Day One
104 men and 47 women are competing in the Mistral Class.
Today sailors awoke was chilly and overcast with a gusty breeze of around 16 knots. The first men’s group went off clear at the first time at 2:10 PM; followed by the 2nd group who had one general recall.
The women had two "generals" but got away cleanly 3rd time lucky in 12-13 knots of NW breeze & moderate swell. The right side paid off well on the first up wind. Sailors who benefited were Nicolas Huguet (FRA – 8) 1st, Ho Chi Ho ( HKG – 6) 2nd and Dom Tidey ( GBR - 7) 3rd in the yellow group. In the blue group, Maksim Oberemko (UKR – 19) won, Przemystaw Miarczynski ( POL – 126) was 2nd and Olivier Guyader (FRA – 2) was 3rd.
The course was set with a short upwind to the finish testing racers all the way to the finish.
In the women's fleet, Amelie Lux (GER - 82) showed good tactical thinking climbing from 5th to 3rd just on the last beat “killing� Lee Korsizitz (ISR-1111) on the finish line. Anna Graczyk (POL – 43) got 2nd but the race was lead from start to finish with an incredible lead by Lee Lei Shan ( HKG – 1).
The wind proceeded to drop for the 2nd & 3rd races of the day but the sea stayed lumpy making sailing hard for the heavier sailors.
Nicolas Huguet (FRA – 8) showed great performance with a series of two bullets and a 5th to lead overall. Bronze medallist at the 2003 Euros, Joao Rodriguez (POR- 75) is second (5, 1, 2) with Ho Chi Ho (HKG – 6) and Pont ( POL- 126) tied for 3rd. Michael “fancy� Lancy (AUS- 171) also did well to take 4th spot with a series of two 4ths and one bullet. In the women's fleet, Anna Graczyk ( POL -43) was most consistent and now leads with Anja Kaeser (SUI – 1) 2nd one point behind. Lee Lai Shan (HKG – 1) had a bad 3rd race which dropped her to 3rd overall.
There's a lot more racing to come so Belly and Aline will keep you posted ! See you all tomorrow
