Racing got underway in a breeze of around 14 knots, but the combination of waves and gusts up to 24 knots, proved a challenge for many with plenty of capsize action all over the 420 and 470 race tracks. The change in weather shook teams up around the race track today, as many of the lighter crews struggled in the strong gusts and fairly brutal wave patterns.

Championship leaders Ilaria Paternoster/Benedetta di Salle dropped to second overall after a 26th place finish in race 9, allowing France’s Marie Soler/Philip Meijer to move on up and claim the lead. A race later and a slight improvement in finishing position for the Italians with a 22nd place finish pushed them back to the front, as the French struggled back in the fleet taking a 41st place finish.

From perfect racing conditions, ideally suited to the pair, today the Italians were facing a different game out on the track. “Today was a very, very difficult day because the wind was very strong for us,” said di Salle. “It was not good, and there were a lot of boys before us, with only 3 or 4 girls in front of us, such as the Spanish team. Today in the first race, it was not good as we didn’t have a good start, so all the fleet were ahead of us. Tomorrow, we will do the best race we can.”

Bart Lambriex/Philip Meijer from the Netherlands recovered from a pretty spectacular capsize in the opening race of the day, and ended with a 13th place to sit in second on the leaderboard.

“In the first race we capsized in the reach, when we were in 20th, and we finished virtually last, which was not a good race, but it is now our discard,” said Lambriex. “In the second race, there was less wind and we managed to finish in 13th so we are quite happy.”

Meijer added, “Tomorrow is going to be very exciting. There will not be much wind, which is very good for us and the points will be very close. We will just do our best and we will see.”

As host nation, Great Britain is looking strong with four teams in the top 10, with the British charge led by Tim Riley/Luke Burywood who are in 5th overall. At the beginning of the week, Riley said he wanted to medal and be top British boat, and so far he is right on track.

Thriving in the stronger conditions today were the Antipodean teams of Taylor Burn/Henry Gibbs (NZL) and Xavier Winston Smith/Joshua Dawson (AUS). The Kiwi pair move up ten leaderboard places to 8th overall from their 2,1 score, with the Australians up from 27th to 14th from a 6,3 scoreline. Also finding their pace in the stronger breeze were the USA’s Renier Eenkema Van Dijk/Spencer McDonough who virtually halved their leaderboard position from 28th to 15th.

With the 2013 420 Junior European Championship medals to be awarded tomorrow, the leaderboard is still all open. Two races are scheduled for the gold and silver 420 fleets with the first start at 1300 hours.

420 Open – Top 10 Leaderboard
1. Ilaria PATERNOSTER/Benedetta DI SALLE (ITA) – Female – 68 pts
2. Bart LAMBRIEX/Philip MEIJER (NED) – 77 pts
3. Marie SOLER/Laura PEBRIER (FRA) – Female – 86 pts
4. Diogo PEREIRA/Pedro CRUZ (POR) – 88 pts
5. Tim RILEY/Luke BURYWOOD (GBR) – 93 pts
6. Silvia MAS/Nuria MIRO (ESP) – Female – 94 pts
7. Daniel WHITELEY/James CLEMETSON (GBR) – 98 pts
8. Taylor BURN/Henry GIBBS (NZL) – 101 pts
9. Annabel CATTERMOLE/Bryony BENNET-LLOYD (GBR) – Female – 106 pts
10. Scott WALLIS/Josh VOLLER (GBR) – 107 pts