Day 2 - Ciao da Mondello - he second day of the Mistral European Championship started with overcast misty weather and dead flat sea. Around 10:00 AM the breeze set in with about 4-6 knots increasing.
The women got send out first to the yellow course, followed shortly by both men divisions going on the orange course.
By the time the fleets got to their racing area the wind speed was about 8 -10 knots with shifty north westerly wind.
The women fleet had their first start of the day at 11.45 AM, going for an double inner loop.
As the men´s racing area was further out than the women´s first start was completed by the blue group at 12.15 PM.
The majority of the competitors choosed the pin-end as it clearly was the better site of the starting line. Therefore things were getting quite nasty at the start with some competitors crashing into the fleet being on port tack so we can surely expect some protest tonight.
The race went off although sailors were clearly over the line – not even a single recall was called.
As the race committee didn´t change the starting line for the yellow group the scenery didn´t change and almost 2/3 of the fleet were over the line with 5 seconds to go so this time the race committee decided for a general recall.
The line was corrected and the second start went clear at 12.56 PM.
Half way of the yellow groups upwind the wind shifted right to northerly wind direction and sailors on the right wing came in first on the top mark.
Aram Hong from Koerea made it first followed closely by Ukrainian Maksim Oberemko who won already yesterday´s first race and proofed his ability to perform well in tricky conditions.
Julien Bontemps from France put another first to his record in the blue group.
The wind direction stayed north but decreasing wind speed made racing more difficult.
Fortunately all races for the men and women could be completed.
On the women´s course leading Faustine Merret from France scored another first.
Suddenly the sky cleared and the wind picked up to 12 –15 knots but did not stay for to long so the women´s second race was canceled on the second up wind.
