Francia y Polonia ocupan los primeros lugares en el "2012 CAMPEONATO EUROPEO JUNIOR 470"

A breeze race course for day 2 at the 2012 470 Junior European Championships as the local “Ora” shook itself over Lake Garda. Two races were held for all fleets, with two new teams moving into the top three in the 470 Men fleet and the same teams, but a different order, in the 470 Women.

A steady wind of 20-25 knots settled in across the course area and remained throughout racing.

470 Men
Up first on the race course were the 470 Men yellow fleet, with Kevin Peponnet/Baptiste Berthier (FRA) scoring their second race win of the series, which was matched by Italy’s Simon Sivitz Kosuta/Jas Farneti in the blue fleet. It was advantage to the Italians at this stage, by one point, with the French in second overall.

Kevin Peponnet/Baptiste Berthier (FRA) © Davide Turrini

“The day started really well when we won the first race,” said Sivitz Kosuta, “and then in the second the French guys did a very good race and we didn’t have a good start. After the start we were last in the fleet, but managed to get up to ninth position in the race. It was very hard and we just did our maximum.”

“I think that in the Junior European Championships there are some great teams. Peponnet with his new crew is very good and so are the Greek guys. I have known the Greeks since I was young and they are very, very good.”

Leaders from day 1, Floris van de Werken/Laurens van de Werken (NED) were not so fast around the track, posting a 15 in the opening race of the yellow, which dropped them back down to eighth on the leaderboard. They followed up with a 17th in race 4.

Floris put their race performance down to one thing, the start, saying, “We had bad starts and we couldn’t go to the right because there were boats above us, so that was a problem. We had to tack to the left to get free wind. It is not going to work when you get bad starts, and it was then the same for race four. We were not focussed enough today. I hope tomorrow will be better.”

Onto race 4 in the yellow fleet and Magnus Masilge/Moritz Klingenberg (GER) took the race win, with Peponnet/Berthier finishing second, more than enough to push the French team into the overall lead.

In the blue fleet, Clément Ikhlef/Clément Pequin (FRA) delivered a steady improvement, compared to yesterday which gave them a race 4 win to wrap up their day, closely chased by the Greek brothers, Alex and George Kavas in second, with the Italians back in ninth.

Alex Kavas/George Kavas (GRE) © Davide Turrini

At the end of day 2, Kevin Peponnet/Baptiste Berthier move up to claim the leader’s yellow jersey, Simon Sivitz Kosuta/Jas Farneti are in second and the Kavas brothers in third.

The Kavas brothers won the gold medal at the 420 Worlds in Austria a week ago, drove overnight to Italy and were on the water the next day training for their assault on the 470 Junior Europeans podium places. Younger brother Alex is pleased with their performance so far, but recognizes they need to pack on some kilos, saying, “For us it is very good. Our weight is a little bit low for the 470, next year will be easier.”

470 Men – Top 10 Overall after 4 Races
1. Kevin PEPONNET/Baptiste BERTHIER – 11 pts
2. Simon SIVITZ KOSUTA/Jas FARNETI – 17 pts
3. Alexander KAVAS/George KAVAS – 18 pts
4. Magnus MASILGE/Moritz KLINGENBERG (GER) – 19 pts
5. Mike WOOD/Hugh BRAYSHAW (GBR) – 23 pts
6. Benjamin BILDSTEIN/David HUSSL (AUT) – 24 pts
7. Francesco FALCETELLI/Gabriele FRANCIOLII (ITA) – 25 pts
8. Matthew CRAWFORD/Robert CRAWFORD (AUS) – 28 pts
9. Antonis TSIMBOUKELIS/Alexandros BAKAT (GRE) – 29 pts
10. Pablo VÖLKER/Agustín CUNILL MARTINEZ – 29 pts

470 Women
Annika Bochmann/Elisabeth Panuschka (GER) won race 3 today by the entire final reaching leg to the finish. France’s Maëlenn Lemaître/Aloïse Retornaz were next, with the overnight leaders Ewa Szczesna/Irmina Mrozek Gliszczynska (POL) in third.

“We were third after the start and at the top mark were first, but literally boat behind boat. We then had a very good manoeuvre setting the spinnaker and then had a significant distance. For us today’s conditions were great,”said Panuschka.

Annika Bochmann/Elisabeth Panuschka (GER) © Davide Turrini

All was not quite so happy in their camp for race 4, with a closely averted disaster in the first downwind leg. The block which supports the mast gate ripped off the boat, and it was only when crew Panuschka asked Bochmann to put on more kicker, that they looked up at the mainsail and realized what had happened. A hasty temporary repair kept the mast up for the rest of the race, but not without pushing the pair out of first place to end race 4 in third.

Relieved to have made it through the race, Bochmann said, “It was in the first upwind leg. We were near to the first mark and we saw it and in the downwind we had to think about what we were going to do. We had an idea how to fix it and it was good enough for the next two upwinds, but not perfect. We were not happy.” Panuschka added,“Lucky for us, it happened in the second race and not the first one because this really impacted the shape of the sail.”

The German’s setback gave the opening for Ewa Szczesna/Irmina Mrozek Gliszczynska to again dominate the pack and claim their third race win. The British pair of Anna Burnet/Flora Stewart crossed the line in second.

Ewa Szczesna/Irmina Mrozek Gliszczynska (POL) © Davide Turrini

Day 2 ends with no change in the top three overall, just a swap in positions as Bochmann/Panuschka move up to second, Freeman/Tomsett go down to third and Szczesna/Mrozek Gliszczynska remain in first overall.

470 Women – Top 10 Overall after 4 Races
1. Ewa SZCZESNA/Irmina MROZEK GLISZCZYNSKA (POL) – 6 pts
2. Annika BOCHMANN/Elisabeth PANUSCHKA (GER) – 10 pts
3. Joanna FREEMAN/Katie TOMSETT (GBR) – 18 pts
4. Maëlenn LEMAÎTRE/Aloïse RETORNAZ (FRA) – 19 pts
5. Amy SEABRIGHT/Eilidh MCINTYRE (GBR) – 27 pts
6. Linda FAHRNI/Maja SIEGENTHALER (SUI) – 32 pts
7. Sasha RYAN/Jaime RYAN (AUS) – 34 pts
8. Nadine BOHM/Karoline GOLTZER (GER) – 38 pts
9. Roberta CAPUTO/Giulia PAOLILLO (ITA) - 39 pts
10. Anna BURNET/Flora STEWART (GBR) - 45 pts

The 2012 420 Junior European Championships is being hosted by Fraglia Vela Riva in partnership with the Federazione Italiana Vela, the Italian 420 National Class Association and the International 420 Class Assocation.