Mads Ebler and Ekaterina Skudina crowned 2010 EUROSAF European Match Race Champions

Mads Ebler from Denmark and Ekaterina Skudina from Russia are the brand new 2010 EUROSAF European Match Race champions after a day of great races that really went down to the wire. Ebler had to fight until the fifth and last race in order to beat Eric Monnin from Switzerland while Skudina beat Britain’s Lucy Macgregor in their fourth race when she crossed the finish line less than a foot ahead of her opponent. It was an impressive end to an impressive event with 24 teams in 2 classes, 2 separate races courses and a full set of double round robins, quarterfinals, semifinals and finals.

FINALS

Macgregor, the world’s number 1 match racer, started the finals on a wrong foot. She had her timings completely off at the prestart of the 1st race and crossed the starting line 15 seconds behind Skudina. From that point there was no way back and Skudina got her 1st point easily. Macgregor came back in the following race, controlled the prestart, got off the line with better speed and stayed ahead, the pattern to guarantee victory in this event.

Ekaterina Skudina, brand new European march race champion. Hard, 15 May 2010. Photo copyright Daniel Forster / go4image.com

Skudina proved in the 3rd race that it was up to who made less the boat handing errors was the one to have better chances. Macgregor got the upper hand at the start and led the race but a number of sloppy tacks in the second beat let Skudina get ahead and win. The fourth and final race was a nailbiter and it could have really gone one way or the other. Both crews made mistakes, Macgregor got a red flag at the bottom mark and let Skudina take the lead but then the Russian let the British separate in the last run and close the gap. It was finally Skudina that crossed the line in front by less than a foot.

It was a very important day for Russian sailing and Skudina who will now have to rush back to her desk in order to present her PhD in less than a week. Afterwards, both she and Macgregor will head to Medemblik in the Netherlands for the Sailing World Cup.

Ekaterina Skudina beats Lucy Macgergor and becomes the brand new European march race champion. Hard, 15 May 2010. Photo copyright Daniel Forster / go4image.com

The Open class final was decided on the starts or better said, as Ebler pointed out, on who got control in the first 2 minutes of the first beat. According to the brand new European champion the wind was easily readable, no unpredictable shift took place and its direction went back and forth with a distinct pattern. He got control of the first race but lost the following two as Monnin was better off the line.

The turning point came at the fourth race. As Monnin put it, the big shift that took place a couple of minutes before the start had made it clear that the first beat would almost be on the layline. As a result, it was vitally important to get the correct position on the line. Nevertheless, 30 seconds before the start, Monin admitted he lost control of the prestart and handed it to Ebler. The Dane didn’t want more, took advantage of the error and went off to win the race. The final race saw again Ebler leading from the outset after a very good start. He sailed flawlessly, controlled Monnin and left him with no possibility of overtaking.

After being crowned European champion, Ebler will now just have to cross to the north bank of Lake Constance in order to take part in Match Race Germany.

Mads Ebler, brand new European march race champion. Hard, 15 May 2010. Photo copyright Daniel Forster / go4image.com

PETIT FINAL

Alvaro Marinho from Portugal beat the French Pierre-Antoine Morvan 2-0. In the 1st race Marinho forced a penalty on Morvan at the prestart and as a result he could choose the left side, as he wanted. He controlled easily the race to the finish line. In the 2nd race, Morvan had a much better start and was comfortably ahead up to the last top mart. Unfortunately for the French, a left shift of 40 degrees at the second run powered Alvaro Marinho ahead, allowing to pass Morvan and get the bronze medal.

Lotte Meldgaard from Denmark had no real trouble dominating Cristiana Monina from Italy. A combination a very good starts and better boatspeed upwind secured the bronze medal for the Danish match racer.

SEMIFINALS

In the Women division the two semifinals were a true exhibition of match racing skills. Russia's Ekaterina Skudina prevailed over Cristiana Monina and advanced to the finals after defeating the Italian 3 to 1. Skudina was able to hit the start line with better speed and stay ahead. With the absence of any significant shifts on the Binnenbecken inner lake and with good crew work, the boat ahead stayed ahead.

The second semifinal between Lucy Macgregor and Lotte Meldgaard was a true roller coaster, again decided on who got a better start. Macgregor won the first two matches, then went on to lose the next two but finally managed to control Meldgaard in the last and decisive race. According to Macgregor, this semifinal was more about boat handling rather than match racing.

