With gusts above 30 knots and spinning rain squalls the 2022 49er, FX and Nacra 17 European Championships kicked off in Aarhus, Denmark, with three races completed for the three Olympic class fleets.
In the Nacra 17 multihull Ruggero Tita and Caterina Banti continued their domination of the class with a 2, 1, 1 scorline to take a four point lead ahead of the Dutch pair, Laila van der Meer and Bjarne Bouwer (4,2,2) with Britain’s John Gimson and Anna Burnet (5,9,4) off to a slow start, in third place 14 points off the leaders.
The big news here for the Nacra fleet is the development of upwind foiling following the addition of a new class rudder head in 2022 that is adjustable while sailing. This 1,000 euro upgrade is a game changer, allowing boats to go several knots faster upwind and unlocking more speed downwind.
The Tita and Banti have certainly lead the way in finding the the magical recipe of settings that allow the four foils to both be lifting (leeward foils) and leveraging (windward foils) the boats righting moment, sending a Nacra 17 into a new level of performance.
In the men’s 49er event racing in two flights, Britain’s James Peters and Fynn Sterritt opened with a sixth place then upped their game with back to back wins.
They sit in second place overall, two points behind 2021 World Champions Bart Lambriex and Floris van de Werken (2,3,1) of Holland, with the Austrian pair Keanu Pettner and Jakob Flachberger (4,4,2) in third place.
In the women’s 49erFX event, also racing in two flights, the British competitors finished the first day with a best overall placing of Megan Brickwood and Stephanie Orton (4,9,10) of eighth overall . . . and despite winning a race, Freya Black and Saskia Tidey (5,21,1) in tenth.
Leading are the Danes, Johanne and Andrea Schimit (3,2,3) with 6 points, second are Stephanie Roble and Maggie Shea (2,6,2) of the USA on 10 points and third Vilma Bobeck and Rebecca Netzler (6,1,4) of Sweden with 11 points.
Nacra 17 mixed – Leaders after 3 races (33 entries)
1st ITA 26 Ruggero TITA and Caterina BANTI 2 1 1 – – 4 pts
2nd NED 505 Laila van der MEER and Bjarne BOUWER 4 2 2 – – 8 pts
3rd GBR 21 John GIMSON and Anna BURNET 5 9 4 – – 18 pts
4th ARG 93 Santiago LANGE and Victoria TRAVASCIO 8 4 7 – – 19 pts
5th NZL 96 Micah WILKINSON and Erica DAWSON 1 3 17 – – 21 pts
6th ITA 98 Gianluigi UGOLINI and Maria GIUBILEI 10 6 5 – – 21 pts
7th AUT 33 Lukas HABERL and Tanja FRANK 3 8 13 – – 24 pts
8th GER 3 Paul KOHLHOFF and Alica STUHLEMMER 7 10 9 – – 26 pts
9th ARG 29 Mateo MAJDALANI and Eugenia BOSCO 6 5 20 – – 31 pts
10th ITA 71 Vittorio BISSARO and Maelle FRASCARI 9 11 12 – – 32 pts
49er Men – Leaders after 3 races (93 entries)
1st NED 1 Bart LAMBRIEX and Floris van de WERKEN 2 3 1 – – 6 pts
2nd GBR 30 James PETERS and Fynn STERRITT 6 1 1 – – 8 pts
3rd AUT 28 Keanu PRETTNER and Jakob FLACHBERGER 4 4 2 – – 10 pts
4th CRO 83 Sime FANTELA and Mihovil FANTELA 3 5 (RDG) – – 12 pts
5th GER 13 Tim FISCHER and Fabian RIEGER 12 1 1 – – 14 pts
6th USA 43 Andrew MOLLERUS and Ian MACDIARMID 5 6 3 – – 14 pts
7th DEN 3 Frederik RASK and Jakob Precht JENSEN 2 5 8 – – 15 pts
8th ESP 74 Diego BOTIN and Florian TRITTEL PAUL 9 3 3 – – 15 pts
9th NZL 18 Isaac McHARDIE and William McKENZIE 2 9 5 – – 16 pts
10th AUS 20 Jim COLLEY and Shaun CONNOR 3 5 9 – – 17 pts
Other GBR:
22nd GBR 284 Chris TAYLOR and Rhos HAWES – – 25 pts
25th GBR 140 Nick ROBINS and Daniel BUDDEN – – 27 pts
35th GBR 130 Elliott WELLS and Billy VENNIS-OZANNE – – 39 pts
49erFX Women – Leaders after 3 races (75 entries)
1st DEN 370 Johanne SCHMIDT and Andrea SCHMIDT 3 2 3 – – 8 pts
2nd USA 8 Stephanie ROBLE and Maggie SHEA 2 6 2 – – 10 pts
3rd SWE 77 Vilma BOBECK and Rebecca NETZLER 6 1 4 – – 11 pts
4th POL 888 Aleksandra MELZACKA and Sandra JANKOWIAK 1 4 8 – – 13 pts
5th BRA 12 Martine GRAEL and Kahena KUNZE 10 3 2 – – 15 pts
6th ITA 10 Jana GERMANI and Giorgia BERTUZZI 8 4 4 – – 16 pts
7th NED 1 Odile van AANHOLT and Annette DUETZ 7 12 1 – – 20 pts
8th GBR 230 Megan BRICKWOOD and Stephanie ORTON 4 9 10 – – 23 pts
9th AUS 47 Laura HARDING and Annie WILMOT 20 2 3 – – 25 pts
10th GBR 24 Freya BLACK and Saskia TIDEY 5 21 1 – – 27 pts
Other GBR:
43rd GBR 379 Hannah BRISTOW and Anna CARPENTER – – 62 pts
53rd GBR 713 Eleanor KEERS and Jessica JOBSON – – 70 pts
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