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13 August 2005, 01:42 pm

ECHAVARRI And PAZ Lead Going Into Final Day

Tornado European Championship 2005

Västervik, Sweden

World Champions Fernando ECHAVARRI and Anton PAZ (ESP) are on track to add the European crown to their growing list of honours as the ISAF Grade C1 Tornado European Championship enters it's final day in Västervik, Sweden. The Spanish pair, who top the ISAF World Sailing Rankings, hold a five point lead over Darren BUNDOCK and Aaron WORRALL (AUS).

A lack of wind in Västervik resulted in no racing yesterday, meaning at least one race will have to take place today in order to constitute a series under the Notice of Race.

There was some drama off the water however with the International Jury declaring race five abandoned, before reinstating the results after reconsidering their initial verdict. The problems were caused following a request for redress as during the race the wind dropped to a speed of less than three knots for over 15 minutes, which according to Sailing Instruction 10.5 means: 'A race shall be abandoned if the wind reduces to less than three knots for a period of 15 minutes or more before the first boat that sails the course finishes (AC9.1).'

The initial decision was made on Thursday evening following the race, before being reconsidered after the lack of racing yesterday.

ECHAVARRI and PAZ took the lead after race five thanks to their third second place finish of the Championship. Former leaders and last year's winner, BUNDOCK and crew WORRALL came in eighth to drop down into second place. The bullet meanwhile went to Olympic Champions Roman HAGARA and Hans Peter STEINACHER (AUT), who move up into third, eight points behind the leaders.

ECHAVARRI and PAZ's position at the top is further strengthened by the fact the discard will be introduced after race six, which currently means they will lose a finish of 29, whilst BUNDOCK and WORRALL and HAGARA and STEINACHER would drop scores of 23 and 19 respectively.

Top Ten After Five Races

Pos	Nation	Helm	Crew	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	Pts
1	ESP	Fernando ECHAVARRI	Antón PAZ	29	2	3	2	2	38
2	AUS	Darren BUNDOCK	Aaron WORRALL	23	4	2	6	8	43
3	AUT	Roman HAGARA	Hans Peter STEINACHER	1	19	9	16	1	46
4	FRA	Francois MORVAN	Matthieu VANDAME	5	7	29	1	7	49
5	FRA	Xavier REVIL	Christophe ESPAGNON	18	3	17	8	4	50
6	USA	John LOVELL	Charlie OGLETREE	10	16	5	15	11	57
7	FRA	Francois GABART	Romain DAVID	4	29	19	3	10	65
8	GER	Roland GAEBLER	Gunnar STRUCKMANN	20	1	23	11	12	67
9	ITA	Francesco MARCOLINI	Edoardo BIANCHI	32	9	13	13	5	72
10	SWE	Karl SUNESSON	Erik ANDERSSON	14	11	14	7	27	73