Semifinal races at the 2010 EUROSAF European Match Race Championship. Hard, 15 May 2010. Photo copyright Daniel Forster / go4image.com

In the Open division Mads Ebler continued with the strong performance he had shown during the event. He beat Portugal's Alvaro Marinho 3-0 but as he admitted it was far from being a walk in the park!! Marinho sailed very well and proved a tough opponent but Ebler's starts were right on spot, allowing him to control the races until the finish.

Finally, Eric Monnin beat Pierre-Antoine Morvan 3-2 and got a berth at the finals.

Mads Ebler beat Alvaro Marinho 3-0 at the semifinals. Hard, 15 May 2010. Photo copyright Daniel Forster / go4image.com

2010 EUROSAF European Match Race Championship - Final Results

FINAL
Women
Ekaterina Skudina (RUS) beats Lucy MacGregor (DEN) 3-1

Men
Mads Ebler (DEN) beats Eric Monnin (SUI) 3-2

SEMIFINALS
Women
Lucy Macgregor (GBR) beats Lotte Meldgaard (DEN) 3-2
Ekaterina Skudina (RUS) beats Cristiana Monina (ITA) 3-1

Open
Eric Monnin (SUI) beats Pierre-Antoine Morvan (FRA) 3-2
Mads Ebler (DEN) beats Alavro Marinho (POR) 3-0

Marinho and Meldgaard get the bronze at European Match Race Championship

Alvaro Marinho from Portugal and Lotte Meldgaard from Denmark get the bronze medal in the Open and Women division, respectively, of the 2010 EUROSAF European Match Race Championship.

Marinho beat the French Pierre-Antoine Morvan 2-0. In the 1st race Marinho forced a penalty on Morvan at the prestart and as a result went to the left, the side he wanted to go. He controlled easily the race to the finish line. In the 2nd race, Morvan had a much better start and was comfortably ahead up to the last top mart. Unfortunately for the French, a left shift of 40 degrees at the second run powered Alvaro Marinho ahead, allowing to pass Morvan and get the bronze medal.

Meldgaard had no real trouble dominating Cristiana Monina from Italy. A combination a very good starts and better boatspeed upwind secured the bronze medal for the Danish match racer.

Skudina, Macgregor, Ebler and Monnin advance to European Match Race ChampionshipFinals

The semifinals have just been completed under excellent conditions. As all sailors admitted it was by far the best day with a strong and constant breeze and the key was to have a good start and control the opponent.

In the Women division the two semifinals were a true exhibition of match racing skills. Russia's Ekaterina Skudina prevailed over Cristiana Monina and advanced to the finals after defeating the Italian 3 to 1. Skudina was able to hit the start line with better speed and stay ahead. With the absence of any significant shifts on the Binnenbecken inner lake and with good crew work, the boat ahead stayed ahead.

The second semifinal between Britain's Lucy Macgregor and Danish Lotte Meldgaard was a true roller coaster, again decided on who got a better start. Macgregor won the first two matches, then went on to lose the next two but finally manage to control Meldgaard in the last and decisive race. Macgregor will now face Skudina.

In the men division Mads Ebler continued with the strong performance he has shown during the event. He beat Portugal's Alvaro Marinho 3-0 but as he admitted it was far from being a walk in the park!! Marinho sailed very well and proved a tough opponent but Ebler's starts were right on spot, allowing him to control the races until the finish.

Finally, Eric Monnin from Switzerland beat Pierre-Antoine Morvan 3-2 and got a berth at the finals.

Semifinals pairing list of the 2010 EUROSAF European Match Race Championship

Greetings from windy Hard, Austria. The fourth and final day of the 2010 EUROSAF European Match Race Championship promises to be the most exciting. Since very early in the morning a strong NW breeze has been blowing over Lake Constance and the 8 crews are already on the water, ready to race the semifinals. Here's the pairing list:

WOMEN
Lucy Macgregor vs Lotte Meldgaard
Ekaterina Skudina vs Cristiana Monina

OPEN
Eric Monnin vs Pierre-Antoine Morvan
Alvaro Marinho vs Mads Ebler

The 2010 EUROSAF European Match Race semifinalists decided

Hard, Austria: The semifinalists in the 2010 EUROSAF European Match Race Championship were decided today. Four skippers from the Women division and four from the Open division have their berth for the semis guaranteed. Conditions were moderate to light, decreasing as the day progressed and as a result, the race committee was forced to stop the last two races (Bekatorou against Macgregor and Monnin against Arbuzov) earlier, in favor of carrying out the full schedule of semifinal and final races on Saturday.

