Racing gets underway in Istanbul
The International 420 European Championships got underway to an excellent start at Istanbul on Friday, with eight races sailed. In the open competition, boats are divided into four flights, for the qualifying series, which leads to division into gold and silver fleets after further races today. Three races were sailed, as planned, with the women’s fleet sailing two races of their Championship.
Sailing was in 15 – 18 knots, with some small shifts. In this very busy shipping area, the Coastguard protected the course from fast ferries and other commercial craft.
At this early stage in the open competition, there are particular strong showings from the teams of Germany, Great Britain and Greece. Tom Gillard & Sam Brearey (GBR) lead overall from Neoclaras Macarios & Oretis Tsang (GRE).
In the Ladies’ Championship, sailing at the top is very close, with 1 point separating each of the top three pairs, 11 points clear of the rest of the fleet. Imke Brockerhoff & Annika Storck (GER) lead from Claire Walsh & Jasmine Husband (GBR) with Katya Muller & Sandra-Mira Boschert (GER) in third place. In the second of the women’s races, thirteen boats were black flagged – possibly a learning point here for the rest of the Championships!