Unlike yesterday, when tactical smarts were the name of the game, Thursday's strong weather put a premium on crew work, boat handling and smooth maneuvers. In addition, the race committees on both courses opted to hold short 3-leg races making the even more physically demanding.
Women
Ekaterina Skudina from Russia was able to hold on to first place in Group A despite the great performance by Lucy Macgregor and, in particular, Lotte Meldgaard. After a subpar start on Wednesday with just 2 wins, Meldgaard swept today with five bullets, also beating the world’s number one match racer Lucy Macgregor and climbing to second overall on tiebreak. According to Meldgaard, today’s success was a question of sharpening their skills on the Scholtz22 yachts. It cost them the first three races of the Round Robins but then led to a 7-race winning streak!
As the day passed, the breeze died down and Group B was affected. Only two of the five scheduled flight were raced today and Rita Gonçalves from Portugal came on top with 5 wins, tied with Italy’s Cristiana Monina.
Rita Gonçalves (left) leads Group B ahead of Cristiana Monina. Hard, 13 May 2010. Photo copyright Daniel Forster / www.go4image.com
Ekaterina Skudina won the Group A Round Robins. Hard, 13 May 2010. Photo copyright Daniel Forster / www.go4image.comOpen
In Group A, Pierre-Antoine Morvan, the French match racer, made a superb comeback from yesterday’s 3-2 score and finished on top of leaderboard with 7 wins, tied with Finn Stafan Lindberg. The French qualified first on tiebreak due to his two victories against Lindberg. Despite the stronger breeze, Morvan stated that he constantly had to be aggressive and opportunistic with the constant changes in wind direction.
Similarly to Women, Group B of the Open division saw the last two flights cancelled. The undisputed leader in this group, and only unbeaten so far in the European Championship, is Mads Ebler from Denmark. Yet, as Ebler points out, the results don’t reflect the tight and close races he had to win and two or three of them could have gone very easily the other way. According to Ebler, one of the strong points of his team in the lighter wings of the opening day was to continuously discuss the tactics onboard, sail relaxed and never panic when things seem to go wrong.
Pierre-Antoine Morvan won the Group A Round Robins. Hard, 13 May 2010. Photo copyright Daniel Forster / www.go4image.com
Young Italian match racer Jacopo Pasini now sits 2nd in the Group B Round robins. Hard, 13 May 2010. Photo copyright Daniel Forster / www.go4image.comRacing will resume on Friday at 10am with the completion of the Round Robins for Group B and depending on weather conditions the organization will decide on the schedule.
Set on the banks of beautiful Lake Constance and located a couple of miles from the meeting point of the Austrian, German and Swiss borders, picturesque Hard is an ideal venue. Racing takes place a few dozens of meters from the shore, giving the public the chance to be as close as possible to the action.
2010 EUROSAF European Match Race Championship - Round Robin 1&2 – Provisional Results
Women
| Group A (10/10 flights) | Group B (7/10 flights) |
| 1. Skudina,RUS, 8-2 | 1. Gonçalves, POR, 5-2 |
| 2. Meldgaard, DEN, 7-3 | 2. Monina, ITA, 5-2 |
| 3. Macgregor, GBR, 7-3 | 3. Hahlbrock, GER, 4-3 |
| 4. Groeneveld, NED,4-6 | 4. Bekatorou, GRE, 3-4 |
| 5. Dekleva, SLO, 3-7 | 5. Bossard, FRA, 2-5 |
| 6. Kliba, CRO, 1-9 | 6. Cameselle, ESP, 2-5 |
Open
| Group A (10/10 flights) | Group B (8/10 flights) |
| 1. Morvan, FRA, 7-3 | 1. Ebler, DEN, 8-0 |
| 2. Lindberg, FIN, 7-3 | 2. Pasini, ITA, 5-3 |
| 3. Arbuzov, RUS, 6-4 | 3. Monnin, SUI, 5-3 |
| 4. Meister, GER, 5-5 | 4. Marinho, POR, 4-4 |
| 5. Spitzayer, AUT, 3-7 | 5. Cherry, GBR, 2-6 |
| 6. Stanczyk, POL, 2-8 | 6. Den Boer, NED, 0-8 |
Lotte Meldgaard has a 7-0 winning streak and finishes 2nd in Group B. Hard, 13 May 2010. Photo copyright Daniel Forster / www.go4image.com
Rita Gonçalves leads Group B ahead of Cristiana Monina. Hard, 13 May 2010. Photo copyright Daniel Forster / www.go4image.com
Lucy Macgregor finished 3rd in Group A. Hard, 13 May 2010. Photo copyright Daniel Forster / www.go4image.com
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