Women

Cristiana Monina from Italy beat Dutch Renee Groeneveld three nil and advanced to the semifinals. The score doesn't reflect the tight and close matches they had to sail. As Monina stated, it was a very stressing and tiring day as the crews had to make a very difficult choice on where to go. Under these light conditions, it was almost impossible sniffing where that little extra puff would come from, and for her, the key was to have a clean start, be ahead and cover her opponent until the finish line.

For Lotte Meldgaard from Denmark it was a little bit easier as she had better boat speed upwind in all three races. Rita Gonçalves, her Portuguese opponent was able to make some gains downwind, but not enough to pass.

Lotte Meldgaard is on a roll with a 10-0 winning streak in the round robins and the quarterfinals. Hard, 14 May 2010. Photo copyright Daniel Forster / www.go4image.com

The day's most exciting quarterfinal was by far the one between Russia's Ekaterina Skudina and Silke Hahlbrock from Germany. The German started well and won the first two races. At that point it seemed it was over but the Russians didn't give up. They knew they had to sail flawlessly and so they did. With the dying breeze Skudina used her skills gained from Moscow's lakes and tied two all.

The decisive match was a real rollercoaster. Hahlbrock forced a penalty on Skudina in the dialup, something "not clever at all" as Skudina admitted, but despite the advantage she went on to pile up on crew errors. A sloppy spinnaker drop at the bottom mark gave Skudina a 26-second advantage that she used in order to offload the penalty at the last top mark. She kept in front of the German and won her ticket to the semifinals.

Ekaterina Skudina gets penalty at the prestart against Silke Hahlbrock but eventually wins the race. Hard, 14 May 2010. Photo copyright Daniel Forster / www.go4image.com

The last quarterfinal of the day, and longest one as the breeze was dropping, saw Britain's Lucy Macgregor beat Sofia Bekatorou from Greece 2-1. In the first race Macgregor got the upper hand during the prestart, got ahead of her opponent and covered her until the finish line. In the second race the two skippers had a pretty even start but Bekatorou found just a little bit more breeze and was able to be ahead at the first cross, staying in front until the end. In the third and final race Macgregor showed her skills once again at the prestart, squeezing her opponent at the committee boat and forcing her to a windward-leeward incident. Judging she had gained advantage, the umpires red flagged Bekatorou. Facing an opponent with the pedigree of Macgregor, there was little the Greek could do.

Lucy Macgregor advances to the semifinals. Hard, 14 May 2010. Photo copyright Daniel Forster / www.go4image.com

Open

Mads Ebler from Denmark came strong from a very good performance in the round robin and went on to beat Stefan Meister 3-1 and advance to the semifinals.

Pierre-Antoine Morvan also advances with the same score against Jacopo Pasini. Morvan won quite easily the first two races thanks to two "great starts", as he stated. He was then able to control his opponent even if they were very close races, in particular the first one. His third race finished with a loss due to a wrong tactical call. They fought for the right side at the start and were convinced the right would be favorable but it turned out that a nice left shift benefited Pasini. The final and decisive race was again a story of getting a good start and controlling his opponent.

Alvaro Marinho from Portugal beat Staffan Lindberg 3-1. Marinho was happy with the result, stating he sailed well, having won all 4 starts. It could have even been better because the race lost to Lindberg was decided in the final stretch of the last run. As the two boats were approaching the finish line, the breeze died down but Lindberg got a little puff that allowed him to cross the line in front. According to Marinho, his team has now achieved its initial goal which was to get to the semifinals.

Alvaro Marinho beats Staffan Lindberg and moves on to the semis. Hard, 14 May 2010. Photo copyright Daniel Forster / www.go4image.com

Finally, Eric Monin from Switzerland only had to win two races against Russia’s Andrew Arbuzov. As Monin pointed out, in the first race the start was very close but he managed to cross the line ahead of the Russian and control him until the finish. On the other hand, in the second race, after a split start the two yachts went to opposite sides. As it turned out, the Swiss had opted for the favored side and in the dying breeze finished almost one leg ahead of Arbuzov. Given the extremely light breeze and the tight schedule, the race committee decided to stop that quarterfinal at that stage, in favor of Saturday’s semifinals and finals.

