#optimist – Spain made the biggest impact as their sailors won no fewer than six of the first 15 races of the 2015 Magic Marine Optimist European Championships at Plas Heli, Pwllheli in North Wales today (Sunday 19 July). In an eight boat Irish team Jamie McMahon leads Irish boys hopes in 55th after three races while Sarah Levie, 47th, leads the girls. Full results are downloadable below.
Spanish teammates Jeronimo Martin-Lagos Terres and Julia Minana top the overall boys and girls rankings respectively as the regatta got underway in style with five flights of three races sailed in near perfect Cardigan Bay conditions of sunshine, breeze and waves.
Only a race one win for the USA's Yumi Yoshiyasu stopped the Spaniards claiming an opening race clean-sweep with Martin-Lagos Terres, Pochi Wandosell Hodar, Adolfo Villalon Fernandez and Minana - who was fifth at last year's Europeans in Ireland - claiming four out of the five possible victories, before Martin-Lagos Terres and Wandosell Hodar doubled up with two more wins in race two.
All 256 sailors from the 37 competing nations took to the water, and while the Spanish seemed to get to grips with the conditions quickest they were not the only ones making their mark early in the event.
Both Victoria Schultheis (MAL) and Palma Cargo (CRO) recovered from disappointing opening races - a 23rd for the Maltese sailor and a BFD for the Croatian - to claim emphatic victories in races two and three in the girls fleets, while two second places for France's Violette Dorange sees her sitting second overall behind Minana. Germany's My Hoa Marie Offergeld is in third.
Meanwhile, in the boys fleets, scores of 2, 6, 1 for Greece's Christos Mouzakis puts him hot on the heels of Martin-Lagos Terres, with Thomas Rice (USA) laying third.
Martin-Lagos Terres said "I found it very difficult but I like this place because in my city I've got similar conditions," and Wandosell Hodar added, "It was 15kts and there were waves and I am happy today because I did two firsts."
Schultheis recently finished as second female at the popular Topsport Vlaanderen Nieuwpoortweek (Flanders). She is no stranger to Pwllheli waters having taken second spot overall (first female) at the 2014 Optimist Pwllheli International Optimist Regatta - the official Europeans test event - this time last year.
She said: "From sailing here last year I learned to not make too many tacks on the upwind like I'm used to. The wind conditions and waves are pretty similar to sailing at home but the wind shifts here are not so often as in Malta.
"I was pleased with my performance today because after the first race I wasn't expecting to be so far in front. I had better starts than in the first race and I played the wind shifts."
Four more days of racing are scheduled for the 2015 Magic Marine Optimist European Championships with prize-giving on Thursday. Racing is due to resume tomorrow (Monday 20 July) with the first warning signal at 1200 hours. Two races are scheduled with the girls set to race first.
There are 159 boys and 97 girls entered in the Championships, with racing split into three days of qualifying and a two-day final series. There are three flights of boys (Yellow, Blue and Red) and two of girls for the qualifying series (Yellow and Blue).
This is the first time in the Championship's official 32-year history that the Optimist Europeans are being held in Britain, and only the second time the event has been hosted on UK waters since Belfast in 1993. The 2015 Europeans are also the first event hosted at the new Plas Heli Welsh Sailing Academy.
