Hestbaek and Van Hansen (DEN) Lead into Gold Fleet

Yesterday was the last day of qualifying for the Gold Fleet at the Mastercard 49er European championships in Grimstad, Norway. Three races were sailed in a strong north easterly, gusting to 22 knots, which made for exciting racing.

Michael Hestbaek and Rasmus Terp van Hansen (DEN) continued to lead the qualifications, but were hotly pursued by Britain’s Chris Draper and Simon Hiscocks and Norwegians Christoffer Sundby and Frode Bovim who were given redress after a collission at the leward mark when they were in 2nd position in race 8. The British are showing a strong team effort by also taking 4th and 5th position in front of the World Champions Iker Martinez and Xabi Fernandez (ESP).

Results after 9 races (2 discards)

1. Hestbaek/van Hansen DEN 10 points
2. Draper/Hiscocks GBR 13 points
3. Sundby/Bovim NOR 14 points
4. Richardson/Greenhalgh GBR 16 points
5. Brotherton/Asquith GBR 17 points
6. Martinez/Fernandez ESP 18 points
7. Persson/Ivedrsen DEN 21 points
8. Lopez-Vazquez/De la Plaza ESP 22 points
9. Johanson/Piirainen FIN 25 points
10. Sibello/Sibello ITA 28 points