Eric Monin had a great day after a slow start. He finishes second in his round robin group, then beats Andrew Arbuzov at the quarterfinals and moves on to the semis. Hard, 14 May 2010. Photo copyright Daniel Forster / www.go4image.com

2010 EUROSAF European Match Race Championship - Quarterfinals – Provisional Results

Women (in bold advances to semifinals)
Meldgaard (DEN) vs Gonçalves (POR) 3-0
Monina (ITA) vs Groneveld (NED) 3-0
Skudina (RUS) vs Hahlbrock (GER) 3-2
Macgregor (GBR) vs Bekatorou (GRE) 2-1 (Race committee stopped race at that stage)

Open (in bold advances to semifinals)
Morvan (FRA) vs Pasini (ITA) 3-1
Ebler (DEN) vs Meister (GER) 3-1
Marinho (POR) vs Lindberg (FIN) 3-1
Monin (SUI) vs Arbuzov (RUS) 2-0 (Race committee stopped race at that stage)

Six of the European Match Race Championship Semifinalists decided

Six out of the eight semifinalists in the 2010 EUROSAF European Match Race Championship have already been decided. Three skippers from the Women division and another three from the Open division have their berth for the semis guaranteed. Conditions have been moderate to light, decreasing as the day progressed

Women
Cristiana Monina from Italy and Lotte Meldgaard from Denmark beat their opponents three nil and now advance to the semifinals. The scores don't reflect the tight and close matches they had to sail. As Monina stated it was a very stressing and tiring day as the crews had to make a very a difficult choice on where to go. Under these light conditions, it was almost impossible sniffing where that little extra puff would come from. For her, the key was to have a clean start, be ahead and cover your opponent until the finish line.

For Meldgaard it was a little bit easier as she had better boat speed upwind. Her Portuguese opponent was able to make some gains downwind, but not enough to pass.

The day's most exciting quarterfinal was by far the one between Russia's Ekaterina Skudina and Silke Hahlbrock from Germany. The German started well and won the first two races. At that point it seemed it was over but the Russians didn't give up. They knew they had to sail flawlessly and so they did. With the dying breeze Skudina used her skills gained from Moscow's lakes and tied 2-2.

The decisive match was a real rollercoaster. Hahlbrock forced a penalty on Skudina in the dialup, something "not clever at all" as Skudina admitted, but despite the advantage she went on to pile up on crew errors. A sloppy spinnaker drop at the bottom mark gave Skudina a 26-second advantage that she used in order to offload the penalty at the last top mark. She kept in front of the German and won her ticket to the semifinals.

Open
Mads Ebler from Denmark, came strong from a very good performance in the round robin and went on to beat Stefan Meister 3-1 and advance to the semifinals.

Pierre-Antoine Morvan also advances with the same score against Jacopo Pasini. Morvan won quite easily the first two races thanks to two "great starts", as he stated. He was then able to control his opponent even if they were very close races, in particular the first one. His third race finished with a loss due to a wrong tactical call. They fought for the right side at the start and were convinced the right would be favorable but it turned out that a nice left shift benefited Pasini. The final and decisive race was again a story of getting a good start and controlling his opponent.

Finally, Alvaro Marinho from Portugal beat Staffan Lindberg 3-1. Marinho was happy with the result, stating he sailed well, having won all 4 starts. It could have even been better because the race lost to Lindberg was decided in the last stretch of the last run. As the two boats were approaching the finish line, the breeze died down but Lindberg got a little puff that allowed him to cross the line in front. According to Marinho, his team has now achieved its initial goal which was to get to the semifinals.

Women Round Robins at European Match Race Championship completed

Group B of the Women division has also completed its round robins after carrying out the remaining 3 flights. Cristiana Monina from Italy clinches first place while Greek Olympic medalist winner Sofia Bekatorou climbs three places to 2nd after a 4-0 winning streak. The first four teams of each group advance to the quarterfinals, and the organizers intention is to begin as soon as possible.

