Day three of the J/70 European Championship seems to have had a big effect on the points table. In the first race for the Blue fleet, over 30 boats were disqualified due to an early start. And several crews were subsequently judged OCS in other races. Staying clear of trouble, Claudia Rossi (Italy) and her professional team continued their winning ways. With scores of 1, 4, 4 on Saturday, she is the unchallenged leader of the fleet. No fewer than 38 disqualifications because of OCS were reported in the list of the 91 teams who started in the sixth race of the series. Race director Nino Shmueli defended his tough approach, “It was all according to the Rules. We are sailing with huge stickers on the bow in the J/70 fleet, so we could recognize all early starters. Even if only one team had started right, it would have stood as a race.” Three races were sailed and so Shmueli was satisfied with the day, saying, “Despite the thunderstorms and the shifting winds, the full program could be sailed. In the afternoon, the wind picked up a lot. We brought back everyone ashore without damage.” The best German team is the crew from Hamburg with Carsten Kemmling skippering. They lie tenth. The leading team with Claudia Rossi at the helm can already think about winning overall. The Italian sailors are leading by 14 points ahead of their compatriot Edoardo Lupi. Now in third is the British team of Charlie Esse. And so for Rossi, a good place in the last two races should be enough to become the European Champion.
Results to date:
1. Claudia Rossi / Matteo Mason, Simone Spangaro, Michele Paoletti (ITA,1/4/2/1(5)1/4/4) Punkte 17
2. Edoardo Lupi / Lorenzo Bressani, Giorgio Tortarolo, Edoardo Lupi, Luca Faravelli (ITA,4/4/2/2/12(49)5/2)31
3. Charlie Esse / Charlie Makepeace, Jason Sivyer, Anthony Esse (GBR,3/3/7/2(17)4/9/3)31
4. Stefano Roberti / Enrico Fonda, Lucovic Broquaire, Filippo Lamantia (MON,2/1/1/4/6(49)13/11)38
5. Mauricio Santa Cruz / Mario Soerensen Garcia, Luiz Marcelo Maia, André Lekszycky (BRA,7/1/3/7/21(49)4/1)44
6. Gonzalo Araújo / Guilherme Almeida, Diego Fructuoso, Nacho Giamonna (ESP,2/13/4/5/2/7(48)11)44
For complete event information, visit http://www.kieler-woche.de/english/sailing/J70_Euros/index.php.