| HYÈRES, FRANCE-(30-4-2003) The weather showed a large diversity in the Semaine Olympique Française. All conditions have been experienced so far at the exception of the most renowned Mistral.
Today the surprise was created by the shifty and patchy wind, which turned all day from the East to South-East, making racing difficult for sailors and racing committees.
The capricious wind brought the most prejudice on the Europe and Tornado fleet.
In the women dinghy, the wind change penalised lots of skippers, in the second race, reducing the chance for a podium among many favourites: Multala placed 34th, Niemann 46th, Borsi 44th, Brouwer 41st… Siren Sundby acceded to the top of the rankings after winning a race and placing 7th. She is only 1 point in front of Sari Multala and Trine Abrahamsen (DEN) on equal points.
In the Tornado, the scenario was even worse. In the last race, only 7 boats finished within the time limit. Despite a course reduction by the sailing committee, when the wind started to die, 41 boats didn’t cross the finish on time. Spanish team of Echavarri / Paz are conserving the lead of the Championship despite yesterday’s incident. Second places are taken by French Backes / Voiron, while Mitch Booth and Herbert Dercksen placed third. They are collecting a win in the first race of the day and a DNF in the last.
Only one race was sailed in the Bravo racing area shared by the 470’s and the Finns.
The racing committee had to wait for the wind to settle to start today’s racing. Sydney Gold medallist, Jenny Armstrong and Belinda Stowell are starting to show their talent after winning today’s race. The Australians have suffered from the heavy conditions of the first day but are slowly coming back to the score. They are now pointing in third place. Greek pair of Sofia Bekatourou and Emilia Tsoulfa is still leading the 470 women fleet with a 28 points lead over Natalia via Dufresne and Sandra Azon from Spain. In the Men’s division, the first place is also taken by early leaders, Australians Nathan Wilmot and Malcolm Page after winning today’s race. The Swedish Molund / Andersson suffered in the last race after scoring a 40th place. They are placed second, 2 points ahead of Portuguese Alvaro / Nunes.
The Finn’s only race was won by Ben Ainslie. The British has also won a redress in yesterday’s first race when the Jury penalised him on the downwind leg for pumping while the Flag authorising it was up. He is now placing in third position behind regatta leader Sebastien Godefroid and Mateusz Kusznierewicz.
No surprises in the Mistral class with Jon-Paul Tobbin remaining in the lead in the Men’s division and the Chinese still claiming the top 5 places of the classification.
Australian Michael Blackburn has lost the top of the rankings in the Laser Gold fleet after scoring a 7th and a 12th today. Race winners Karl Suneson and Roope Suomalainen are the new leaders.
Tight results in the Yngling fleets: in the women keelboat, the Danish boat helmed by Dorte Jensen has claimed victory in the first race and accede to the top of the list in front of Germans Schuemann / Buelle / Lippert, winners of the second race. Early leader Melanie Dennison and crew are placed in third position only 2 points from 1st.
In the 49ers, Ukrainian team, Luka / Leonchuk are winning the scoreboard in front of British teams Draper / Hiscocks and Brotherton / Asquith. Race winners include, Norwegians Sundby / Bovim and Polish team of Kacprowski / Kuzmicki.
In the 2.4, Damien Seguin is keeping the control of the fleet
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