2010 EUROSAF European Match Race Championship
WOMEN Round Robins - Final Results

GROUP A (10/10 flights)
1. Skudina,RUS, 8-2
2. Meldgaard, DEN, 7-3
3. Macgregor, GBR, 7-3
4. Groeneveld, NED, 4-6
5. Dekleva, SLO, 3-7
6. Kliba, CRO, 1-9

GROUP B (10/10 flights)
1. Monina, ITA, 7-3
2. Bekatorou, GRE, 6-4
3. Gonçalves, POR, 6-4
4. Hahlbrock, GER, 5-5
5. Bossard, FRA, 4-6
6. Cameselle, ESP, 2-8

Open Round Robins at European Match Race Championship completed

The 2 remaining flights from the Group B round robins have just been completed under quite lighter conditions than yesterday. Mads Ebler lost both his matches to Alvaro Marinho and Eric Monnin, respectively, but the 8 points he had pocketed in the previous two days gave him enough of a cushion to still finish 1st.

While there was hardly any suspense about the first place, the second place fight was full of drama. Eric Monin from Switzerland and Jacopo Pasini were the two strongest contenders and it initially appeared Pasini would have a fairly easy set of matches. Nevertheless, Pasini just handed away the 9th match to Den Boer, last classified, after sailing just 2 laps instead of the 3. At the same time Monnin scored a decisive victory over Ebler.

The final and decisive match between Monnin and Pasini was a match race exhibition by the Swiss. He had absolute control of the prestart and pushed Pasini deep into the start box, forcing him into a port-starboard incident. As a result of his action, Pasini got ahead and was red flagged by the umpires. After offloading his penalty, there was very little the Italian could to to make any significant gain and threaten Monnin.

2010 EUROSAF European Match Race Championship
OPEN Round Robins - Final Results

GROUP A (10/10 flights)
1. Morvan, FRA, 7-3
2. Lindberg, FIN, 7-3
3. Arbuzov, RUS, 6-4
4. Meister, GER, 5-5
5. Spitzayer, AUT, 3-7
6. Stanczyk, POL, 2-8

GROUP B (10/10 flights)
1. Ebler, DEN, 8-2
2. Monnin, SUI, 7-3
3. Marinho, POR, 6-4
4. Pasini, ITA, 5-5
5. Cherry, GBR, 3-7
6. Den Boer, NED, 1-9

Round Robins of 2010 EUROSAF European Match Race Championship continue under exciting and testing conditions

It was expected to be a strong-wing day and the weather didn’t let us down in Hard, Austria on Thursday, second day of the 2010 EUROSAF European Match Race Championship. With a fresh breeze between 16-17 knots and gusts that reached 20 knots, the second round of the Round Robins certainly proved to be testing for the crews but also very exciting for the crowds that came to watch despite the unrelenting rain.

Unlike yesterday, when tactical smarts were the name of the game, Thursday's strong weather put a premium on crew work, boat handling and smooth maneuvers. In addition, the race committees on both courses opted to hold short 3-leg races making the even more physically demanding.

Women

Ekaterina Skudina from Russia was able to hold on to first place in Group A despite the great performance by Lucy Macgregor and, in particular, Lotte Meldgaard. After a subpar start on Wednesday with just 2 wins, Meldgaard swept today with five bullets, also beating the world’s number one match racer Lucy Macgregor and climbing to second overall on tiebreak. According to Meldgaard, today’s success was a question of sharpening their skills on the Scholtz22 yachts. It cost them the first three races of the Round Robins but then led to a 7-race winning streak!

As the day passed, the breeze died down and Group B was affected. Only two of the five scheduled flight were raced today and Rita Gonçalves from Portugal came on top with 5 wins, tied with Italy’s Cristiana Monina.

Rita Gonçalves (left) leads Group B ahead of Cristiana Monina. Hard, 13 May 2010. Photo copyright Daniel Forster / www.go4image.com

Ekaterina Skudina won the Group A Round Robins. Hard, 13 May 2010. Photo copyright Daniel Forster / www.go4image.com

Open

In Group A, Pierre-Antoine Morvan, the French match racer, made a superb comeback from yesterday’s 3-2 score and finished on top of leaderboard with 7 wins, tied with Finn Stafan Lindberg. The French qualified first on tiebreak due to his two victories against Lindberg. Despite the stronger breeze, Morvan stated that he constantly had to be aggressive and opportunistic with the constant changes in wind direction.

Similarly to Women, Group B of the Open division saw the last two flights cancelled. The undisputed leader in this group, and only unbeaten so far in the European Championship, is Mads Ebler from Denmark. Yet, as Ebler points out, the results don’t reflect the tight and close races he had to win and two or three of them could have gone very easily the other way. According to Ebler, one of the strong points of his team in the lighter wings of the opening day was to continuously discuss the tactics onboard, sail relaxed and never panic when things seem to go wrong.

