Loof sailing a scorcher

The top Swede showing form after day two of Star Europeans

In 5-8 knots of breeze, the second day of racing got underway at the Star European Championships, hosted from the Yacht Club Italiano.

It was a good day for Giampiero Poggi/Giovanni Stilo, sailing on their home waters they added a first place to their 19th position from yesterday to move up into fourth place overall. Triple Olympic medallist Mark Reynolds of America, sailing with Austin Sperry, crossed the line second to move up into second place overall.

The most consistent sailor so far in the championship is Olympian and 2001 world champion Fredrik Loof of Sweden, sailing with Andres Ekstrom, Loof added a third place to his bullet from yesterday, to maintain the overall lead by a substantial margin.

After a disappointing first race yesterday, where they suffered damage to their mainsail which forced them to retire, world champions and team GBR sailors Iain Percy and Steve Mitchell finished in tenth place to put them in 36th place overall.

Percy commented, "We had the wrong sail up today as the other one is currently being repaired, so we were a bit off pace, but considering that, a tenth is okay. We will just have to see how it goes tomorrow."

With four more races and one discard there is still all to play for with racing continuing through until Friday 11 October, with Thursday scheduled as a reserve day.

For full results see page 2...