Hungary’s Domonkos Nemeth won both races on the opening day of the 2023 Open and U23 Finn Europeans at Csopak on Lake Balaton.
Strong winds, big waves (for Balaton) and incessant rain provided a great challenge for the sailors as much as for the race management, despite the inclement and cold conditions, for it was a great day to be racing a Finn.
Laurent Hay (3, 2) of France is in second with 5 pts, with Filipe Silva (4, 4), from Portugal in third. Britain’s Lawrence Crispin (2, 7) is fourth on 9 pts and fifth is Alessandro Marega (7, 3) of Italy with 10 pts.
Nemeth had a comfortable win in Race 1, leading at the first mark and extending on every leg to take the gun. Second was Crispin and third Hay.
In Race 2 the wind dropped on the first beat to 13-15 knots and produced some big shifts. Hay led the French team round the top mark, with Nemeth further back in the top 10.
Hay maintained his lead downwind and up the second beat, but Nemeth rounded the final top mark just behind the Frenchman.
He then passed Hay downwind to take the second win of the day, with Hay second and Italy’s Marega ending a great day to cross in third.
Racing is schedule to continue Monday at 11.00 with lighter wind and less rain forecast, which should encourage the twenty competitors who decided to sit-out the second race ashore.
Finn Europeans – Day 1 Leaders after 2 races (71 entries)
1st HUN 80 Domonkos NÉMETH – – 1 1 – – 2 pts
2nd FRA 75 Laurent HAŸ – – 3 2 – – 5 pts
3rd POR 21 Filipe SILVA – – 4 4 – – 8 pts
4th GBR 74 Lawrence CRISPIN – – 2 7 – – 9 pts
5th ITA 983 Alessandro MAREGA – – 7 3 – – 10 pts
6th FRA 38 Audoin McHEL – – 10 5 – – 15 pts
7th AUS 330 James BEVIS – – 6 12 – – 18 pts
8th HUN 50 Akos LUKATS – – 11 8 – – 19 pts
9th UKR 7 Volodymyr STASYUK – – 9 10 – – 19 pts
10th HUN 911 Elemér Péter HAIDEKKER – – 14 6 – – 20 pts
11th RSA 1 Ian AINSLIE – – 12 11 – – 23 pts
12th SVK 1 Peter MOSNY – – 19 9 – – 28 pts
13th FIN 201 Kristian SJÖBERG – – 13 19 – – 32 pts
14th FRA 99 Marc ALLAIN DES BEAUVAIS – – 16 16 – – 32 pts
15th HUN 30 Kantor ZSIGMOND – – 17 17 – – 34 pts
16th FRA 66 Philippe LOBERT – – 22 13 – – 35 pts
17th NED 68 Joost HOUWELING – – 18 20 – – 38 pts
18th HUN 5 Tibor PALLAY – – 28 14 – – 42 pts
19th HUN 161 Botond ZIMMERMANN – – 24 18 – – 42 pts
20th HUN 11 Peter HAIDEKKER – – 15 31 – – 46 pts
21st HUN 7 Székely ANTAL – – 23 23 – – 46 pts
22nd POL 73 Andrzej ROMANOWSKI – – 21 26 – – 47 pts
23rd HUN 1 Geza HUSZAR – – 20 30 – – 50 pts
24th SUI 99 Laurent CHAPUIS – – 25 29 – – 54 pts
25th HUN 18 Bence RÁCZ – – 26 28 – – 54 pts
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