Pierre-Antoine Morvan won the Group A Round Robins. Hard, 13 May 2010. Photo copyright Daniel Forster / www.go4image.com

Young Italian match racer Jacopo Pasini now sits 2nd in the Group B Round robins. Hard, 13 May 2010. Photo copyright Daniel Forster / www.go4image.com

Racing will resume on Friday at 10am with the completion of the Round Robins for Group B and depending on weather conditions the organization will decide on the schedule.

Set on the banks of beautiful Lake Constance and located a couple of miles from the meeting point of the Austrian, German and Swiss borders, picturesque Hard is an ideal venue. Racing takes place a few dozens of meters from the shore, giving the public the chance to be as close as possible to the action.

2010 EUROSAF European Match Race Championship - Round Robin 1&2 – Provisional Results

Women

Group A (10/10 flights)	Group B (7/10 flights)
1. Skudina,RUS, 8-2	1. Gonçalves, POR, 5-2
2. Meldgaard, DEN, 7-3	2. Monina, ITA, 5-2
3. Macgregor, GBR, 7-3	3. Hahlbrock, GER, 4-3
4. Groeneveld, NED,4-6	4. Bekatorou, GRE, 3-4
5. Dekleva, SLO, 3-7	5. Bossard, FRA, 2-5
6. Kliba, CRO, 1-9	6. Cameselle, ESP, 2-5

Open

Group A (10/10 flights)	Group B (8/10 flights)
1. Morvan, FRA, 7-3	1. Ebler, DEN, 8-0
2. Lindberg, FIN, 7-3	2. Pasini, ITA, 5-3
3. Arbuzov, RUS, 6-4	3. Monnin, SUI, 5-3
4. Meister, GER, 5-5	4. Marinho, POR, 4-4
5. Spitzayer, AUT, 3-7	5. Cherry, GBR, 2-6
6. Stanczyk, POL, 2-8	6. Den Boer, NED, 0-8

European Match Race Championship - Final Results of Round Robin 1 -

It was expected to be a strong-wing day and so far this morning the weather hasn't let us down in Hard, Austria. With a fresh breeze between 16-17 knots and gusts that reached 20 knots, the final races of the first Round Robin certainly proved to be testing for the crews but also very exciting for the crowds that came to watch despite the unrelenting rain.

Unlike yesterday, when tactical smarts were the name of the game, Thursday's strong weather put a premium on crew work, boat handling and smooth maneuvers. Organizers were able to quickly wrap up the remaining 3 flights in the Open division and the 2 flights in the Women division of Group B. Mads Ebler from Denmark won all three matches and is now holding the top spot in Group B with a perfect 5-0 score. Cristiana Monina from Italy won her first race and lost her second one, retaining her first place with a 4-1 score.

The second Round Robin started after a short break, enough for the crews to switch race areas. The Open division will now be racing inside the Binnenbecken inner lake, while the girls will take their turn racing in Lake Constance.

2010 EUROSAF European Match Race Championship - Round Robin 1 – Final Results

Women

Group A (5/5 flights)	Group B (5/5 flights)
Skudina,RUS, 5-0	Monina, ITA, 4-1
Macgregor, GBR, 3-2	Hahlbrock, GER, 3-2
Meldgaard, DEN, 2-3	Gonçalves, POR, 3-2
Groeneveld, NED, 2-3	Cameselle, ESP, 2-3
Dekleva, SLO, 2-3	Bekatorou, GRE, 2-3
Kliba, CRO, 1-4	Bossard, FRA, 1-4

Open

Group A (5/5 flights)	Group B (5/5 flights)
Meister, GER, 4-1	Ebler, DEN, 5-0
Lindberg, FIN, 3-2	Marinho, POR, 3-2
Morvan, FRA, 3-2	Pasini, ITA, 3-2
Arbuzov, RUS, 2-3	Monnin, SUI, 2-3
Spitzayer, AUT, 2-3	Cherry, GBR, 2-3
Stanczyk, POL, 1-4	Den Boer, NED, 0-5

Tricky and tough opening day of the 2010 EUROSAF European Match Race Championship

It was a tough and tricky opening day on Lake Constance for all 24 teams that take part in the 2010 EUROSAF European Match Race Championship. A light and changing breeze kept the crews and organizers on their toes.

