Day Two

The second day of the Soling World Championship dawned yesterday with a brisk force six. This prospect left many boats on the shore for the first race of the day, much to their detriment.

At the start of race one the wind moderated to 15-20 knots and the left hand end of the line appeared to be favoured. Heiko WINKLER (GER) started on the pin end and looked good until a right hand shift brought those that had gone up the middle into the fray. Winkler got to mark one first.

In the breeze that had become fickle in both direction and strength, positions were ever changing in the remainder of the race. Going into the final run, the lead had been taken over by Bostjan ANTONCIC (SLO), followed by Sergey PICHUGUIN (UKR) and Winkler.

The battle between the front two on the final beat was ferocious to say the least, with Pitchugin fighting and gaining inch by inch. At the finish, he won by a whisker.

George WOSSALA (HUN) describes the second race of the day:

“We started on the right hand side and led the fleet for a short period of time. There was a very lucky situation on the first upwind leg, where everybody thought they had to choose the shore, but the left hand side was much more positive than the other. In the meantime a wind came from east, so we pulled out there, that’s how we’ve got the leader position

It was a very interesting, and varied race, and third position makes me really happy.”

Overall Top Ten (After Four Races)