Tornado opener

Mark Bulkeley reports on the first day of the Europeans which saw the French team of Backes/Voiron score two bullets

Race one started at the first time of asking. We had a conservative mid line start and then tacked out on to port in a good lane. By this point Olivier Backes and a number of other boats who tacked straight away were launched into the right hand corner in more wind. We had a good lane across and made some good gains. We then tacked underneath the layline to keep our clear air and rounded the top mark around 9th. Backes had a convincing lead from Fernando Echiavarri and Sven Karsenberg.

All the boats in front of us gybed early and we stayed on in clear air to the layline and made some big gains in some new pressure to round the leeward marks in 4th place. The race then turned into a one way track as everyone went left out into new pressure. We tacked just before the leaders looking for a header on the new tack, however we remained the same across to remain in 4th place. These positions remained the same to the finish. Backes and Voiron won the race from the Spanish pairing of Echiavarri and Paz. There were some big comebacks down the fleet with Booth and Dercksen pulling through from mid 20’s to 9th.

The breeze had built a little for race 2 and this got away first time. We had a great start mid line and won the left hand side of the course. On the right however Bundock and Forbes and Backes and Voiron had started on port or tacked straight away, as the led into the right hand corner. We were looking close on them right up until we got to the marks, we tacked underneath Bundock looking to squeeze up to the marks, however after a minute of this it became clear we wouldn’t make it and had to tack and duck a few boats to round 9th. Budock led from Backes and then Bootha and Dercksen. We then had a poor hoist and 4 or 5 boats rolled us and put us on the back foot for the run, eventually rounding the leeward marks 15th.

We then set about marching through the fleet. We went left into good pressure and gained, and then gained every leg, showing excellent speed upwind and down to eventually pull up to 6th. Bundock won the race from Backes and Voiron and Mitch Booth in 3rd place. The overall results show Backes and Voiron leading with a 1,2, and then the spaniards of Echavarri/Paz with a consistent, 2,5 we lie 3rd overall on 10 points.

		Crew	R1	R2	Points
1	FRA 295	OLIVIER BACKES/LAURENT VOIRON	1	1	2
2	ESP 1	FERNANDO ECHAVARRI/ANTON PAZ	2	4	6
3	GBR 420	LEIGH McMILLAN/MARK BULKELEY	4	5	9
4	NED 1	MITCH BOOTH/HERBIE DERCKSEN	9	2	11
5	GER 1090	ROLAND GAEBLER/GUNNAR STRUCKMANN	6	6	12
6	FRA 28	YANN GUICHARD/CHRISTOPHE ESPAGNON	12	3	15
7	POR 2	HUGO ROCHA/LUIS BRITO	7	12	19
8	POR 1	DIOGO CAYOLLA/NUNO BARRETO	15	10	25
9	SWE 199	MARTIN STRANDBERG/KRISTIAN MATTSSON	18	8	26
10	ESP 23	TONI RIVAS/FABIÁN ESCUDÉ	17	11	28
11	GER 1088	HELGE SACH/CHRISTIAN SACH	13	15	28
12	FRA 279	XAVIER REVIL/LAURENT GUILLEMETTE	5	24	29
13	GER 1087	JOHANNES POLGAR/CARSTEN HAPPEL	20	9	29
14	NED 162	SVEN KARSENBARG/MISCHA HEEMSKERK	3	28	31
15	SWE 201	HANS WALLEN/CHRISTOPHER RAPPE	8	23	31
16	ITA 260	SANDRO MONTEFUSCO/STEFANIA RIZZO	10	21	31
17	AUT 380	ROMAN HAGARA/HANS PETER STEINACKER	28	7	35
18	ESP 2004	ENRIQUE GARCIA DE SOTO/FERNANDO SALES	21	16	37
19	RUS 77	EMELIANOV KONSTANTIN/YANIN ALEXANDZ	25	13	38
20	FRA 281	BILLY BESSON/ARNAUD JARLEGAN	14	26	40
21	FRA 282	MATTHIEU SOUBEN/GURVAN BONTEMPS	11	33	44
22	SLO 1	DUSAN PUH/ALAN BIDERMAN	31	14	45
23	ITA 255	ALBERTO SONINO/GABRIELE BRUNI	26	19	45
24	GRE 7	PASCHALIDES IORDANIS/GAREFIS CHRISTOS	23	22	45
25	SUI 227	MARTIN RUSTERHOLZ/MICHIEL FEHR	19	27	46
26	ITA 257	FRANCESCO MARCOLINI/EDOARDO BIANCHI	30	17	47
27	GER 1084	ANDREW LANDENBERGER/SEBASTIAN MOSER	24	25	49
28	ITA 5	SORRENTINO VINCENZO/COLOMBO GIORGIO	16	34	50
29	FRA 286	FRANÇOIS MORVAN/MATHIEU VANDAME	22	29	51
30	GRE 1	DIMITRIO THEODORAMI/ADONIS BOYGIOURIS	27	32	59
31	FRA 293	FRANÇOIS GABART/DAVID ROMAIN	32	30	62
32	DEN 1	PEDER RONHOLT/SOREN JORGENSEN	OCS	18	64
33	ESP 11	MANUEL CALAVIA/CARLOS VAREA	29	35	64
34	FRA 276	BAPTISTE BALZEAU/GAËL LEDOUX	34	31	65
35	ESP 121	JOSÉ Mª PONCE/RAMÓN ILLÁN	OCS	20	66
36	ITA 261	ANDREA MURA/LUCA REMAGRINO	33	37	70
37	RUS 27	CHCKRYGIN ALEKSEY/BOGATKIN SERGEY	36	38	74
38	GER 1052	CHRISTINA LOWEY/FLORIAN LOWEG	35	41	76
39	ESP 40	JAVIER PADRON/ONAN BARREIROS	37	42	79
40	GBR 398	JOHN READY/SIMON WILLIS	38	43	81
41	RUS 007	DZHIENBAEV SERGEY/RYAZANTSEV OLEG	OCS	36	82
42	GBR 415	LEO FARROW/ROB WILSON	OCS	39	85
43	ESP 5	BERNARDO BENÍTEZ/CARLOS LOUREIRO	39	DNC	85
44	GBR 404	JONNIE HUTCHCROFT/MARCUS LYNCH	OCS	40	86
45	ESP 7	FRANCISCO SÁNCHEZ/JUAN M BARRIONUEVO	DNC	DNC	92