SAILING. A brief wait ashore at Yacht Club Port Bourgas until early afternoon for the 420 and 470 fleets, when the sea breeze kicked and settled to a stable breeze of around 12 knots. Two races decided the 470 Men and Women top-10 medal race line up on Saturday and the game plans will be intently discussed, with close points and multiple teams in the podium running. The 470 Men and Women teams not in the medal race will sail a final race.

Photo: Viktor Nalbantov / 470 Class

In the 420, two more races for the 420 Junior European and 420 U17 Junior European fleets will decide the podium line-up on Saturday. The series leaders look unstoppable, but all open behind.

470 MEN

Matteo Capurro/Matteo Puppo (ITA) broke the tiebreak with David Charles/Alex Charles (ESP) with a win in race 10 giving them a tight 3 point advantage, extending to 7 points from their 4th in race 11.

The Charles brothers sit in second with a 7 point gap to Malte Winkel/Matti Cipra (GER) in third. Sitting on tiebreak with the Germans are Jose Manuel Ruiz/Fernando Davila (ESP) and both teams are in the hunt for silver or bronze. In theory any of the top 5 placed teams could secure a medal.

The battle for gold looks set to unfold between Capurro/Puppo, who are focused on achieving a career best result in their last year in the 470 junior fleet, and David and Alex Charles.

“It is an amazing regatta, because every day we have had different results,” said Capurro. “None so bad, but up and down. We win one race and then we drop back. There are four or five good teams here and it is great fighting together.

“It was very close today with Winkel and Cipra and we managed to beat them just in the last 100 metres of the race. It is fun.”

“We prefer windy conditions,” continued Puppo, “as it is easier for us to sail the boat. It is hard though as every team has the same speed. You have to be focused on the whole fleet as anyone can pass you.”

“For the medal race we will sail easy, smart and without problems,” explained Capurro. “We will do the best we can, try to avoid fighting, focus on ourselves and try to finish before the other guys.”

An amazing performance from Spain’s Manuel Ruiz/Fernando Davila, who last year won the 420 World Championship, and this year have taken the 470 fleet by storm.

Feeling the heat in the 470 Men, were Turkey’s Halil Demirel/Firat Sahin in 10th overall. A 3rd place in race 10 kept them safe and meant they could breathe easy, as they climbed the leaderboard to 8th overall. Simen Diesch and Patrick Aggeler of Germany advanced into the top 10, knocking out Argentina’s Agustin Romero/Fermin Jacobs.  The podium hunt is full on tomorrow

The 470 Men Medal Race is scheduled for 1430 hours with the rest of the fleet sailing a final race 12

470 Men – Provisional Top 10 after 11 Races
 1. Matteo Capurro/Matteo Puppo (ITA) - 352 pts
 2. David Charles/Alex Charles (ESP) - 42 pts   
 3. Malte Winkel/Matti Cipra (GER) – 49 pts
 4. Jose Manuel Ruiz/Fernando Davila Gamez (ESP) – 49 pts
 5. Diogo Pereira/Manuel Macedo (POR) – 66 pts

470 WOMEN
 Bàrbara Cornudella/Sara López (ESP) extended their lead over the pack, positioning themselves 15 points ahead of second placed Maria Bozi/Rafaillina Klonaridou (GRE), with Benedetta di Salle/Alessandra Dubbini (ITA) in third.

Back to back wins puts Bozi/Klonaridou back in the podium frame, with a 2 point advantage over Di Salle/Dubbini. Just a few weeks ago the Greeks claimed silver at the 470 Junior Worlds, with the Italians taking gold, so a repeat battle is set for Saturday's medal race.

"It was nice for us because it was windy," said Bozi. "We had good starts, not the best, but OK. We managed to stay in the centre of the fleet, so we got to the first mark ahead and just controlled the fleet." The pair followed the same strategy in race 11.

