May 15, 2003
3 minutes reading time
Sensini and Bontemps Crowned Champions
The men´s Gold fleet and the women's fleet left early for the orange course at Capo Gallo on the final day. Shifty, light winds and patchy conditions promised a tough day of racing on the final day.
s.jpg "Sensini and Bontemps Crowned Champions")
The men´s Gold fleet and the women’s fleet left early for the orange course at Capo Gallo on the final day. Shifty, light winds and patchy conditions promised a tough day of racing on the final day.
Building swell from the north west and current from northerly directions made starting even more difficult, dragging the competitors towards the pin end of the start line. Again the pin end was favoured and we saw multiple general recalls in both fleets.
Joao RODRIGUEZ (POR) won the first race moving into second European position overall as Nicolas BOUDEU (FRA) came second and dropped to third place just one point behind. Julien BONTEMPS (FRA) finished in fourth place and defended his first place overall.
It was Alessandra SENSINI (ITA) who set the pace on the first upwind leg of the first women race followed closely by Lise VIDAL (FRA), Lee Lei SHAN from Hongkong and Faustine MERRET (FRA) coming fourth.
Eventually MERRET managed the tricky conditions best and finished first in front of SENSINI in second, SHAN in third and VIDAL coming fourth.
After another long pause on the water due to the wind dropping the breeze filled in again and the men were sent off at 2:30 PM for the last race of the day.
Right after the start Nikos KAKLAMANAKIS (GRE) and Nikolas BEUDOU (FRA) gained an early lead. KAKLAMANAKIS dominated the race from start to finish. Through the whole race the four competitors chasing Nikos, Ho Shi HO, Julien BONTMEPS, Maksim OBEREMKOV and Nicolas BEUDEU.
With a second place in the final race Julien BONTMEPS was crowned European Champion 2003. Finishing eighth was good enough for Nicolas BEUDOU to regain the silver medal as Joao RODRIGUEZ struggled to 13 position after being locked in at the start dropped to third European.
In the second race the women´s started with a black flag / general recall which resulted in an amazing 19 competitors being rubbed out.
Top mark rounding was lead by Israel´s Shiri RON followed by Amelie LUX (GER) and another Israeli Roni SHAKED in third position.
In the end Hong Kong´s Lee Lei SHAN finished with another bullet which was enough to clinch a win for her in the Open Championship.
Alessandra SENSINI (ITA) then crossed the finish line in second place. Taking the European Championship title, she was all smiles.
Faustine MERRET (FRA) finishing seventh getting the silver medal and Lise VIDAL (FRA) made the bronze medal after finishing in 11 place.
The 2003 Mistral European Championships were extremely tough with changing conditions. Only the most consistent sailors made the top results which indicates that hard training and a will to succeed as well as sailing knowledge are the keys to superiority.
Top 10 Overall Results – Men
| Pos. | Nation | Name | R 1 | R 2 | R 3 | R 4 | R 5 | R 6 | R 7 | R 8 | R 9 | Tot. |
| 1 | FRA | Bontemps Julien | 1 | 1 | 4 | 14 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 24 |
| 2 | FRA | Beudou Nicolas | 10 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 13 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 38 |
| 3 | POR | Rodrigues Joao | 8 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 25 | 6 | 1 | 14 | 44 |
| 4 | ISR | Fridman Gal | 7 | 6 | 1 | 9 | 29 | 6 | 5 | 11 | RDG(7.00) | 52 |
| 5 | GRE | Kaklamanakis Nikolas | 5 | 15 | 1 | 12 | 12 | 3 | 10 | 10 | 1 | 54 |
| 6 | FRA | Huguet Nicolas | 9 | 18 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 24 | 11 | 63 |
| 7 | UKR | Oberemko Maksim | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 33 | 23 | 29 | 7 | 4 | 70 |
| 8 | NZL | Tobin Jon-Paul | 4 | 3 | 30 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 21 | 21 | 70 |
| 9 | ARG | Benitez Martin | 9 | 4 | 12 | 8 | 13 | 27 | 36 | 5 | 5 | 83 |
| 10 | HKG | Ho Chi Ho | 3 | 9 | 3 | 10 | 39 | 18 | 25 | 16 | 2 | 86 |
Top 10 Overall Results – Women
| Pos. | Nation | Name | R 1 | R 2 | R 3 | R 4 | R 5 | R 6 | R 7 | R 8 | R 9 | Tot. |
| 1 | HKG | Lee Lai Shan | 2 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 4 | RDG(4.00) | 1 | 3 | 1 | 20 |
| 2 | ITA | Sensini Alessandra | 1 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 17 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 24 |
| 3 | FRA | Merret Faustine | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 9 | 7 | 1 | 7 | 30 |
| 4 | FRA | Vidal Lise | 13 | 7 | 12 | 34 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 11 | 52 |
| 5 | GBR | Sturges Natasha | 8 | 18 | 8 | 9 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 13 | BFD | 70 |
| 6 | FRA | Gros Sinthia | 10 | 23 | 16 | 10 | 7 | 3 | 8 | 9 | BFD | 86 |
| 7 | ISR | Korzits Lee | 26 | 11 | 7 | 24 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 12 | BFD | 89 |
| 8 | GER | Lux Amelie | 7 | 2 | 13 | 5 | BFD | 27 | 21 | 11 | 3 | 89 |
| 9 | FRA | Mailhos Jehanne | 6 | 5 | 20 | 20 | 10 | 10 | 28 | 7 | BFD | 106 |
| 10 | POL | Galecka Anna | 17 | 29 | 5 | 15 | 19 | 18 | 34 | 20 | 6 | 129 |