A two-hour postponement ashore transformed into a stable 12-15 knot breeze, stretching the legs of teams and seeing some changes in the leader board from the 2 races for all fleets. No change in the series leaders who maintain their hold at the front.

420 OPEN

The USA’s Wiley Rogers/Jack Parkin continue to be on fire in the 420 Open fleet, knocking out two more genius wins today. Right now, they look to be unstoppable and dominate the forty-five teams qualified to gold fleet racing.

Second placed Souzana-Ioli Bakatsia/Nikoletta Efstathia Papageo (GRE) are keeping the Americans close in their sights, securing matching wins in the blue fleet. But it will take a day of disaster to unseat the Americans.

The series discard kicked in after race 5, giving some leaderboard changes, and accelerating Greece’s Nikolaos Brilakis/Georgios Karadimas up the leaderboard to third, helped by their 3,2 performance.

The 90 boat 420 Open fleet is now split into equal fleets of 45 boats for the gold and silver fleet six race final series, with 2 races scheduled on Thursday 13 August.

420 Open - Provisional Top 5 Results after 6 Races
1. Wiley Rogers/Jack Parkin (USA) - 5 pts
2. Souzana-Ioli Bakatsia/Nikoletta Efstathia Papageo (GRE) - 10 pts    
3. Nikolaos Brilakis/Georgios Karadimas (GRE) – 19 pts
4. Nitai Hasson/Tal Harari (ISR) - 20 pts
5. Edoardo Ferraro/Francesco Orlando (ITA) - 21 pts

420 U17
Another super consistent performance from series leaders in the 420 under 17 fleet, Ido Bilik/Ofek Shalgi  (ISR) who doubled their points advantage over the fleet.

“The racing here is really hard, it is a really high level fleet,” said Shalgi. “We just hope we can continue to lead.”

The pair picked up the bronze medal at the 2014 420 World Championships, but chose to race the new under 17 age fleet for the Junior Europeans, for one simple reason.

“Our coach felt we would be able to secure a good place and we thought about it,” said Bilik, “and felt that it was really important to be able to race in our own age group and get hopefully a top finish.”

Moving up to second are Aggelos Arvanitis/Theofanis Kanakaris (GRE) who can now discard their 16th place result from race 3 and finished close to the Israelis with two second places. Brothers Carlos Balaguer/Ignacio Balaguer (ESP) drop one leaderboard place to third.

In 7th overall, Theresa Loffler/Theresa Heilingbrunner (GER) hold the card of top placed girls team.

The 420 U17 fleet is racing a single 12-race series, with 2 races scheduled on Thursday 13 August

420 U17 - Provisional Top 5 Results after 6 Races
1. Ido Bilik/Ofek Shalgi (ISR) - 10 pts
2. Aggelos Arvanitis/Theofanis Kanakaris (GRE) – 20 pts
3. Carlos Balaguer/Ignacio Balaguer (ESP) - 21 pts
4. Enrique Lujan/Pablo Lujan (ESP) - 25 pts
5. Andrea Spagnolli/Kevin Rio (ITA) - 29 pts    

470 MEN
Matteo Capurro/Matteo Puppo (ITA) raced a day of two halves, winning race 6, before scoring their worst result of the series, a 17th which now counts as their discard. With two double-digit result on their scoreline, they have little room to manoeuvre. Consistency is the name of the game.

Capurro explained their day, saying, “The first race was good with more wind than the second, which is better for us. In the second race our problem was that we lost a lot of places in the first upwind, but each time there was  right shift and we just didn’t catch the good wind. But, it was not a bad day.”

“This year the competition is no easier than other years, as all the other teams are also growing in skills really well, so it is very difficult to succeed in the fleet,” said Puppo. “But we stay focused on our boat and our racing.”

“Many of the teams have been racing the 470 circuit for many years, so friendships have grown strong,” commented Puppo. "It is really nice to have friends from other nations and ashore we all stay together, but on the water it all changes.”

