast day did nothing to dampen the spirit on the race course on the first day of the final series, with three races held for each of the 470 fleets. A very different racing day from the previous days, with not a single race where the wind maintained the same direction or wind strength. With a speed variance of 8-15 knots across the day, those teams who stayed in focus with the shifting wind and used the influence of the strong current were rewarded in in the penultimate day of qualification.

A big challenge also for the Race Committee who needed to re-set the race course four times.

A stunning day of racing for Kevin Peponnet/Julien Lebrun (FRA) makes them the new team leading the charge in the 470 Men Gold fleet with a 1,5,1 outcome, continued consistency which now gives them a 14 point lead over their team mates and previous leaders Gabriel Skoczek/Achille Nebout (FRA) who posted a 15,7 to drop down into second for the first time in the series. Peponnet comes from a French family with a strong 470 pedigree. His uncle, Thierry Peponnet, won Olympic gold in Korea in 1988.

A RRS42 penalty for Skoczek/Nebout (FRA) in the last leg of race nine did not help their mission, and having taken their penalty turns they crossed the line back in seventh.

Phil Sparks and Ben Gratton (GBR) move up into third overall - 470 Junior European Championships 2011 - Christophe Favreau ?

Despite posting their most inconsistent race day, Phil Sparks/Ben Gratton (GBR) have broken into third with their 8,14,5 scoreline, and just behind them are Australia's Matthew and Robert Crawford on fourth. Whilst these two go up, down go the Swedes Nicklas Dackhammar/Fredrik Bergstr?m and Italy's Simon Sivitiz Kosuta/Jas Farneti who posted up and down scores over the three races.

'Today was quite a difficult day. All the top teams have come together with a few more fast people around the race course,' explained Sparks.'The tide was the strongest it has been yet in reference to the wind speed. There was a persistent right hand shift which we struggled to fully get to grips with and understand to what extent it was going to shift in the first couple of races. We struggled a bit strategically. We made a schoolboy error in race seven and then in race eight we touched the mark and got in a big pile up and did spins and rest of the group had already gone by then. We were kicking ourselves as we could have taken a duck at the mark and got a fourth or fifth. It was a bit silly - we shouldn't have done that.'

470 Men - Top 10 after nine races
1. K?vin PEPONNET/Julien LEBRUN (FRA) - 18 pts
2. Gabriel SKOCZEK/Achille NEBOUT (FRA) - 32 pts
3. Philip SPARKS/Ben GRATTON (GBR) - 33 pts
4. Matthew CRAWFORD/Robert CRAWFORD (AUS) - 35 pts
5. Nicklas DACKHAMMAR/Fredrik BERGSTR?M (SWE) - 36 pts
6. Simon SIVITZ KOSUTA/Jas FARNETI (ITA) - 37 pts
7. Magnus MASILGE/Moritz KLINGENBERG (GER) - 39 pts
8. Sacha PELISSON/Nicolas ROSSI (FRA) - 45 pts
9. Louis MOYSAN/Baptiste BERTHIER (FRA) - 54 pts
10. Pablo V?LKER/Agust?n CUNILL MARTINEZ (ARG) - 60 pts

Nina Keijzer and Annelose van Veen (NED) - 470 Junior European Championships 2011 - Christophe Favreau ?

In the women's division, the top six teams finished day five of racing in exactly the same leaderboard order as they went into it. Nina Keijzer/Annelose van Veen (NED) continue to head up the fleet, with Annika Bochmann/Anika Lorenz (GER) in second and Tina Lutz/Susann Beucke (GER) in third.

Keijzer/van Veen took are holding on tight to their lead with their scorecard of 4,1,13 today. One of Keijzer's biggest fans comes in the form of sister Lana who is also competing and in 13th overall, who said, 'I am absolutely proud of her. I don't see her as competition, as she is much better and it is great to have a sister who can teach you a lot about boat trim and other things. It is really fine.' Lana is delighted with her Championship so far, commenting, 'Our performance is better than we thought before, as the 470 Junior Worlds was our first international competition and then here.'

Despite being series leaders, Nina Keijzer was not happy with their result from race nine, 'We started quite well with a fourth and bullet and then the third race wasn't good for us. We had a bad start and couldn't come back. We are not actually looking at the overall results. Tomorrow we have three more races and then the Medal Race on Monday with double points, so we are not really counting - we are just taking it day by day, race by race.' Commenting on their form so far, she continued, 'It is quite a long event, and we started well in the 470 Junior Worlds as well and it all gets more difficult when the wind is lighter as there are many light teams and we are one of the heavy teams. That is why we will just take it day by day.'

Well aware of the third overall achieved by Lisa Westerhof/Lobke Berkhout (NED) at the 2011 Olympic Test Event, Keijzer acknowledged their heroes' influence, 'We know them very well and they really are our examples and role models and they help us sometimes - so they are motivating us to follow them and do the same.'

Silver medallists at the ISAF Youth Worlds, Anna Burnett/Flora Stewart (GBR) took the lowest points score from today's three races to close the margin on the leading boats. Burnett reflected on form so far, 'The top boats dominated at the beginning in the breeze and the waves and we weren't quite quick enough then, but now hopefully with the wind dropping off a bit it is becoming a bit more tactical as opposed to just boat speed. We hope to get them on tactics. Now it is lighter winds, teams are going to start getting higher scores and our consistency should pay off.' A safe card this team hold is that their worst result so far is a seventh which is currently discarded, whereas the teams ahead of them already each have one discarded double-digit result and will rock down the leaderboard if they get any more.

Commenting on the conditions, Burnett added, 'It is good and it is different. We have not had that many events where it has been tidal so it adds a bit of spice to the racing.'

470 Women - Top 10 after nine races
1. Nina KEIJZER/Anneloes VAN VEEN (NED) - 25 pts
2. Annika BOCHMANN/Anika LORENZ (GER) - 30 pts
3. Tina LUTZ/Susann BEUCKE (GER) - 34 pts
4. Sasha RYAN/Chelsea HALL (AUS) - 36 pts
5. Anna BURNET/Flora STEWART (GBR) - 37 pts
6. Amy SEABRIGHT/Eilidh MCINTYRE (GBR) - 42 pts
7. Victoria JURCZOK/Josephine BACH (GER) - 54 pts
8. Joanna FREEMAN/Katie TOMSETT (GBR) - 57 pts
9. Anna KYSELOVA/Anastasiya KRASKO (UKR) - 72.5 pts
10. Cassandre BLANDIN/Charlotte MERY (FRA) - 78 pts

Three races are scheduled for Sunday 14 August 2011.

The 2011 470 Junior European Championships are taking place together with the 2011 420 Junior European Championships in Nieuwpoort, Belgium from 7-15 August 2011.