They had a slow start to their series, which they put down to being too conservative in the first few days. Saturday will mark their fourth medal race experience, and they will focus on holding their nerve in a balance of defence and attack strategy, as they are the team most likely to unseat Cornudella/Sara López.

"We are so close with the other two teams, so we will see how it unfolds," said Bozi. "We will be focused on keeping our place and going forwards. For sure it will be more difficult than the fleet race."

Cornudella/Sara López have guaranteed themselves a podium finish, with just the colour to decide. Whatever the outcome, their performance at the 470 Junior Europeans is a career best. Behind them, each of the next four teams has a shot at the podium.

The 470 Women Medal Race is scheduled for 1345 hours with the rest of the fleet sailing a final race 12.

470 Women - Provisional Top 5 Results after 11 Races
 1. Bàrbara Cornudella/Sara López Ravetllat (ESP) - 36 pts   
 2. Maria Bozi/Rafaillina Klonaridou (GRE) – 51 pts
 3. Benedetta Di Salle/Alessandra Dubbini (ITA) – 53 pts
 4. Silvia Mas/Paula Barcelo (ESP) – 54 pts
 5. Roberta Caputo/Alice Sinno (ITA) – 63 pts

420 OPEN
 The USA’s Wiley Rogers/Jack Parkin have so far wrapped up 6 wins from 10 races and are in their own race at the front of the fleet. It looks impossible for any team to displace them, and once they secure a solid result in race 11, the 420 Open Junior European Championship title will have their name on it.

"It kind of feels like we are just sailing on, not really worrying about results and going out to have fun," said Rogers. "We have just kind of locked in on our speed and feel really fast in the boat. We are figuring out how to use our speed to our advantage and we have really worked that out here."

"I don't want to jinx us, but it's going to be pretty hard to mess up at this point," said Parkin. "We will just go out like it is another day and put two solid races in and end on a high note."

All change behind, as Greece’s Souzana-Ioli Bakatsia/Nikoletta Papageorgiou drop from 2nd to 6th after a frustrating day of racing secured the pair a 39, 15 scorecard. Moving up to second are Will Logue/Bram Brakman (USA), with Martin Wrigley/Marcus Tressler (GBR) making a first time appearance in the top three.

Two races for the 420 Open fleet on Saturday, with the first start scheduled for 1200 hours.

420 Open - Provisional Top 5 Results after 10 Races
 1. Wiley Rogers/Jack Parkin (USA) - 16 pts
 2. Will Logue/Bram Brakman (USA) - 50 pts
 3. Martin Wrigley/Marcus Tressler (GBR) – 66 pts
 4. Nitai Hasson/Tal Harari (ISR) - 74 pts
 5. Rio Demi/Maria Coluzzi (ITA) - 79 pts

420 U17
 Ido Bilik/Ofek Shalgi (ISR) delivered another superior day, with their 3,1 scoreline positioning them 31 points ahead of Albert Torres/Antoni Massanet (ESP).

The Spanish pair has skipped up from 4th to 2nd and sit on tiebreak with Aggelos Arvanitis/Theofanis Kanakaris (GRE) in third. All change in the top girls team, as Great Britain's Katie Davies/Grace Summer take over the leading position, ahead by one place and 4 points of overnight leaders Theresa Loffler/Theresa Heilingbrunner (GER).

Two races on Saturday will decide the  podium line-up.

420 U17 - Provisional Top 5 Results after 10 Races
 1. Ido Bilik/Ofek Shalgi (ISR) - 18 pts
 2. Albert Torres/Antoni Massanet (ESP) – 49 pts
 3. Aggelos Arvanitis/Theofanis Kanakaris (GRE) – 49 pts
 4. Matteo Zerbin/Giulio Maccarone (ITA) – 51 pts
 5. Enrique Lujan/Pablo Lujan (ESP) - 58 pts

Thirty nations are competing:  Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belarus, Bulgaria, Canada, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, USA.

470.org
14 Aug 2015