Big Breeze on Opening Day of Delta Lloyd Regatta

The fifth event on the ISAF Sailing World Cup circuit followed the trend of the previous European events, with a windy opening day. The strong north-easterly provided for excellent racing and thrills in all classes. The 470 Croatian teams mastered the gruelling conditions taking top spot in the 470 men.

Korea's Gunwoo Park and Sungmin Cho

Sime Fantela and Igor Marenic (CRO) opened the score in the 470 races with a victory and a third to take the lead in the 470 fleet. “We are happy, we had a great day of sailing. With such a strong wind it was important to sail conservatively and not capsize. We did two tactical mistakes on the second race and placed third. A great way to start the regatta!” Sven and Calle Coster (NED) are on equal points in second place.

The Greek team of Panagiotis Mantis / Pavlos Kagialis and Panagiotis Kampouridis/Stathis Papadopoulos have collected similar results in their respective group with a fifth and a bullet in the second race to be on equal points in third position. The World #1 team of Mat Belcher and Malcolm Page (AUS) won the first race in their group and followed up with a seventh in the second to finish the opening day in fifth overall.

An interesting day for the Chilean team of Martin Westcott and Fernando Borja saw challenges in race one. “We lost the spinnaker boom half way the first race and capsized”, explained Chilean sailor Martin Westcott. “We were afraid to break the mast because it is very shallow, so we decided to return to land. We didn’t want to risk our chances in future races.”
The Chileans were not the only victims of the strong wind. For the Ukrainian team of Igor Tsvetkov and Andriy Yadrin and the South African team of Jim Asentathi and Roger Hudson the strong winds also meant an end of their participation today. Ukrainian Andrey Yadrin and Tsvetkov Igor had damage to the stern of the boat and needed a “bit of glue and plastic and then we are on for tomorrow,” as stated by Yadrin.

68 470 Men's teams are competing here in Medemblik.

470 Men - Top 5 Overall

Interview with Kalle Coster:

470 Women

Ai Kondo and Wakako Tabata (JPN)

In the women's 470 it is a Brazilian double at the front of the fleet – as teams claim the first and second positions after two races. The Beijing Bronze medallists from Brazil are duelling at the top of the rankings. Isabel Swan now crewing with Martine Grael and the new pair of Fernanda Oliveira and Ana Luiza Barbachan, are first and second in the 27 boats fleet. This is likely to be just a taster of the battle set to unfold as both teams fight to represent their nation at the 2012 Olympic Games.

Class favourites, Ai Kondo and Wakako Tabata from Japan and the Spanish duo of Tara Pacheco and Berta Betanzos, who won Hyères, were penalised for a premature start in the second race and start the event in #13 and #19 overall. However, just watch this event unfold and it is predictable that we will soon see these teams rise up to the front of the fleet.

A stunning opening day from the Chinese – who have four teams here in Medemblik. Feng Huimin and Huang Lizhu are in #7 overall, with Xu Xiaomei and Yu Chunyan in #8 overall. Their teammates are sitting just outside the top ten in #12 and #15 respectively. An impressive opening day for this strong nation representation.

470 Women - Top 5 Overall

More Information:
Event Website

Top Image: Hiroki Maeda / Eisuke Noro (JPN)