With Monte Carlo as a back drop, racing kicked off soon after 1625 hours in light breeze conditions of around 8 knots, increasing later. The 470 Women fleet are racing a single series and contested two races today, with three races for 470 men who are split into yellow and blue fleets for the qualification series.

The usual leaderboard hierarchy in the 470 Men fleet, featuring race wins to the renowned Mat Belcher/Will Ryan and world #1 pairing of Carl-Fredrik Fock/Marcus Dackhammar. Over in the 470 women, the race winners suffered a bitter sweet day in each of their other races, leaving room for consistency to reward Portugal’s Mafalda Pires De Lima/Mariana Lobato at the top of the leaderboard.

470 WOMEN
Competing at their first ever 470 Championship, and after only two months in the boat together, Mafalda Pires De Lima/Mariana Lobato surprised themselves with their form, taking the lead from a consistent 4,6 scorecard. No pressure of expectation has clearly enabled this pair to shine.

“We didn’t expect this,” said Lobato, a London 2012 Olympian in the women’s match racing event, and the 2013 Women’s Match Racing World Champion. On the races ahead, Lobato continued, “We will try to sail fast and smart.”

The glory of leading the women’s opening race from start to finish went to Rio 2016 Olympians Barbara Cornudella/Sara Lopez from Spain. They took the advantage off the start line, holding the rest of the fleet behind them to claim what is their first ever race win at a 470 European Championship.  A follow-up result of 16th in race 2, gives them 6th overall on the leaderboard.

“It was a good race for us, we did a good start, so we were happy with that one,” explained Lopez. “We are really proud of our win. The start in race 2 was more or less ok, but then there was more wind and we couldn’t go as fast as we wanted.”

Race 2 victory went to Great Britain’s Amy Seabright/Anna Carpenter, who came off the pin end of the start line, went as fast as they could and it worked. They sit one point off the Portuguese series leaders, with France’s Jennifer Poret/Camille Hautefaye in third.

The world #1 partnership of Afrodite Zegers/Anneloes van Veen did not have their game exactly where they wanted it, with finishes of 11,8 positioning  them in 10th overall. A re-group tonight, and undoubtedly we will see them up front tomorrow.

Two races are scheduled for the 470 Women Tuesday 9 May, with their first start at 1200 hours.

470 Women - Provisional Results after 2 races
1. Mafalda Pires De Lima/Mariana Lobato (POR-14) - 10 pts
2. Amy Seabright/Anna Carpenter (GBR-7) - 11 pts
3. Jennifer Poret/Camille Hautefaye (FRA-14) - 12 pts
4. Noora Ruskola/Mikaela Wulff (FIN-2) - 14 pts
5. Linda Fahrni/Maja Siegenthaler (SUI-5) - 14 pts

470 MEN
Mat Belcher/Will Ryan were the last team to leave the boat park this morning, whilst the rest of the fleet were well on their way to the race track. A strategy perhaps; last to leave first to get to the finish? If so, it worked. They picked up back to back wins in blue fleet races 1 and 2, rounding off their day with an 11th in race 3. The series discard comes in play after 3 races, so the Aussies hold the lead by 2 points.

In the men’s yellow fleet, the world #1 pairing of Carl-Fredrik Fock/Marcus Dackhammar are second overall, having matched the Aussies with a win in the opening race, followed by a 2,5.

Battling around the track with the 470 Class maestros were the young Italian partnership of Giaomo Ferrrari/Giulo Calabro, scoring a 3,2,9 to end their day in third overall. Reigning 470 Junior European Championships, they are taking every opportunity to pace their heroes and learn from the best.

Ferrari commented, “It was a good day. The first race we came third and in the second race we were first round the first two marks,” notably with Belcher/Ryan behind them. “But then the Australians passed us in the second upwind.

“We are only at the start of the Championship, so step by step. We started 470 in 2014, but we are only 20 years old and very young, and the other sailors have a lot of experience. We want to continue to learn from these sailors,” Ferrari concluded.

Impressive form too from Malaysia’s young pairing of Faizal Norizan/Syukri Aziz who had their moment inside the top ten today. Well up with the leaders in race 1, they edged into 3rd, before settling for a 4th place finish, to sit in 16th overall from scores of 4,20,9. Eight years ago, Norizan claimed the silver medal at the 2009 Optimist Worlds, and his upwards trajectory has continued. The team made three appearances in the 420 fleet at the Youth Sailing World Championships, crowning their 420 career with a silver in 2014. Monaco marks their first ever 470 Championship.

