Eighty eight of the world’s best 49er teams have gathered in Grimstad, Norway, for the MasterCard 49er European Championship, which got underway yesterday.

Competition is tight as all of the medal winners from the recent world championship in Hawaii are present, along with the top nineteen ranked teams from the most recent ISAF world rankings.

Fresh from success at the world championship in Hawaii, where they brought home a silver medal, RYA team GBR sailors Chris Draper/Simon Hiscocks had a good start to the event, scoring a first and two third places, to put them in second place overall, one point behind early leaders Michael Hestbaek/Rasmusterp Vanhansen of Denmark.

Fellow team GBR sailors Alister Richardson/Peter Greenhalgh are currently lying in 10th place overall after scoring a 10th, a second and a fourth place, with team mates and bronze world medallists Paul Brotherton/Mark Asquith in 13th place overall.

Competitors will be regrouped at the end of each day and sail two more days of qualifying races before going into the finals on the 1-2 August.

Results

1, MICHAEL HESTBAEK/RASMUSTERP VANHANSEN, DEN (1,4,1) 6 pts

2, CHRIS DRAPER/ SIMON HISCOCKS, GBR (1,3,3) 7 pts

3, NICO DELLEKARTH/ NIKOLAUS RESCH, AUT (2,4,2) 8 pts

Other GBR

10, ALISTER RICHARDSON/ PETER GREENHALGH (10,2,4) 16 pts

13, PAUL BROTHERTON/MARK ASQUITH (3,2,13) 18 pts

18, ALEX HOPSON/ PHIL KENNARD (8,3,10) 21 pts

30, ANDY RICE/ HARVEY HILLARY (10,14,3) 27 pts

35, STEVE MORRISON/ BEN RHODES (9,9,10) 28 pts