2011 Israel 470 National Championships

The 2011 Israel 470 National Championships held in Haifa over the past weekend attracted a formidable line-up of racers, including many of the leading names in the 470 fleets, who also took the opportunity for some extra winter training whilst in Israel.

After three days of racing, over 11-13 February 2012, it was the home-grown and world class talent of world #7 team Gideon Kliger and Eran Sela from Israel and world #7 team Emmanuelle Rol and Hélène Defrance from France who took the National Championships titles in the men's and women's 470 events.

Fresh from their fifth overall at Rolex Miami OCR, Gideon Kliger and Eran Sela kept their pace and enjoyed a sweet victory on their home turf against the French team of Pierre Leboucher and Vincent Garos. Leboucher and Garos are the world's #5 470 men's team and finished just one place ahead of the Israelis in Miami – but you are only as good as your last event and the French team's supremacy in Miami could be repeated in Haifa. Finishing third overall were the world #9 team of Onan Barreiros and Aaron Sarmiento from Spain.

In the women's national championships fleet, the young French pairing of Emmanuelle Rol and Hélène Defrance claimed victory in what is their first major event of the season – a great first outing. Finishing just behind in second place in Haifa were team mates Camille Lecointre and Mathilde Geron, who continue their roll of brilliant racing and have secured top 10 finishes across a multitude of events over the past twelve months which saw them rewarded on last week's ISAF Sailing World Rankings by a leap to the world's #3 team - a career best. Lifting the bronze trophy on the podium were the home team of Gil Cohen and Dana Mamriev – as they also marked their first major event of 2011.

Images - top to bottom: Emmanuelle Rol and Hélène Defrance, men's top three, women's top three © Ilan Basik