Railey takes pole

After conditions make for a wildly difficult day of sailing at the European Laser Radial Championship

Just when you thought it was safe to go racing, the conditions on day three of the European Laser Radial Championship in Denmark, got even more difficult. With the wind shifting wildly off the Charlottenlund shore, varying in angle by up to 30 degrees and gusting and lulling almost at random, today was a day for keeping your head while all around you your rivals were losing theirs.

After day three of the European Laser Radial Championship the fleet continue to race in two fleets with the USA's Paige Railey leading the green fleet on 18 points, one point less than France's Sarah Staeyert who is now tied with Skandia Team GBR's Charlotte Dobson in the yellow fleet after discards came into play today.

Given the light conditions maybe that’s why the laid-back twin sisters from southern Spain are doing so well here. Yesterday Lucia Reyes had the best day of any competitor in the 96-boat women’s fleet, scoring 4,2 in the breezier conditions. Today younger sister (by 20 minutes) Fatima had the best day with an incredible 1,3 in lighter conditions that had even the best sailors utterly confused at times.

The Reyes girls just keep on smiling no matter what comes their way. “Today was very difficult with so many wind shifts, but I watched the other group racing ahead of me and tried to learn from them,” said Fatima, who planned to celebrate her day with an ice cream. She now sits in 10th overall, just half a point in front of her older sister in 11th.

The random breezes brought some new faces to the front of the fleet, and threw the leaderboard wide open. Francesca Clapcich came out on top in her second race today, her victory moving the Italian up to 16th overall, and close to a top 15 position in this regatta which she needs to guarantee funding from her sailing federation. Scores of 7,1 moved Poland’s Ewa Makowska up to 7th overall. Just 19 years old and sailing her first season in the Laser Radial, Makowska described today as the best day of her young career. “I feel like I have made big progress after all the hard work in the winter,” she said. Her race win was a nice bonus after a tough contest. “I was 10th, then down to 20th, then up to 2nd, and then I won! It was very, very hard.”

Sarah Steyaert relinquished her overall lead in the regatta, after the reigning World Champion from France scored 21,9 from today’s heats. “I found it difficult to anticipate the wind as well as other days, but it’s OK,” she said.

Despite becoming the new series leader, even Paige Railey was kicking herself for a 10th in the sixth race, after scoring second earlier in the day. “That second race was completely different from what we’ve sailed. I played it conservative, and people who were more aggressive passed me, so if it stays like that maybe we’ll reassess tactics,” she said.

Overall though, Railey’s approach of conservative and consistent seems to be working. “I’m not going for glory, I’m not trying to win races, just stay in the hunt. The racing is really intense, particularly today,” said Railey, who gave the racing an “8 or 9 out of 10” for difficulty”. One thing that marks out the top sailors in this fleet is their never-say-die attitude. “It could be easy to give up out there. But if you keep fighting to the end you make huge gains, if you give up you make huge losses.”

After five races in the men’s 70-boat fleet, Poland’s Zemke Wojciech continues to lead with a string of 1st places from his qualifying heats.

The Laser Radial Europeans is one of a number of high profile sailing regattas taking place in Denmark this summer as part of wider festival of different sports, called Denmark’s Year of Sport. To do their utmost to ensure that their events are held to the highest possible standards the Danish Sailing Association is working with the support of the insurance company CODAN (part of Sun Alliance Group), to provide TracTrac tracking during the Laser Radial Europeans, Finn Gold Cup, EUROSAF Match Racing Europeans and 470 World Championship. The Danish Sailing Association has purchased 150 state-of-the-art GPS tracking devices, allowing races to be followed in real time over the internet.

Last year the TracTrac tracking of the ISAF Youth Sailing World Championship in Aarhus, Denmark was followed by nearly 30,000 viewers from 69 countries all over the world.

