Fuente info Open Europeans 2011
Australia wins 49er European Championships
On Wednesday at the Open Europeans Helsinki 2011, shifty and tricky weather conditions added to the mix as the 49er class concluded its Europeans.
The final full races for the Finns decided who goes into the medal race and the 470s got in three races in anticipation of the forecast light winds on Thursday.
Aussies win SEIKO 49er European Championship
Although from the other side of the world, Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen (AUS) came and conquered the SEIKO European Championship over the sixty-four boat fleet from twenty-one countries.
From the start, the duo stayed consistent, qualifying second going into the gold finals and taking the lead mid-way through. Jensen’s comment on winning the Europeans was “this was lighter than most regattas we do in Europe and we’ve struggled a little in the light stuff, so it was good to win this one.”
The gold fleet held one race in the morning setting the medal race contenders for the afternoon race held just off the shoreside. On their medal race performance, Outteridge said, “We were over at the start, so was Dylan (Fletcher) so we both went back and we managed to keep just ahead of him and then we pulled back through to fourth so we’re pretty happy with that.” Dylan Fletcher and Alain Sign (GBR) were happy with their silver medal and claimed European champions as the first top European boat. Sign credited their earlier Sail For Gold performance as a learning lesson saying that “a consistent series will get you inside the top 3.”
Simon and Emil Toft Nielsen (DEN) moved into third overall following a good medal race. “We were pretty close with the Austrians in the fight for the bronze and some pressure from the Alonso brothers (ESP) who were just behind, so we couldn’t go into the medal race with any other ideas than to focus on our own race,” commented Simon Nielsen. He further added, “As it developed we could see that we had gained some distance on the guys we needed to be ahead of and we were able to play it safe on the last round and win the bronze. We bought a new boat and this is our first 49er medal at this level.”
James Peters and Ed Fitzgerald (GBR) won the forty boat silver fleet.
Resultados finales click acá
