| CASCAIS, PORTUGAL-(5-9-2003) With an identical course to the one of the first race (two upwind and two downwind legs), the 62 Stars completed two more races in the European Championship. The wind blew, once more, from northwest with about 15 knots, in today's first race, achieving 20 knots by the end of the competition.
Rising in the overall is the brazilian crew Torben Grael/Marcelo Ferreira. When they left to the water «the goal was to win the first race, but we didn't make a fast gybe» in the first upwind leg and finished third. After «a very difficult start in the second race» the brazilians found the right rhythm in «a race with more options» and crossed the line ahead. The goal was winning, besides they are awear that «things will only be decided in the last race».
With a first and a second place in today's race, Iain Percy/Steve Mitchell came up to third overall, with 13 points. In the first race the crew started very well and took the led till the end. In the following race, they were only far from the top places in the first downwind leg, but they recovered on the rest of the course. They finished second, behind the brazilian Torben Grael. To the skipper «it was a good race». In a cheerful tone he said that he was only «a little upset because Torben went beyond us in the second race». Speaking more seriously he revealed the weak point: «we had no control in the last downwind leg».
On what concerns to goals, the european isn't just a training race for the world championship. The english crew always want «to win all races». For that reason, third in the middle of the championship, this is a crew to consider until the final race, because «if the wind keeps steady, i'm sure we'll keep up the speed», said Iain Percy.
Afonso Domingos made a great sensation in the second race of the day. The secret was in the chosen tactics: «we've started very well and went by the right side of the race course». With a «great downwind leg» they rounded first in the second mark and second on the following one. However, «in the last downwind leg the wind turned around» and confused the sailors positions: Mark Mansfield (IRL), who was first, fell to the sixth position and Afonso Domingos to seventh. This result placed the lusian skipper 12th (the 6th european). After three races, «starting good and a doing a good first upwind leg» is the secret to achieve the title.
Mark Neeleman and Peter Van Niekerk (NED), with a fifth and a fourth place, are still in the led of the 2003 Star European Championship with ten points. But the gap that separates them from the second (Grael/Ferreira) and the third (Percy/Mitchell) crews is only one and three points respectively. The title is not decided yet...
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