It was another long day in Palma, at the Trophy Princess Sofia, due to fickle winds and the race committee had to wait until mid-afternoon to start racing. With big clouds over the bay, the pressure was uneven on the race course and made racing very tricky, which meant new heat winners in most classes, reducing the lead of most favorites or producing new ones.
In the 49er, class newcomers Tobias Schadewaldt and Hannes Baumann (GER) took the first two races out of the four sailed in the Gold fleet to gain five places in the overall ranking. With two second places today, John Pink and Rick Peacock (GBR) got to within one point of the Sibello (ITA) brothers who managed to hold that narrow lead after winning the last race.
The only race sailed in the Laser Gold gave the bullet to Nick Thompson (GBR), but Tonci Stipanovic (CRO) discarded his 14 points score to keep an advantage on Thompson.
In the 470 class, Beijing Bronze medallist in the 470, Nicolas Charbonnier with new crew Baptiste Meyer (FRA) held top position by one point after a mixed day. “The conditions were difficult today with shifts and different pressure on the course. We had a bad start in the first race. We are working on our speed, and are racing conservatively. We are very efficient under 15 knots so the conditions to date in Palma have suited us.” said Meyer. A race win brings the Swedish team of Anton Dahlberg and Sebastian Ostling from 8th to 3rd overall, but the day’s best improvers were Mantis Panagiotis and Pavlos Kagialis from Greece who climbed from 34th to 5th after discarding a disqualification and winning the last race! The rest of the ups and downs can be read here It’s all happening over there, in Spain, including Paralympic sailing. This photo by Jesús Renedo (more here) and there are a ton more Nico Martinez pix from all the classes here.
