| HYERES, FRANCE-(28-4-2005) A heavy fog enveloped Hyères this morning masking the islands, the jetty and the harbour entrance. Little expectation on the day’s racing with the postponement flags all hanging helplessly along their poles. A shy breeze finally woke up lifting the curtain on a flat bay and giving hope to the sailors. Racing started with a light south easterly at 1PM for most classes. Unfortunately, 4 hours later, the wind finished rotating to the west, dying to 2 knots and leaving the place to the fog again.
At the exception of the Tornados and the Yngling, racing took place in every other class.
Showing their expertise in every range of weather, 4 teams have preserved their lead since the start of the regatta. With 11 points collected in 8 races, Sophie DE TURKHEIM has shown during this regatta that she will be the one to look for in the future. Her only place outside the top 3 is a 19th collected after an individual recall where the French had to restart behind the whole fleet. After scoring a second place today she has a 20 points lead over Mateja PETRONIJEVIC from Croatia. Today’s race winner is Virginia KRAVARIOTI from Greece. No surprise in the 2.4 with another victory for Helena LUCAS.
Same scenario in the Finn class where Greek sailor Emilios PAPATHANASIOU, claiming also a 2nd place, increased his lead over Michael MAIER from Czech Republic. With a 3rd today, Michael has had a very consistent regatta. “I am fast in extreme conditions, so the weather this week really suited me. I like to come to Hyères.” The + 39 sailor (he is 41!), asked for a break in his America’s Cup training to come and race in Hyères, one of his favourite place. Today’s race went to Waclaw SZUKIEL from Poland.
The French pair Ingrid PETITJEAN and Nadege DOUROUX continued on their consistent results after finishing 4th and 2nd today. They are still in control of the fleet 9 points ahead of Vered BUSKILA and Nike KORNECKI from Israel who won the first race today. The Spanish team of Natalia via DUFRESNE and Laia TUTZO got some of the best results in the 470 Women class (2-1) reaching the 3rd place.
In the Laser Gold fleet, Milan VUJASINOVI’ is conserving the lead despite a 17th in the day’s only race. Luck was on the side of his team mate Luka RADELIC who stole the race from Tobias SCHADEWALDT . Paul GOODISON is climbing from 6th to second in the overall ranking after a 3rd place today.
Change of leader in the Mistral Men division where Ivan PASTOR takes the day’s only race and the top of the ranking, only 1 point ahead of Polish Piotr MYSZKA. The top 3 have changed place in the Mistral Women, Antonia FREY takes 1st place 2 points ahead of Amelie LUX, winner of the 8th race. Olga Maslivets is on equal points in 3rd place. She has scored today her worse regatta result (14).
With the BONNAUD brothers disqualified for a premature start, it is the Israeli team of Gideon KLIGER and Ehud GAL who takes the lead of the 470 Men after finishing 3rd, in a race won by French CHARBONNIER/BAUSSET.
The PECKOLT brothers from Germany realised the best performance today with a second and 2 victories. These nearly perfect results propel them to the top of the classification. Marcus BAUR and Max GROY are conserving their second place in front of Spanish team PADRON/DE LA PLAZA who had mixed results with a 4th, a victory and an OCS. Early leaders, the SIBELLO brothers from Italy missed their day (19 – 14 – 6) to fall from 1st to 8th place.
Only one race is scheduled tomorrow in all classes. If the wind is stable, the Grand Finals will be raced in the afternoon between the top 3 sailors except in the Tornados, Mistral and 2.4. Grand finals will be a real experiment for the sailors, race committee and ISAF, that will be tried with different formats in other Grade 1 events this year.
The regatta website is conducting a survey to test the sailors and sailing public opinion on this subject. The website is also featuring sailing videos from every class. A must see!
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