Results:

Pos	Name	Nat	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	Tot	Net
1	Railey Paige	USA	6	4	3	3	2	-10	28	18
2	Steyaert Sarah	FRA	2	1	1	6	-21	9	40	19
3	Dobson Charlotte	GBR	3	2	6	4	-11	4	30	19
4	Drozdovskaya Tatiana	BLR	9	5	-32	4	3	5	58	26
5	Multala Sari	FIN	1	4	16	2	4	-24	51	27
6	Bouwmeester Marit	NED	5	3	16	1	-25	5	55	30
7	Makowska Ewa	POL	8	-31	3	14	7	1	64	33
8	Gjerpen Cathrine	NOR	1	-17	10	11	3	10	52	35
9	Van Acker Evi	BEL	11	1	17	3	4	-27	63	36
10	Reyes Fatima	ESP	4	-21	20	9.5	1	3	58.5	37.5
11	Reyes Lucia	ESP	2	14	4	2	16	-23	61	38
12	Mihelic Tina	CRO	-17	17.0 DPI	1	10.5	1	9	55.5	38.5
13	Schütt Maiken	DEN	12	6	12	6	-19	3	58	39
14	Goltz Franziska	GER	10	14	-31	5	5	7	72	41
15	Deberny Katarzyna	POL	3	5	21	12	-27	2	70	43
16	Clapcich Francesca	ITA	-21	7	15	9.5	11	1	64.5	43.5
17	Brewster Andrea	GBR	6	9	-15	8	8	13	59	44
18	King Gabrielle	AUS	5	15	5	-25	2	18	70	45
19	Cebrian Alicia	ESP	4	2	26	7	(49.0 BFD)	7	95	46
20	Olsson Josefin	SWE	11	17	2	15	5	-43	93	50
21	Fenclova Veronika	CZE	12	19	6	-22	8	6	73	51
22	Lindberg Alberte	DEN	9	11	7	-20	18	8	73	53
23	Winther Sara	NZL	7	24	2	5	16	(49.0 BFD)	103	54
24	Tenkanen Tuula	FIN	-26	13	8	7	24	6	84	58
25	Edelman Nufar	ISR	15	6	4	14	22	-37	98	61
26	Snellgrove Hannah	GBR	22	8	5	16	-32	14	97	65
27	Hall Cathrine	DEN	25	12	-32	18	6	8	101	69
28	Haeger Anne	USA	21	22	9	-31	6	13	102	71
29	Fasselt Lisa	GER	8	12	-36	15	22	15	108	72
30	Bassadone Christina	GBR	(49.0 BFD)	10	18	27	10	12	126	77
31	Gallego Duran Marina	ESP	19	24	8	23	7	-27	108	81
32	Kravarioti Virginia	GRE	10	18	25	9	(49.0 BFD)	19	130	81
33	de Turckheim Sophie	FRA	(49.0 BFD)	16	14	1	49.0 BFD	2	131	82
34	Hanna Debbie	IRL	16	23	22	19	-28	4	112	84
35	Blom Claire	NED	7	8	-35	13	26	32	121	86
36	Young Alison	GBR	17	20	19	12	18	-29	115	86
37	Sigvardsdotter Sara	SWE	13	27	12	28	9	-39	128	89
38	Dennis Claire	USA	-29	28	20	16	9	16	118	89
39	Helbig Anke	GER	14	-27	11	26	25	18	121	94
40	Weinzieher Anna	POL	15	15	27	20	17	-30	124	94
41	Gunni Sarah	DEN	28	19	13	10.5	(49.0 DNC)	24	143.5	94.5
42	Mileviciute Ausra	LTU	26	16	-37	28	15	11	133	96
43	Lihan Sarah	USA	(49.0 BFD)	13	30	13	12	28	145	96
44	Murphy Annalise	IRL	-32	10	31	8	21	28	130	98
45	Tylinska Katarzyna	POL	23	18	17	17	-38	23	136	98
46	Szymczyk Natalia	POL	20	9	33	21	20	-37	140	103
47	Billing Emily	USA	16	-41	38	23	15	12	145	104
48	Maes Laura	BEL	18	22	28	17	20	(49.0 DSQ)	154	105
49	Luther Manon	SUI	27	33	23	-38	13	14	148	110
