As the 49er class European Championship, in Torbole, Northern Italy, draws to a close, Wednesday saw the final day of qualification, with a total of five races.

The yellow and white fleets sailed three races compared to the two for the blue and red fleets. The decision to discard the third race, came from the committee, so that both groups finished with five races. With the shortened series, teams such as the Spanish pair of Alberto Padron and Javier De la Plaza moved into the Gold fleet. The Danish team of Peter and Soren Hansen, however, missed out on the top fleet and are now leading the Silver instead.

Yesterday should have seen the start of the finals but there was little wind. When a light wind did eventually settle, the Bronze fleet was sent out but just as they were about to start the wind dropped completely. Returning to the shore, along with the rain, many of the sailors spent their day playing football, reading or relaxing in cafés. The Gold fleet are due to start today at 0830, the Silver at 1330 and the Bronze fleet at 1530. Christoffer Sundby from the Norwegian team leads going into the finals. He said: “If the fleet manages to wake up, it will be a good day’s racing. There’s a nice northerly breeze here in the morning but I hope we won’t race at that time? I am not really able to think before 1000 in the morning!”