#OLYMPIC 470 – Ger Owens and Scott Flanigan's good start to the 470 worlds in Barcelona at the weekend continued in to day two yesterday when the Dublin pair posted 11, 9 and 10 in the three races of the day.
The Royal St. George YC – Howth YC pair pulled themselves up from some poor first mark roundings making the best of the breezy conditions to overhaul rivals in the double-handed dinghy class.
Perfect sailing conditions ensured Barcelona lived up to its reputation as a great sailing venue. Racing got underway in 12 knots building to around 15-17 knots as the fleets completed race 4, with fairly wavy conditions.
The 94 boat championship fleet has two more races this morning before the fleet is split.
An additional seven Olympic places are up for grabs in Barcelona and the Irish pair are attempting to secure one of them. Today will prove to be a crucial day and will determine some of the next nations qualifying to the 2012 Olympic Games
Every race counts, but with three races yesetrday it was particularly crucial for teams to pump in some good scores and position themselves as solidly as possible before Tuesday's final two races of the qualification series at the 2012 470 World Championships.
It doesn't get better than three wins from three races, which is exactly what Lisa Westerhof/Lobke Berkhout (NED) delivered in the 470 Women blue fleet, matched by Mat Belcher/Malcolm Page (AUS) racing in the 470 Men yellow fleet.
Top ten, women, after 4 races
1. Lisa Westerhof/Lobke Berkhout, NED, 9 points
2. Gil Cohen/Vered Bouskila, ISR, 11
3. Ai Kondo/Wakako Tabata, JPN, 12
4. Jo Aleh/Polly Powrie, NZL, 12
5. Ingrid Petitjean/Nadege Douroux, FRA, 15
6. Camile Lecointre/Matilde Geron, FRA, 17
7. Kathrin Kadelbach/Friederike Burnet, GER, 19
8. Giulia Conti/Giovana Micol, ITA, 24
9. Sophie Weguelin/Sophie Ainsworth, GBR, 26
10. Fernanda Sesto/Consuelo Monsegur, ARG, 28
Top ten, men, after 4 races
1. Mathew Belcher/Malcolm Page, AUS, 4 points
2. Alvaro Marinho/Miguel Nunes, POR, 10
3. Sime Fantela/Igor Marenic, CRO, 11
4. Joonas Lindgren/Niklas Lindgren, FIN, 11
5. Panagiotis Mantis/Pavlos Kagialis, GRE, 14
6. Pierre Leboucher/Vicent Garos, FRA, 16
7. Onan Barreiros/Aaron Sarmiento, ESP, 18
8. Sam Kivell/Will Ryan, AUS, 20
9. Ryunosuke Harada/Yugo Yoshida, JPN, 21
10. Panagiotis Kampouridis/Esfstathios Papadopoulos, GRE, 23
All fleets have been re-seeded, so today the 149 teams competing at the 2012 470 World Championships will be up against a different set of opponents. Just two more races today to complete the qualification series and determine the split for the Gold and Silver fleets in the 470 Women and Gold, Silver and Bronze fleets in the 470 Men. The race throw out will come into play after five races, so expect some leaderboard shuffling.