The weather conditions on the second day of racing were far from favorable at the Open 470 Class European Championships for Men/Mixed and Women.
The Race Committee put all efforts into getting racing underway to secure the schedule of qualifying races that need six races in each event. They managed to complete one race in both the men's groups. The leaders remain unchanged. Sime Fantela and Igor Marenic (CRO) won the race in their group, and Giulia Conti and Giovanna Micol observed the men's racing from the water, without having a start in the women's fleet.
With the addition of the fourth race in the men's groups, and the worst result discard becoming active, the overall standings got shuffled, however without effect on the crews in the men's 470 top three. Sime Fantela and Igor Marenic (CRO) maintain their lead by scoring the bullet in today's only race, and Harada Ryunosuke and Yoshida Yugo (JPN) move up one place over Italy's Fabio Zeni and Nicola Pitani, and now take second place overall after winning the race in their group.
The Race Committee had to deal with some difficult situations today. Helmut Czasny, in charge of Race Management: 'We waited for the thermal wind to come up in the afternoon. At about 13:00 it was there and it seemed like conditions were to be as good as yesterday. Shortly after the start of the men's groups, the sky got cloudy and the steady thermal wind got disturbed, causing nasty wind shifts. We had to abandon the ongoing races' Czasny said.
In the men's 'yellow' group, five crews already suffered a disqualification after an early start with the 'black flack' hoisted.
The Race Committee waited for a couple of hours for the conditions to improve. Finally a light eight knots Northerly breeze came up and another attempt was made to get racing going in the men's fleet. As the wind dropped, the Race Committee decided not to start the women and shorten the men' s races.
Especially the #1 crew in the ISAF World Rankings, Sven and Kalle Coster from the Netherlands, were hoping for some favorable conditions today, after their disqualification in race three yesterday.
'It was a day of floating competition on the water, moving up and down in the fleet like a jojo. Pressure changed and differed by the meter', Kalle Coster said.
During yesterday's third race, the Dutch came in a 'right of the way' situation with Zandona and Mancinelli from Italy. The Italians protested and the Dutch spent the rest of the evening defending their vision on the incident. The Dutch got disqualified and lost their best result of day 1: a third place. They drop from a 10th, to an overall 20th position.
'Unfortunate, but it doesn't mean that it's in our way to climb back up. We still have nine races to go and everything is possible, especially in these conditions' Kalle Coster said.
Tomorrow's conditions will be very important to maintain the events' schedules. A tough job for Race Manager Helmut Czasny.
'We still need two more races for both men's groups and even three races for the women's fleet to finalize the qualifiers. We will do our best. If we do not succeed, we will continue on Thursday until we have 6 races before the final series start' Czasny said.
Athens 2004 two person dinghy Gold medalist, Kevin Burnham, observed racing and the hard work from the Race Committee from his coach boat.
'The conditions here are very difficult, with wicked shifts. It's incredible what the Race Committee has to deal with, and I admire them how they handle it. They are doing an excellent job!' Burnham said.
Racing in the qualifying series continues tomorrow, with the action in Austria continuing through until the Medal Races on 14 June. Full results are available at the event web site: www.traunseewoche.at/
Cape Leeuwin, WA
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