50	Carmo Sara	POR	(49.0 BFD)	3	9	19	49.0 BFD	31	160	111
51	Diamond Hannah	GBR	-35	35	24	29	10	16	149	114
52	Scheel Julia	GER	27	-35	14	26	29	21	152	117
53	Michon Pernelle	FRA	29	28	13	-30	29	21	150	120
54	Gafenko Anstasiia	UKR	31	(33.0 DPI)	23	31	14	22	154	121
55	Brien Tiffany	IRL	23	26	34	18	(49.0 BFD)	20	170	121
56	Bauermeister Chris	GER	25	36	7	21	34	-44	167	123
57	Kuikka Fina	SWE	19	11	29	41	23	(49.0 BFD)	172	123
58	Chapman Rosie	GBR	-41	31	11	25	30	29	167	126
59	Bolou Marie	FRA	13	29	-40	35	32	22	171	131
60	Ben-horin Souffa	ISR	18	25	27	(49.0 OCS)	36	26	181	132
61	Jonsson Cecilia	SWE	14	29	33	30	28	-36	170	134
62	Enger Eide Marthe	NOR	37	30	10	24	34	-41	176	135
63	Bäckström Lynn	FIN	35	26	18	-44	36	20	179	135
64	Aile Anna	LAT	-36	34	36	35	14	19	174	138
65	Uecker Martje	GER	20	-46	19	34	31	35	185	139
66	Butterfield Sarah	GBR	33	40	28	-42	26	15	184	142
67	Rattemeyer Lisa	GER	-36	36	26	33	12	36	179	143
68	Riou Amélie	FRA	34	34	-42	24	37	17	188	146
69	Plerpaite Saima	LTU	30	30	22	41	-44	25	192	148
70	Uthaug Natcha	NOR	24	37	21	29	(49.0 BFD)	39	199	150
71	Ennulat Janine	GER	34	32	-46	34	41	11	198	152
72	Just Emsvang Line	DEN	30	38	-40	27	19	38	192	152
73	Hegedüs Fanni	HUN	32	32	24	37	27	-42	194	152
74	Fauthoux Sandy	FRA	37	-40	30	36	24	26	193	153
75	Murphy Claudine	IRL	42	21	34	22	35	(49.0 BFD)	203	154
76	Shnitko Svetlana	RUS	31	-39	38	33	30	31	202	163
77	Kare Reka	HUN	(49.0 BFD)	25	25	36	49.0 BFD	30	214	165
78	Sassetti Bianca	ITA	41	-44	39	32	23	33	212	168
79	Benavent Ascension	ESP	38	33	41	32	(49.0 BFD)	25	218	169
80	Pohlak Anna	EST	40	-43	41	43	13	38	218	175
81	Bristulf Norén Caroline	SWE	-43	41	39	38	17	40	218	175
82	Maksutova Ksenia	RUS	28	-47	29	45	33	40	222	175
83	Heerkens Debby	NED	39	37	-44	39	31	33	223	179
84	Luik Anne-mari	EST	22	42	42	37	38	(49.0 BFD)	230	181
85	Rau Rohini	IND	38	42	-43	40	33	32	228	185
86	Gadel Alizée	FRA	39	20	-46	45	39	43	232	186
87	Krasevac Marusa	SLO	43	45	-47	46	43	17	241	194
88	Righolt Amy	NED	24	43	44	43	(49.0 BFD)	41	244	195
89	Steiner Paula	GER	33	45	45	39	37	-46	245	199
90	Andrulyte Viktorija	LTU	(49.0 DNC)	46	37	44	42	34	252	203
91	Testuz Fiona	SUI	42	-48	35	46	45	35	251	203
92	Abadie Charlotte	FRA	40	38	43	42	40	-44	247	203
93	Marchot Caroline	GER	44	44	-47	47	40	34	256	209
94	Gustafsson Johanna	FIN	44	-47	45	47	39	42	264	217
95	Dapeci Catherine	AUT	45	39	48	40	(49.0 BFD)	49.0 BFD	270	221
96	Stegemann Laura	GER	45	48	(49.0 DNC)	49.0 DNC	35	45	271	222