Light Breeze Keeps Five Classes Ashore

On the fourth day of the SPA Regatta six classes completed one or two races. Light wind conditions, sometimes only two knots, forced the race committee to postpone and cancel the races in the Tornado, Laser, Finn, Mistral Men and Women.

Star

Sailing was like the lottery today. Wind shifts and sometimes a top down wind direction brought new winners over the finish line. Team Neeleman / Niekerk from the Netherlands won today’s first race in the Star, followed by the German team Koch / Koy and the Australians Walker / Williams. The Swiss team Marazzi / De Maria won the second race of Saturday. Alwin van Daelen and Gerard Potma from the Netherlands, who are in 33rd position overall, finished secondly, followed by the Germans Koch / Koy.

Europe

Sari Multala (FIN), winner of last year’s SPA Regatta, took over the lead in the Europe. She had a third place in the only race of today. Teja Cerne (SLO) won and the Chinese Lu Chunfeng got a second position. Wiebke Schroder from Germany crossed the finish line in 16th position, which was not enough for remaining in the lead. She felt back to a second place overall.

470

Although the French 470 men team of Gildas / Le Berre finished in 30 position, they remained in the lead with only one point difference. The British team Plummer / Hawkley won the race, followed by team Kosmatopoulos / Trigonis from Greeche and Molund / Andersson from Sweden. The Dutch brothers Coster finished in 12th position, which kicked them out of the top three for the first time of this year’s SPA Regatta. The same happened to the Israeli female 470 team from Nike Kornecki. Due to a 28th position in today’s race, they also felt back to a fourth position overall. Marcelien de Koning and Lobke Berkhout from the Netherlands are still leading the fleet.

Despite today’s cancellations, tomorrow the races will be sailed according to the schedule. Every class will sail one more race.