Day 3 Evening (Qualification).

Three of five groups had starts and finishes today but in a contraversial move, the race officer on the Men's course abandoned the finish of 2 men's groups after a 35 degree windshift . The breeze died for 1-15 minutes, This would normally be applauded however this happened just 30 metres before the finish line and with 2 minutes to go in the time limit.

The Women's course was blessed with consistant 6-8 knot of breeze throughout their races , but the breeze disappeared immediately after the finish. The two Men's groups, still requiring a final race to complete the qualification stage of the Championships, stayed on the water for a further 2 hours and attempted a start only to be abandoned at the top mark.

As usual, Half of the fleet will be very happy to 'live to fight another day' but the other half of the fleet will be very unhappy with the Race Officers move. This will mean that 2 groups will sail Thursday to complete the Qualification stage delaying the start of the final series.

Vesna Deklava & Klara Maucec of Slovenia recovered today from a disappointing 21st in yesterday's last heat to finish 3rd today and take the lead overall from Therese Torgersson & Vendela Zachrisson of Sweden. Deklava/ Maucec have steadily improved their standing since a podium finish at last years 47 European Championships.

Japanese sailors Yuka Yoshisako & Mitsuko Satake have taken a comanding lead in their Olympic selection regatta to be 3rd overall and some 23 points ahead of their nearest Japanese rival.

The Women's fleet will begin their Gold fleet races tomorrow while the Men will complete their Qualifying series. Conditions are expected to improve overnight for an on time start of 11.00 hrs local.

Darren Dunkley-Smith
Class President
470 Internationale.