Close Competition

In perfect sailing conditions of sun and a steady 15 knots breeze, race five and six of the 470 Junior World Championships took place at Travemuender Week in Germany. Defending champions Sime FANTELA and Igor MARENIC (CRO) hold the lead, just ahead of Levine EYAL and Amir YAM (ISR).

121 teams from 28 countries have travelled to Travemuende to compete for the title of 470 Junior World Champion, with the number of entrants again setting a new record in the class.

Competition is taking place on a high level, looking at the efforts of this event’s current leaders at the ISAF Grade C1 470 European Championship in June this year, where the attention of more senior Olympic 470 sailors was drawn by these juniors, giving them a hard time to reach the finals.

Four races were completed within the first two days of racing in light and shifty winds. Yesterday, race five and six were on the schedule. Just like the days before, races were postponed because of a lack of wind. In the early afternoon when a sea breeze came up, racing finally got underway at 1405 local time.

Wind Arrives

And the sailors did not get disappointed. A steady 15 knots breeze came up, giving perfect sailing conditions to continue the Junior World Championship event with finally more wind than in the opening phase. With the discard to come into account it was set to be a tight day of the water as the competition got potentially even closer.

Overnight leaders EYAL and YAM finished in sixth position in the day’s first race, whilst FANTELA and MARENIC caught up to level points by winning the race in their group.

Race six therefore became the decider for which of the teams would end the day on top of the leaderboard. Meanwhile Luke PATIENCE and Twiggy GRUBE (GBR) were also still within shooting distance of the overall lead.

At the starting procedure of yesterday’s last race, the fleets of the different groups seemed to be nervous. The Race Committee decided to hoist the feared Black Flag and eight teams suffered.

With some excellent sailing performance, both EYAL and YAM and FANTELA and MARENIC won the race in their separate Groups. Both teams end up with seven points. Based on the rules of results order, the Croatians take the overall lead after day three and six races.

FANTELA Delighted

‘The sailing conditions were fantastic. After two days following the leader, we now take the lead and we will try our best to keep it,’ said FANTELA, helmsman of the leading team from Croatia.

The young sailors from Israel losing the Championship leadership took their loss with a positive outlook. ‘We didn’t have a good start in the first race today and finally finished sixth. Nevertheless, we won race six. We lost the lead, but we will try to keep Sime and Igor behind us tomorrow,’ said EYAL.

The best German Junior 470 sailors on home waters are Christopher LORENZ and Friedrich GEBERT, currently in tenth place overall.

Racing resumed today at 1100, with the qualifiers concluding on 29 July and the final Medal Race on 30 July.

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