Yesterday was a mixed day for many competitors, the top ten positions were to change considerably. Big scores mean big overall losses. FRA 26 jumped 7 spots to go from 14 to 7th. ESP 1868, AUS 355, and ISR 11 all moved down a spot, Still to be in the top ten. GER 11 lost 4 spots, due to a BFD and an OCS. Which dropped them out of the medals race. Tough day for Max and Moritz REIGER. GER 4944 made it to 9th. So a fair bit of moving around certainly didn't make it any easer before todays medal race.
The morning of the Medal race, there was a meeting for the top ten boats, The Jury proceeded to show an animated demonstration of how the infringements and the penalties were to be done. Everybody had a good laugh, but it was a very effective way of showing how to not be disqualified from the medal race.
The Gold and sliver fleet were out at 12:00 hours to complete their final race. Wind direction due east The conditions were right on the ten knot pumping minimum. And both starts were off quite cleanly. There Swiss girls who were dropped to the silver fleet after the qualifying rounds, secured their lead a few days ago and stayed there. After the top ten changed so much yesterday, the some sailors in the gold fleet were left spinning. Wondering what happened. Guy ABADI and Yuval BOTZER(ISR 5) ended up winning the Gold fleet with 142 points, Their closest rival being Berenger BALAZEAU and Mathieu FOUNT(FRA 10) on 160 points. Anthi ECONOMOU and Olga TSIGARIDI, took out the top Women's spot in 23rd position. Capping the event off with a second place finish. They looked very happy. They have already locked in the fact that they are attending the worlds in Melbourne. Looking to try and seal a place to qualify their country for the Olympics.
So onto the medal race. Sime FANTELA and Igor MARENIC(CRO 83) had a lead of 14 points on Artem BASALKIN and Mxim SHEREMETY(RUS11). In Third place was Georgios VASILAS and Evangelos MITAKIS(GRE7), who were 6 points behind the Russains. The conditions had not changed at all from the previous races, still a constant 10 knotsHere in Bourgas there is a large jetty that sticks out towards the race area maybe 200 meters. This was a perfect vantage point for the National television cameras, and all the spectators to view first hand a Medal Race. There were people crammed all over the beach and the eagerly looking onward. !4:00 hours and we were into the flag sequence. Coach boats were littered every where behind the start area, The top ten boats jockeying for a premium position. And at the start It was POL 52 that tacked off to the right early and hit the corner, They gained about 10 boat lengths and continued to watch the tacking duel from in front. there was a lot of covering and strategic placement. THe pack changed positions constantly throughout the next two up winds. THe second boat to make the jump was Patrick FOLLMANN and Nico Lutz(GER 4944). They continued to stretch their lead, over GRE7 and ISR9. Sime FANTELA and IGOR MARENIC(CRO 83) just had to stay in the top half of the fleet. With no real problems they just had to finish the race unscathed and with no penalties. But as they started Sime heard a twanging sound, SIME The trapeze wire had started fraying and strands of the wire were hanging out of the handle. I told Igor not to pump up wind, so we were slower from the start on port tack. They managed to keep to a fifth place. Which was safe enough to give them the 2007 Junior World Championship. Igor and Sime: we come from a really small club which is just like a shed, our families are the race organizers, the coaches, the logistics people, They are everything we rely on and with out this support we couldn't be here today. And this being our last year in the juniors, makes the feeling even more sweet.
Georgios VASILAS and EVANGELIS MITAKIS (Gre7) came second, to Artem BASALKIN and Maxim SHEREMETY (RUS 11) in third place. Congatulations to all who participated and a fantastic job done by The Yacht club Port Bourgas. We all had a great time.