Brits Turn It On At The 49er Europeans

British teams Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes and Chris Draper with Peter Greenhalgh turned up the speed for the first day of the finals at the 49er European Championship in Gdynia, Poland.

Sailing four races, both teams reveled in the building breeze which started light and built to a strong 16 knots moving them into the top two positions. Allan Norregaard and Peter Lang of Denmark, working with an average point in their scores, stand in third. Overnight regatta leaders the Pietro Sibello and Gianfranco Sibello (ITA) have moved to ninth overall with an OCS and a tough day on the water.

The gold and silver fleets were first off the beach in the morning to what looked to be a light air day, but with building wind and waves creating challenging conditions. The Race Committee on the gold course made the cautious move to shift the course closer to the shore, which actually gave more stable wind and waves to the fleet.

The silver fleet is currently led by Erik Heil and Thomas Ploessel of Germany, with the bronze fleet still on the water at press time.

Racing for the finals continues on Friday with the Medal Race on Saturday. 

For more information, go to: www.49er.org  or www.49ereuropeans.org  

All photos for this event can be viewed at: http://photos.friedbits.com/201049ereuropeanchampionship