Two races for the 470 Men on Tuesday 9 May will wrap up the qualification series, and decide the top 25 teams who will advance to gold fleet racing and a shot at the podium. The rest of the fleet will battle it out in the silver fleet.

470 Men - Provisional Results after 3 races
1. Mathew Belcher/Will Ryan (AUS-11) - 2 pts
2. Carl-Fredrik Fock/Marcus Dackhammar (SWE-350) - 3 pts
3. Giacomo Ferrari/Giulio Calabro (ITA-757) - 5 pts
4. Pavel Sozykin/Denis Gribanov (RUS-5) - 6 pts
5. Guillaume Pirouelle/Jeremie Mion (FRA-76) - 6 pts

ABOUT THE 2017 470 OPEN EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP
The 2017 470 Open European Championship is organized by Yacht Club de Monaco in co-operation with the International 470 Class Association. Racing starts on Monday 8 May, with an 11 race series scheduled for the 470 Men and 470 Women fleets, before the top 10 teams advance to the final Medal Race on Saturday 13 May 2017. Titles will be awarded in the 470 Men and Women for the overall Open European Championship leaderboard and medals will be awarded in the European Championship for European nations.

Nations represented at the 2017 470 Open European Championships are: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, China, Finland, France, Great Britain, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, Turkey, Ukraine.

ABOUT THE YACHT CLUB DE MONACO
With its new facilities designed by Lord Foster to host regattas, the Yacht Club de Monaco is fast establishing itself as an instigator of high level events by organising an international meeting in collaboration with World Sailing at least once a year. The 2,000 members from 68 nationalities who are the lifeblood of the Club love it, with many involved in the smooth running of these events in the “Flotte des Commissaires”. ‎

In accordance with its statutes, this exclusive private Club has a three-pronged mission. A prime function is to bring life to the harbour by organising regattas and other nautical events all year round. It is also a catalyst for the international yachting scene. And last but by no means least it has the resources to satisfy and develop the passion for yachting of its members and owners calling into the Principality

USEFUL LINKS
Championship Website - 2017europeans.470.org
Entry Lists - 2017europeans.470.org/en/default/races/race-inscriptions
Official Noticeboard - 2017europeans.470.org/en/default/toa/race
Results - 2017europeans.470.org/en/default/races/race-resultsall

HOW TO FOLLOW THE CHAMPIONSHIP
Photo Service – The Yacht Club de Monaco photographer will provide daily photo galleries in high and low resolution and provided on a daily basis free of rights for editorial use only. Team photo requests for editorial use should be made to: Presse@Yacht-Club-Monaco.mc. All images used should include the official photograph credit as per the photo. Photos are available at:
Championship Website: 2017europeans.470.org
Facebook: www.facebook.com/470-Olympic-Sailing
High Resolution Images on PhotoShelter: worldsailing.photoshelter.com/gallery-collection/OLYMPIC-CLASSES/C0000d3Vvt0BmDMQ - then use password: WSimages

Video – ICARUS Sports is the official TV production and distribution company for the Championship. Videos will be published at: www.youtube.com/470OlympicSailing

ICARUS will produce daily highlights videos for social media and websites. A selection of raw footage, sailor interviews for TV and Olympic teams may be available on request, subject to priority and time commitments. Please send requests to jason@icarus-sports.com and manager@470.org

Videos will be available to download from the following server options:

ICARUS SERVER VIA BROWSER:
Link: http://icarussailingmedia.cloudapp.net
Username: events
Password: news2017
Folders: 470 Open European Championship 2017

ICARUS SERVER VIA FTP:
Host: icarussailingmedia.cloudapp.net
Username: events
Password: news2017
Folders: 470 Open European Championship 2017

Press Releases – daily press releases will be published on the Championship website and distributed. If you would like to receive the press release, please sign up at 2017europeans.470.org/en/default/races/race-newsitem/textnews/sign-up-for-news-en

Social – you can follow the 470 European Championship on:
Championship website - 2017europeans.470.org
Facebook - www.facebook.com/470-Olympic-Sailing
Twitter - www.twitter.com/470Sailing
YouTube - www.youtube.com/470OlympicSailing

Get social using #470Euros #470Monaco #470Class

All enquiries to the 470 Class Manager, Luissa Smith, on manager@470.org