The Tornado Europeans in Vilamoura (Portugal) finally got underway yesterday in the shifty 9-12 knots of breeze and lumpy seas. As there was no racing the previous day due to the strong winds, the race committee managed to fit in three races in an attempt to catch up on the missed races.

Although it is a European championship, teams from all around the world are allowed to enter and sail in an open championship, therefore the results are issued as an open result and recalculated to show the European results.

Olivier Backes/Laurent Voiron of France continued their good form after a win at the Hyeres Olympic Classes Regatta last month, winning the first race of the Championship from Mitch Booth/Herbert Dercksen of the Netherlands, with Sydney Silver Medallists, Darren Bundock and John Forbes from Australia who are ranked third in the world, finishing behind in third place. Top placed RYA team GBR sailors were Leigh McMillan/Mark Bulkeley, who finished seventh over the finish line and fifth in the European results.

Race two of the day saw a different race leader with Lars Guck/Jonathan Farrar from America crossing the line first to take the race win, Santiago Lange and Carlos Espinola from Argentina finished second, with Bundock/Forbes sailing consistently to take their second third place in the championship so far. Rob Wilson/Will Howden sailed a better race finishing in sixth place and third European.

Sydney Olympic Gold Medallists Roman Hagara and Hans Steinacher of Austria, proved their number one world ranking correct in race three, winning the final race of the day. Bundock/Forbes finished second, with Andreas Hagara and Michael Seiol of Austria crossing the line in third place. McMillan/Bulkeley finished with a second race result in the top ten, finishing in sixth place over the line, and fifth European.

After three tricky races in fairly shifty conditions, Bundock/Forbes lead the Open Championships with an early ten point lead over Backes/Voiron, with Mitch Booth/Herbert Dercksen leading the European Championship by two points from the French pairing. McMillan/Bulkeley are currently in fourth place in the European standings with fellow RYA team GBR sailors Wilson/Howden in eighth place, Lovegrove/Sellars in sixteenth and Hugh Styles/Adam May in 20th place.

Racing continues through until Saturday the 11 May, with the intention of sailing a total of ten races over the five days of the championship (a minimum of seven races is needed to validate the championship). Racing takes place approximately 1.8 nautical miles outside Vilamoura’s bay, and each race has a duration of between 45 minutes to one hour and ten minutes.

Results

Europeans Championship

1, Mitch Booth/Herbert Dercksen, NED (2,5,4) 11 pts

2, Olivier Backes/Laurent Voiron, FRA (1,4,8) 13 pts

3, Roman Hagara/Hans Steinacher, AUT (3,11,1) 15 pts

RYA team GBR

4, Leigh McMillan/Mark Bulkeley (5,9,5) 19 pts

8, Rob Wilson/Will Howden (16,3,16) 35 pts

16, Steven Lovegrove/Martin Sellars (13,25,12) 50 pts

20, Hugh Styles/Adam May (20,19,20) 59 pts

29, Matthew Eeles/Marcus Lynch (35,24,26) 85 pts

Open Championship

1, Darren Bundock/John Forbes, AUS (3,3,2) 8 pts

2, Olivier Backes/Laurent Voiron, FRA (1,7,10)18 pts

3, Mitch Booth/Herbert Dercksen, NED (4,9,5) 18 pts