Two bullets for Hagara and Steinacher

Racing underway at the Tornado Europeans at Travemunde Week

The high overcast skies that greeted the sailors at the 2006 European Championship / 8th Mats Nyberg Trophy in Travemunde Germany on Sunday gave way to bright sunshine and a 7-10 knot breeze that rotated (somewhat unsteadily) into the Northwest.

Roman Hagara and Hans Peter Steinacher AUT, the 2000 and 2004 Olympic Gold Medalists had a perfect day, winning both Race 1 and Race 2.

"The first race was light, shifty, and mentally tiring. The velocity was going up and down all of the time" said Haraga "The wind shifted at the start of the second race, and there was really only one side to the course after that."

Hagara continued: “Big wins where possible today -as well as big losses”. In race one he ended up being 25th at the first windward mark, but won the race at the end with tactical manoeuvres. “You have to watch out very carefully for the puffs”, he added.

Johannes Polgar from Kiel, Germany tried the same after two excellent starts but had chosen the wrong side. But not enough with that – in the second race he took a bath. “My trapeze failed and I went over board”, said the helmsmen. Polgar swam back to the boat in record time and ended 22nd in this race.

It was a difficult day to achieve top scores in both races, but several crews turned in very strong performances. In the overall standings, the two Greek teams Iordanis Paschalidis / Kostas Trigonis and Dimitris Theodorakis / Kostas Gkiris were consistent and impressive. They stand in 2nd and 5 places overall. And, the very experienced French team continues to perform, as they have done all year. Yann Guichard / Alexandre Guyader are in 3rd place, closely followed by Xavier Revil / Christophe Espagnon.

The most dominant team of the year so far, Darren Bundock / Glenn Ashby AUS could not match Hagara / Steinacher’s perfect day, but they are solidly in the Top 10 sitting in 7th placed just behind Andrey Kirilyuk / Valeriy Ushkov RUS, and ahead of Carolijn Brouwer / Sebbe Godefroid BEL.

For Brits Leigh McMillan and Will Howden, the first race of the day was to be their best. They managed to sneak out of the left corner on the first beat to get themselves around the top mark in the top 20. They then had a big fight to come back into the top 10 with some great sailing in the tricky conditions.

The second race had McMillan and Howden lined up to go right as it look as there was no breeze on the left. With a minute to go the wind shifted 40 degrees and saw them fairly and squarely last. Another good comeback got them back into 20th place but leaves them in 11th overall. Howden commented: “It was a shame about the last race, we were sailing well but got on the wrong side of the big shift, the leaders didn’t even tack to get to the top of the course. This is sailing and we will have to up our game tomorrow!”

The Top Ten is rounded out Italian and Australian crews. Vincenzo Sorrentino / Giorgio Colombo ITA had a hot and cold day with finishes of 2nd and 25th. But the excellent surprise of the day was the strong showing by Andrew Macpherson / Euan Mcnicol AUS. Andrew is returning to the international Tornado circuit after a 4-year absence (something to do with working); it looks like he is right back on form.

The outlook for tomorrow is light wind again, and rising to the mental challenge will be very important.

MATS NYBERG TROPHY - OVERALL RESULTS:
1 AUT 3 Hagara, Roman Steinacher, Hans Peter 1 1 2,00
2 GRE 7 Iordanis, Paschalidis Kostas, Trigonis 5 6 11,00
3 FRA 7 Guichard, Yann Guyader, Alexandre 3 9 12,00
4 FRA 1 Revil, Xavier Espagnon, Christophe 10 4 14,00
5 GRE 1 Theodorakis, Dimitris Gkiris, Kostas 13 3 16,00
6 RUS 97 Kirilyuk, Andrey Ushkov, Valeriy 8 8 16,00
7 AUS 8 Bundock, Darren Ashby, Glenn 14 7 21,00
8 BEL 7 Brouwer, Carolijn Godefroid, Sebbe 25 2 27,00
9 ITA 5 Sorrentino, Vincenzo Colombo, Giorgio 2 25 27,00
10 AUS 300 Macpherson, Andrew Mcnicol, Euan 17 10 27,00

EUROPEAN CLASSIFICATION RESULTS:
1 AUT 3 Hagara, Roman Steinacher, Hans Peter 1 1 2,00
2 FRA 7 Guichard, Yann Guyader, Alexandre 3 8 11,00
3 GRE 7 Iordanis, Paschalidis Kostas, Trigonis 5 6 11,00
4 FRA 1 Revil, Xavier Espagnon, Christophe 9 4 13,00
5 RUS 97 Kirilyuk, Andrey Ushkov, Valeriy 7 7 14,00
6 GRE 1 Theodorakis, Dimitris Gkiris, Kostas 12 3 15,00
7 BEL 7 Brouwer, Carolijn Godefroid, Sebbe 20 2 22,00
8 ITA 5 Sorrentino, Vincenzo Colombo, Giorgio Cannottieri 2 21 23,00
9 FRA 282 Souben, Matthieu Bontemps, Gurvan 11 15 26,00
10 FRA 11 François, Morvan Matthieu, Vandame 18 9 27,00