Three Spanish teams are in hot pursuit of the Italians, with just 4 points separating them in second to fourth on the leaderboard. Second placed David Charles /Alex Charles are the only team counting an all top-ten scoreline, and their consistency looks set to reward them further as the Championship unfolds.

Claiming the win in the day’s second race were Turkey’s Halil Demirel/Firat Sahin who move up into the top ten.

470 Men – Provisional Top 5 Results after 7 Races
1. Matteo Capurro/Matteo Puppo (ITA) - 19 pts
2. David Charles/Alex Charles (ESP) - 22 pts    
3. Jose Manuel Ruiz/Fernando Davila Gamez (ESP) – 25 pts
4. Enric Noguera/Pero Terrones Gari (ESP) – 26 pts
5. Alexandros Kavvas/Akylas Drougkas (GRE) - 30 pts

470 WOMEN
Spain’s new partnership of Silvia Mas/Paula Barcelo continue to work their magic on the race track, scoring a 3,5 to extend their points advantage. Only last year, they were rivals in the 420 Class, but decided to join forces and focus on a campaign towards Tokyo 2020.

Team-mates Bàrbara Cornudella Ravetllat/Sara López Ravetllat, who are also cousins, sit in second with the recently crowned 470 Junior World Champions Benedetta Di Salle/Alessandra Dubbini (ITA) moving up to third overall.

Just last year Mas and Barcelo were competing at the 420 Worlds, finishing 8^th and 7^th respectively, but a proposal from Barcelo set the friends’ new partnership in the 470.

“I wanted to sail the 470,” said Barcelo, “and I thought Silvia would be the best helm, and I actually like to crew more than helm.”

“It is a little bit difficult sometimes as I always think like a helm,” added Barcelo. “I have to change a lot of things and have to think like a crew. We sometimes have arguments but that is the nature of the game.”

Mas added, “I was only going to switch to the 470 if I could sail with Paula. She is very good physically and has a very sharp mind.”

470 Women - Provisional Top 5 Results after 7 Races
1. Silvia Mas/Paula Barcelo (ESP) – 20 pts
2. Bàrbara Cornudella Ravetllat/Sara López Ravetllat (ESP) - 26 pts    
3. Benedetta Di Salle/Alessandra Dubbini (ITA) – 29 pts
4. Roberta Caputo/Alice Sinno (ITA) – 31 pts
5. Maria Bozi/Rafaillina Klonaridou (GRE) – 39 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.

Media Information
Media enquiries to: manager@470.org

Viktor Nalbantov is the Official Championship Photographer. Daily photo galleries will be available on the Championship website and 420 Facebook and 470 Facebook. 

Icarus Sailing Media will be providing daily highlights videos from Monday 10 August on the Championship website video gallery and 470 Class YouTube channel.

Social Media
420 class on Facebook facebook.com/international420classassociation

470 class on Facebook facebook.com/470olympicsailing

Championship website: http://2015junioreuropeans.420sailing.org

About the 2015 420 Junior European Championship, U17 Junior European Championship, 470 Men Junior European Championship, and 470 Women Junior European Championship
The 2015 420 and 470 Junior European Championships, 8-15 August 2015, are organized by Yacht Club Port Bourgas, in co-operation with the Bulgarian 420 & 470 National Class Association, the International 420 Class Association, the International 470 Class Association, the Municipality of Bourgas, the Port of Bourgas and under the auspices of the Bulgarian Sailing Federation. 412 sailors from 30 nations are competing, with 90 boats in the 420 Open fleet, 34 teams in the U17 420 fleet, 33 teams in the 470 Women and 51 teams in the 470 Men. The 420 Open fleet will contest a 12 race series, with 6 races in the qualification series and 6 in the final, with a single race discard coming into play after race five. The 420 U17 fleet will contest a 12 races single series. The 470 Men fleet contest a qualification series of 5 races, a final series of 6 races and the top 10 advancing to the Medal Race on Saturday 15 August. The 470 Women contest an 11 races single series, with the top 10 advancing to the Medal Race on Saturday 15 August.