Another fine start to a racing day but hopes of the wind kicking in early contradicted the wind forecast of wind arriving late. It was going to be yet another long day and the skippers meeting was set for midday, first possible warning signal at 1400[more], then there was a postponement to 15.00, although racing was unlikely to start until very late, maybe 18.00. However, AP came down just after 16.00 with winds of 10-12 knots but after being sent out around 17.00 the result was a ‘false start’. The wind initially picked up, then dropped away, and after a long delay waiting on the water the sailors were sent ashore to wait for suitable conditions.
As expected the wind conditions did improve – even as the sailors were returning to shore! With enough time still to get 2 ‘back to back’ races completed for all divisions, at 18.30 we went into racing sequence. With 2 further races the third and final discard came into play and podium positions looked settled. The prospect of further races on the final day looked unlikely.
Estonian Tristen Kivi consolidated his place at the top of the youth fleet with 2 bullets. Only one point now separated 2nd and 3rd placed youth, Karl-Eric Saarm (EST) and Martin Hovda (NOR). Leading Junior, under 17 years of age, was Denmark’s Casper Jepsen, who had finished mid fleet in all 11 races. In the women’s fleet the day belonged to Margit Germany from Austria who, after equipment failures earlier in the contest, had to resort to competing on her smaller, and older, change down sail.
Over in the 12.5 fleet the battle between current champion Janis Preiss (Latvia) and Fernando Martinez (Spain) continued – each winning a race. Miguel Martinho, from neighbouring Portimao, continued his recovery from his day one absence to move up into 3rd overall – posting two 3rd places in the races the day before.
Top 3 in each division:
Youth
1st Tristen Kivi (Estonia)
2nd Karl-Eric Saarm (Estonia)
3rd Martin Hovda (Norway)
Master
1st Janis Peiss (Latvia)
2nd Fernando Martinez (Spain)
3rd Miguel Martinho (Portugal)
Women
1st Anissa Mohrath (Denmark)
2nd Ketija Birzule (Latvia)
3rd Margit Germany (Austria)
