Blu Moon extends

Flavio Flavini in the driving seat at the Magic Marine Melges 24 Europeans

After two days of strong winds, competitors at the Magic Marine Melges 24 European Championship today had to deal with conditions less spectacular and fun, but very complicated from a tactical point of view.

The weak, unstable wind, off Medemblik caused continuous and sudden fluctuations of the breeze, making it difficult to interpret the race course.

While it was generally a high scoring day, this is not the case for Blue Moon (1-15-2), once again the most consistent boat. After leaving the dock on equal points with the Italian Champions on Giogi (21-02-14), the crew of the former World and European Champion Flavio Favini has now pulled out a 15 point lead over Matteo Balestrero's team where Nicola Celon is calling tactics. Giogi, in fact slipped to third place behind the surprising ICZ (6-3-1), skipper by double Olympic sailor Martin Trcka, which won the eighth race and the title of 'Boat of the Day'.

Audi Ultra (7-24-15) also made the best of today's difficult conditions. Riccardo Simoneschi's Melges 24 is now one point away from the provisional podium, but with Altea (5-5-5) close behind. Discarding her DNF from the first day, Andrea Racchelli's Melges 24 moved in the top five and is only four points short of the the podium.

Among the Corinthian division, Lenny skippered by Estonian Tonu Toniste holds a lead of eight points compared to the Dutch on Team Kesbeke. Ronald Veraar however, is being challenged by another Estonian owner, Tiit Vihul, whose Rock City lies third, just five points adrift of second place. Spirit also moved significantly closer to the Corinthian podium: the German crew, skippered by Christopher Gelsdorf, won the seventh race of the series.

Looking ahead the weather forecast is not looking good with the wind expected to decrease further in the coming days.

Full results here