2024 29er European Championships at Gdynia, Poland - Day 3
by International 29er Class 6 Jul 03:32 PDT
1-8 July 2024
Championships reaches the halfway point
Friday 5th July marked the third day of racing and the mid way point of the regatta here at the 29er European Championships organised as part of the 25th edition of Gdynia Sailing Days. After 9 successful races we move into the final series racing. Tomorrow the sailors get divided into three fleets for the remainder of the series: Gold, Silver and Bronze.
The conditions weren't easy on the race course today in Gdynia, with an offshore wind creating a large range in wind strength and direction, the sailors were faced an extreme test of focus, composure, speed, handling and ability to read the wind.
The ITA 3 team of Alex Demurtas and Giovanni Santi showed their dominance and advanced from third to first place overall and in the Men's category. Just two points behind them overall is recent Kieler Woche champions, the Polish mixed team of Ewa Lewandowska and Krzysztof Królik, who simultaneously lead their category. The previously unbeaten duo of Nolann Huet Des Aunay and Tituan Gresset have fallen into third place overall overnight, second Men's team, but with Gold Fleet racing tomorrow the racing will become even tighter and the rivalries will be sure to escalate on the race course as teams look towards the business end of the competition.
The U17 Men's category is currently lead by Polish team - Bartosz Zmudzinski and August Sobczak who also sit in third in the overall Men's category.
Joining the top men's crews is the South African team of Sean Kavanagh and Max Celliers.
"We're content with our results so far. Today was a bit worse than yesterday, but we're still managing to keep up a top 10 position so not all is lost and well keep fighting in the finals - said the RSA 3286 sailors.
Poles Alicja Tutkowska and Alicja Dampc currently lead the Women's category. Just nine points behind them is British team - Annabelle Vines and Amelie Hiscocks with Fins Una Heinila and Silija-Sophie Laukkanen currently sitting in thirds.
"Today's wind was very irregular, so it was a big challenge to keep up a constant and good speed. Our best race was the first one, which we also won. After that we came in 14th and 10th, so there's still room for improvement. Starting tomorrow we'll be racing in the gold fleet, so both level of the field and pressure are going to rise. As for now we still have three days of racing, so we don't have any particular expectations for ourselves. We'll definitely continue to do our best and fight for the podium - summed up the Polish team.
The mixed team of Ewa Lewandowska and Krzysztof Królik come into finals with an outstanding advantage of over 40 points. As of today the chasing top three teams are both Italian: Giulia Bartolozzi with Peter Rizzi and Emilia Salvatore with Pietro Zandri.
With three races scheduled tomorrow and at least 14-18 knots forecast - this should make for a fantastic first day of final series racing and the results will reflect the excitement on the race course in the high performance International 29er Class.
Find out more at 29ereuropeans.org