Racing at the 49er European and Youth World Championship began on Sunday with a long distance race that spanned 9 kilometers of Lake Garda. After 1 hour and 20 minutes, the Alonso brothers of Spain outlasted the 63 other teams and crossed the line first followed by the Italian Savio brothers and Croatian Olympians Pavle Kostov and Petar Cupac.
49er - European Championship, Day 1 (63 entries)
1 ESP 9 Federico Alonso Tellechea 1pts
2 ITA 040 Andrea Savio 1pts
3 GER 216 Jan Hauke Erichsen 2
4 FRA 1309 Thomas Ribeaud 2
5 GER 1155 Philipp Kramer 3
6 CRO 113 Pavle Kostov 3
Leading GBR:
15 GBR 1027 James McIntosh and George Hand 8
Sixty-three teams representing eighteen nations will be on the starting line for fleet racing on Monday. Also being contested will be the top youth team to be crowned 49er Youth World Champions. Thirty-three youth teams are in attendance.
Additional titles will go to the “King of the Downwind” as well as the top speed for the entire event. Racing will begin with 2 days of qualifying series and the top 25 teams advancing to the finals with the top 12 teams from the Olympic Games an automatic invitation to the Gold fleet. The final series will be held in Theatre style with a 4-round knock-out style racing and a Grand Final series to be held on the last day with the final four boats.
Full results here
G New
10 September 2012 7:44