Day 4 has been the one for those liking to race in strong wind. When the launching has been made with 12 knots, windforce increased rapidly to reach 20/22 knots at the end of the afternoon, matching actually with the wheather forecast.
In these conditions, youngsters Jordi Booth & Joan Costa did pretty well, starting with a bullet in Race 10, and getting then a 4 and a 6, when Booth father and son Ruben got quite the same with a nice series of 4, 1, and 5. It is then to underline the good series of French youngsters Orion Martin & Charles Gaté, scoring 3, 5, and 4.
On this windy Wednesday, Brett Burvill & Max Puttman got their best score from the begining of the championship. As Brett wrote on his FB page : “It was moving day at the F18 2018 European championships today in Spain. Max and I had our best day so far with a 2,3,1 scorecard. Currently laying 2nd , the first place is probably out of reach but we keep trying our best and Third is right behind, just a few points in it. So good to be racing closely with legends of our sport like Mitch, Costas and Dany . Lets leave it all out on the water tomorrow.”
Looking forward, Brett and Max seem to be right, and it looks like quite impossible for the European title not to go to Iordanis Paschalidis & Kostas Trigonis, these two gaining once more an excellent series of 5, 2, and 2, 5th place being still the worse of their twelve sailed races, when Burvill/Puttman (42 pts) and Booth/Booth (45 pts) should complete the podium, in an order still to be determined.
The only chance for the contenders could lie in the second discard to be given after Race 13 to be sailed, which is more than likely. Henri Demesmaeker & Morgan Wirtz would then wipe out their 27th in Race 7 and DNF in Race 12. But, honestly speaking, none could contest the three “Old Foxes” supremacy, apart this young and talended pair.
A nice Paella party, followed by live rockabily music, put a perfect end to this great sailing day.
Complete results here.
Pictures by courtesy of Marc Gonzalez Aloma @MGAloma Fotografia