There's wind in Croatia!

30 knots test the competitors at the 420 Europeans

It was pretty clear in the morning that day three of the competiton will be rather windy, especially when the sun came out.

Although many people enjoyed the strong wind, eventually it became too strong. Girls' fleet finished their sixth race in over 30 knots of wind. Some of crews had problems and some capsized over and over when the strongest gust of 35 knots hit the course, but most of the sailors enjoyed the day.

Silver fleet managed only one race, because half of the fleet rounded the wrong gate, so RC abandoned the race.

To be consistent is obviously the only way to be in the top. Many crews had one very good and one very bad race. Croatians Longin and Kostov are still leading in the men's competition, although they were not that happy with their 11th and 9th place yesterday. Santurde Del Arc and Quevedo Torices (ESP) are just 4 points behind, and Roberts/Martin five.

In the girls' fleet Kempton and Storck (USA) are still number one, but they've lost both races yesterday to Wilson/Trumble. These two crews have already quite an advantage.

As usual we talked to crews that had some good results yesterday:

Santos Duarte (POR 51167): "I'm very happy today. This championship wasn't very good for us sofar, so with this race I think we are going up in the results. The first race was very difficult because in first leg at the beginning it was better on the right side of the course where we were, but than the wind vanished. Crews on the left side had strong wind. It was a very bad race for us. The second race we chose right side of the course and then it was very easy to win."

Adam Roberts (USA 51526)-: "It was very fun today. I liked the first race, it was very good breeze for us. And second race too. We like strong wind although we have done better in less wind."

Mathie Cou (FRA 51781): "First race we finished third, and in the second we had a bad start. We like this wind."

Luke Patience/Adam Wagner (GBR 51635): "It was a weird day. The first race was quite shifty. It was quite hard to tell what was going on, wind was up and down, big gusts and holes. When you are sitting in the boat it is quite hard to see. It is hard to tell by looking at the fleet, sometimes by then is to late, you are on the wrong side of the course and you are watching all the other boats getting lifted up. This last race was really good. It got just really windy, we were still on light wind settings, it was hard to keep the boat going. We worked hard. Love the conditions when it gets up this windy. Good fun! First race was definitelly the most difficult one so far. It was hard to predict what is going to happen next. You'd go to one side, expecting to see something you thought you saw, and then you look over to the left and it is completly opposite. Now in the gold fleet all the good guys have come together, so that makes it a little bit harder, but more fun aswell."

George Vassilas (GRE 51676): "First race was a casino. It was very shifty, gusty. The difference in the wind strenght was quite big. If you went to the wrong side, like we did…we lost everything. In my opinion that race should have been cancelled, because it wasn't fair for everybody. The wind was not the same for everybody. In the first leg up wind in the second race we had bad luck. We had a problem with the sheet of the jib and we capsized when we tried to tack. But we stayed calm and finally, boat by boat, finished third. We have a long way to go, nine races. All the competitors are really good. The level is really high. We like strong winds, we are from Greece."

Stefania Favretto (ITA 50142): "Second race was great because the wind was strong. Conditions were tough in the first race. Wind often shifted on the second mark, but you have to know how to sail also in these conditions. All in all, it was a beautiful day, even the sun showed up, we had fun. I think the girls are very good. Leading crews are really good, in light and in strong winds. I hope that we will be able to finish in top three.

Martina Koutna (CZE 50780): "It was very good, we had one first place. The wind was very difficult in the first race, and in the second race very strong."

Pippa Wilson (GBR 51369) : "This day was suprisingly good for us. Good day in the office! Next races? Obviously big surprise is the jury and the yellow flags. A lot of people have been done twice already, so I think that is going to be very important in next races. And it's so up and down and so shifty, you just need to keep hanging in there. Everyone is sailing really well, tough competition. German, American, Spanish, Italian crews are all very good. But we try not to worry about everyone else. Our team did good today, yes, we are good at this and hope we'll keep up."