The two race committees had a full plate with 30 matches each, divided into two groups. Women sailed inside the Binnenbecken inner lake while the race course for the Open division was set on Lake Constance. Conditions were typical of European lakes and the crews that played the shifts and kept in sync with them had a clear advantage.

Women

In Group A of the Women division the undisputed leader was Ekaterina Skudina from Russia with five bullets. Despite the fact Skudina and her crew have been sailing together for less than a year, the years of training on Pirogovo lake on the outskirts of Moscow bore their fruit. According to Skudina, conditions on the Binnenbecken lake are very similar to the ones in her hometown, so the light winds and shifts they experienced today were a familiar pattern.

Three races, out of the five scheduled, took place in Group B and Italy’s Cristiana Monina came on top undefeated. Yet, as Monina points out, it is still the beginning of a long and challenging week and it is too early to know how it will play out. The key for her today was to keep the boat moving and try to make as few mistakes as possible or at least less than what the other crew made. For Monina, luck could have been a positive factor today but only combined with good crew work.


Open

In Group A, Stefan Meister from Germany caused the biggest upset with 4 victories. As Meister stated, a combination of relaxed sailing and a bit of tactical advantage from sailing in the German and Austrian lakes helped him clinch the top spot as he felt confident with the light breeze and the constant changes in direction. This doesn’t come as a surprise to Pierre-Antoine Morvan, the top seeded skipper of the European Match Race Championship, who knew Meister would be one of the skippers to keep a close eye upon.

Group B had less luck as it was only possible to hold just two races under very light conditions. Mads Ebler from Denmark and Alvaro Marinho are now leading with 2 victories each. For Marinho there was no doubt what the key was in these very tricky conditions; spot the wind and sail there.


Round Robin continues on Thursday

Racing continues tomorrow with another full Round Robin within the four groups. The organizers, weather permitting, will try to fire the starting gun at 10am for another long day on the water.

Set on the banks of beautiful Lake Constance and located a couple of miles from the meeting point of the Austrian, German and Swiss borders, picturesque Hard is an ideal venue. Racing takes place a few dozens of meters from the shore, giving the public the chance to be as close as possible to the action.


2010 EUROSAF European Match Race Championship - Round Robin 1 – Provisional Results

Women

Group A (5/5 flights)	Group B (3/5 flights)
Skudina,RUS, 5-0	Monina, ITA, 3-0
Macgregor, ENG, 3-2	Bekatorou, GRE, 2-1
Meldgaard, DEN, 2-3	Gonçalves, POR, 2-1
Groeneveld, NED, 2-3	Cameselle, ESP, 1-2
Dekleva, SLO, 2-3	Hahlbrock, GER, 1-2
Kliba, CRO, 1-4	Bossard, FRA, 0-3

Open

Group A (5/5 flights)	Group B (2/5 flights)
Meister, GER, 4-1	Marinho, POR, 2-0
Lindberg, FIN, 3-2	Ebler, DEN, 2-0
Morvan, FRA, 3-2	Monnin, SUI, 1-1
Arbuzov, RUS, 2-3	Pasini, ITA, 1-1
Spitzayer, AUT, 2-3	Cherry, GBR, 0-2
Stanczyk, POL, 1-4	Den Boer, NED, 0-2

European Match Race Championship - Round Robin groups

The 2010 EUROSAF European Match Race Championship kicks off this morning with the Round Robin races. In each division, Women & Open, the 12 skippers have been divided into 2 groups of 6 and a full round robin will take place within each of the 4 groups.

With a few minutes left until the starting gun is fired for the first time, conditions are light and the skies are overcast, after the usual early-morning rain. Everybody's hope is that we could have a repeat of yesterday's weather with clear skies and sunshine around noon, something that would allow for a bit of thermal breeze in the early afternoon.

Today, women will be racing inside the Binnenbecken lake while the open division races will take place inside the Constance lake.

Round Robin Groups

Women - A	Women - B	Open - A	Open - B
Macgregor	Hahlbrock	Morvan	Ebler
Meldgaard	Bossard	Arbuzov	Marinho
Groenveld	Monina	Lindberg	Pasini
Skudina	Gonçalves	Stanczyk	Monnin
Kilba	Cameselle	Meister	Cherry
Dekleva	Bekatorou	Spitzayer	Den Boer