Leaders change after the first day of final races

  • 2024-07-06
  • Karolina Sołtaniuk
  • Szymon Sikora
On Saturday the finals of the 29er European Championship, held as part of the 25th edition of Gdynia Sailing Days began. Sailors went out in three fleets: gold, silver and bronze. Each of the teams managed to complete three races. Today was also the windiest day we had so far.
Ewa Lewandowska and Krzysztof Królik managed to secure the first place both in general and mix category. Just four points behind them stand yesterday’s leaders- Italians Alex Demurtas and Giovanni Santi. Third and fourth place belongs to British crews- Finian Morris with Charlie Gran and James Crossley with Sam Webb. 

Poles Bartosz Żmudziński and August Sobczak find themselves in fourth position overall, while still reigning in the U17 category. Second amongst youths are Frenchmen Alexander Mostini and Raphael Allain, followed by Germans Lucas and Moritz Hamm.

- Despite a few shifts, today’s wind was the strongest and most consistent out of all the days we’ve been here. We raced in the gold fleet, so it was nice to feel the pressure rising amongst other teams. After the second race the wind died down a little, so it was difficult to keep up a good position and we unfortunately lost our good streak. During these past couple of days, we definitely learned that Gdynia is  a pretty challenging venue to race on, but it doesn’t scare us. We like it here and we’re looking forward to the final two days of the Championship - summed up the British Finian Morris and Charlie Gran. 

Alicja Tutkowska and Alicja Dampc still hold first place amongst women with an impressive lead of 45 points over the British team of Annabelle Vines and Amelie Hiscocks. The rivarly is tighter between the second and third- a Finnish team of Una Heinila and Silija- Sophie Laukkaken, with just a four- point difference. 

Second place in the mixed category went to Swedish duo of Selma Hard and Lukas Wolfgang. They hold a seven- point lead over the third team- Italians Giulia Bartolozzi and Pietro Rizzi.

 - After the gold fleet races we can definitely say that the level of the field is very high. Today we struggled a little bit, as Pietro is more on the skinny side, which makes it harder for us to gain speed in stronger winds. We finished 15th in the first race which was good, however that was unfortunately followed by a bad 38th finish. In the end we managed to redeem ourselves with a 33rd place, so overall it was an okay day for us - said the Italians.

The bay filled up today, as new groups began their regattas. One of them is the Polish Sailing League and the other, Finn and OK Dinghy classes which will fight for the Gdynia Sailing Days Cup. Their competitions will last until tomorrow.