#420 – Howth Yacht Club's Douglas Elmes and Colin O'Sullivan lead Irish hopes after two days racing at the 420 Junior European Championships. The pair lie 14th in a 90–boat fleet. Next best Irish is Royal Cork pairing Peter McCann and Cara McDowell in 18th place. James McCann and Bill Staunton are 63rd and Kinsale's Cliodhna Ni Shuilleabhain and Niamh Doran are 65th. Full results here.
Race day 2 at the 420 and 470 Junior Europeans saw an increase in breeze out on the two race courses off Bourgas, Bulgaria. Two races for the 420 Open and Under 17 fleets and three for the 470 see a leaderboard hierarchy starting to become established.
The 470 Men have finished their 5-race qualification series, with the 470 Women continuing a single-series. In the 420 Open, gold and silver fleets will be decided after tomorrow's 2 races, with the 420 U17 fleet sailing a single series.
Three wins from four races puts the USA's Wiley Rogers/Jack Parkin in a class of their own so far at the 420 Junior European Championships. Fresh off the back of a silver medal haul at the 420 Worlds in Japan on 25 July, the team has kept their momentum and focus.
Split into two groups, the 90 boat 420 Open fleet will race two more qualification races tomorrow before being split into gold and silver for the 6-race final series.
An all top 5 scoreline to Nita hasson/Tal Harari (ISR) keeps them in second, with Souzana-Ioli Bakatsia/Nikoletta Efstathia Papageo (GRE) in third overall and top girls' team.
Leaderboard shuffles will be plenty tomorrow, when the series discard kicks in after race 5. Gainers will include Marc Llado/Javier Gonzalez (ESP) who, despite winning race 4, languish back in the pack in 33rd overall, but are set to bounce back to the front once they discard their UFD penalty from race 3. The pair won the silver fleet at the 420 Worlds, but will expect to be higher up the pack at the Junior Europeans.
420 Open - Top 5 Results after 5 Races
1. Wiley Rogers/Jack Parkin (USA) - 8 pts
2. Nitai Hasson/Tal Harari (ISR) - 13 pts
3. Souzana-Ioli Bakatsia/Nikoletta Efstathia Papageo (GRE) - 20 pts
4. Andrea Totis/Francesco Orlando (ITA) - 21 pts
5. Edoardo Ferraro/Francesco Orlando (ITA) - 26 pts
420 U17
At the 2014 420 Worlds, Ido Bilik/Ofek Shalgi (ISR) not only won the bronze medals, but were also awarded the William Sanchez Trophy as the highest placed team aged 16 and under in the year of the Championship. Rock forward one year and the team, still both only 15 years old, are thriving in the opportunity to race against their own age group in the new under-17 year old category. A 1,2 today places them 5 points above the Spanish brother partnership of Carlos Balaguer/Ignacio Balaguer, with Italy's Andrea Spagnolli/Kevin Rio in third.
Top placed girls team are Theresa Loffler/Theresa Heilingbrunner (GER) in 5th overall.
The 420 U17 fleet is racing a single 12-race series, with 2 races scheduled on Wednesday 12 August.
420 U17 - Top 5 Results after 5 Races
1. Ido Bilik/Ofek Shalgi (ISR) - 12 pts
2. Carlos Balaguer/Ignacio Balaguer (ESP) - 17 pts
3. Andrea Spagnolli/Kevin Rio (ITA) - 21 pts
4. Enrique Lujan/Pablo Lujan (ESP) - 22 pts
5. Theresa Loffler/Theresa Heilingbrunner (GER) - 30 pts