Mens Gold Fleet after two finals races:

		Crew	Q	1	2	Tot
1	CRO51254	M. LONGIN & P. KOSTOV	1	11	9	21
2	ESP51696	P. SANTURDE DEL ARC & A. QUEVEDO TORICES	12	6	7	25
3	USA51526	A. ROBERTS & N. MARTIN	6	1	19	26
4	GRE51767	G. VASSILAS & E. MITAKIS	3	27	3	33
5	GBR51800	J. MCGOVERN & J. FRAZER	21	4	8	33
6	ESP50111	M. WEILLER & J. ARMENANZAS	2	16	16	34
7	ITA51657	M. PRESSICH & R. BUA	7	9	21	37
8	FRA51072	A. PINOT-DUPONT & Y. PICON	9	13	17	39
9	FRA51781	S. MORICEAU & M. COU	10	3	28	41
10	GBR51635	L. PATIENCE & A. WAGNER	11	30	2	43
11	POR51827	L. MENDES & P. BAPTISTA	8	5	36	49
12	FRA51535	D. BALE & D. EVEN	33	15	6	54
13	POR51432	T. OLIVEIRA da SILVA & A. GOIS	4	33	18	55
14	GER50653	V. HEMMETER & T. HEMMETER	42	2	12	56
15	SUI51816	Y. BRAUCHLI & S. KOSTER	28	24	4	56
16	GBR51754	J. GOSS & D. SCHEIBER	15	28	14	57
17	ITA51683	G. PIZZIATTI & M. PAVONI	5	10	43\DNF	58
18	ITA51668	A. CAPODANNO & V. PAPA	23	12	25	60
19	GBR51176	B. AINSWORTH & O. GRAY	29	23	10	62
20	POR51167	S. DUARTE & S. DUARTE	36	26	1	63

Womens Fleet:

		Crew	1	2	3	4	5	6	Tot
1	USA45249	L. KEMPTON & K. STORCK	5	2	1	-15	3	3	14
2	GBR51369	P. WILSON & H. TRUMBLE	8	4	4	-14	2	1	19
3	GBR51434	L. MACGREGOR & N. BOOTH	-17	5	6	13	7	5	36
4	ITA51313	M. TURIZIO & M. RENDANO	6	3	(56\BFD)	1	13	14	37
5	ITA50142	S. FAVRETTO & F. MOCNIK	7	1	8	21	-22	4	41
6	GER51352	S. HAHLBROCK & M. ROMMEL	-20	9	5	3	11	18	46
7	FRA51123	D. MACAIRE & C. GOUGEON	9	-27	12	18	15	7	61
8	GBR51234	J. BRIGG & M. ROOK	21	8	3	6	38	(56\OCS)	76
9	GER50906	M. JORDAN & S. MUELLER	2	(56\BFD)	56\BFD	8	6	6	78
10	CZE50780	M. KOUTNA & M. PREIBISCHOVA	-46	15	26	24	1	13	79
11	GBR51738	J. MACDONALD & L. MARSDEN	10	20	(56\DNF)	7	40	2	79
12	GBR51164	A. MARTIN & M. WALSH	3	19	(56\BFD)	2	4	56\DNF	84
13	ITA51070	G. TOBIA & L. LARDANI	14	12	11	(56\OCS)	20	29	86
14	ARG50483	P. GARCIA HERNANDEZ & M. GARCIA HERNANDE	29	21	17	10	-37	12	89
15	GER50390	J. WOLF & C. WOLF	39	10	(56\BFD)	19	14	8	90
16	ESP51541	T. PACHECO VAN RINIS & F. DE LAS HERAS LA	4	13	13	26	35	(56\DNF)	91
17	FRA50708	E. MAILLARD & N. CORSON	13	25	21	-41	28	10	97
18	GBR51282	H. MILLS & P. WEBSTER	1	6	2	48	44	(56\DNF)	101
19	FRA50287	D. SEURIN & L. MANLAY	24	18	20	-40	29	11	102
20	POR51582	P. COLACO & D. NEVES	25	26	23	-45	9	21	104