470 Class Junior World Championships Men/Mixed and Women
10-18 July 2009, Thessaloniki, Greece
Tomorrow's races to decide on challengers for final medal race
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Two races were completed today in the second day of the final series in the 470 Class Junior World Championships for men/mixed and women. Sofian Bouvet and Jeremie Mion (FRA) strengthen their lead in the men's 470, whilst Tara Pacheco and Berta Betanzos (ESP) maintain their lead, but weaken their position with an OCS in the women's.

Men's 470
Luca Dubbini and Roberto Dubbini from Italy fight their way back into a second place for tomorrow's racing by scoring a second and tenth place in race nine and ten respectively. Sebastian Peri Brusa and Santiago Masseroni from Argentina climbed behind the overall leaders from France in second place yesterday, although both crews have now lost the connection with Sofian Bouvet and Jeremie Mion, who secured, and even strengthened their leading position. The French lead with a 33 points difference on the Dubbinis.

“ The wind was even lighter than the previous days, and also more challenging because there was more difference in local wind conditions around the race course. The wind was also very shifty and it was difficult to see shifts coming, so now and then we just had to go with other boats.

In the beginning of the first race we felt that we were not having a good boat speed, but we worked hard and finally we found it. We were going very fast.” Bouvet said.

Although the French men have taken a convenient lead already, they remain alert to their opponents.
“The guys from Argentina had an OCS today, and that takes away a little of our worries because we also had an OCS before.” Bouvet said.

Although it will be very hard for anyone to push the French from their throne, the race for silver and bronze is still open while the difference in points between the overall ranked number two and eight, is only ten points.

Women's 470
The women's top 5 has returned into a similar situation from two days ago, however points and discards show a totally new situation.

Tara Pacheco and Berta Betanzos (ESP) still lead the women's fleet but have an early start in race nine. Although they can still discard this result, it narrows their margin. Annika Bochman and Anika Lorenz (GER) only added four points today to their overall score, to claim back their third overall position and start tomorrow's last two races before the medal race with only 15 points away from Pacheco and Betanzos. Bochmann and Lorenz may still allow themselves a disqualification to be discarded as worst result. Both crews will be very much aware that the Spanish ladies lost this margin today.

Gil Cohen and Dana Mamreiv from Israel, who sail their first 470 Junior Championship, did very well during the whole event. By scoring a fifth and tenth place today, they let leading German crews Bochmann and Lorenz and Victoria Jurczok and Josephine Bach come dangerously close.

Tina Lutz and Susann Beucke (GER) scored a bullet in the first race today, but fall back by scoring nine points in today's second race. Their results of today are enough however to climb back into fifth position and fill the women's top five with three German crews.

Tina Lutz wrote history in youth sailing by ruling over the girls at the Optimist World Championship of 2003 and 2004, to finally win the overall Optimist Worlds of 2005.
Lutz teamed up with Susann Beucke, and success came quite quickly in the 420 class, by winning the Ladies' 420 Junior Europeans in 2007.
Although both girls would like to put more efforts into their sailing career, the over 1000km distance from the places where they live, Muenchen and Kiel, and their school, currently keeps them from doing so.

“The first day was great. There was quit some more wind. We have light winds now every day and for us it's a bit tricky. We are not good in light winds and so we'll have to train.” Lutz said.

“ I also think that in such conditions start and boat handling must be perfect. For the first time in this event we had a good start and all good things came together, and as you see, we have a first place in today's first race. In the second race, we had a bad start and tried our best, but it just didn't work as good as in the first race.
It's not only important to win or to be good. The most important thing is to learn.” Susann Beucke



470 Class Junior World Championships Men/Mixed and Women
10-18 July 2009, Thessaloniki, Greece

The 470 Class Junior World Championships for men/mixed and women have reached the start of the final series, where two races in light winds were completed today in each event. With two more days of racing to go until the final medal races in each event will decide on medals, Sofian BOUVET and Jeremie MION (FRA) maintain their lead in the men’s 470, and so do Tara PACHECO and Berta BETANZOS (ESP) in the women’s.

Many crews hoped for more wind than yesterday, but their wishes did not come true.

The first start was scheduled at 1300, but due to a lack of wind, racing was postponed until about 1500.

Men’s 470
The changing wind conditions, a rather strong breeze on Monday, and light winds during the last two days, seems to start to show effect on the allround ability of sailors. Luca DUBBİNİ and Roberto DUBBİNİ (ITA) profiled themselves as favorites for the title in the early phase of the event, but now move back to a fourth overall position. Also Mitja MİKULİN and Sebastian PRİNCİC (SLO) and Victor BERGSTROM and Marcus DACKHAMMAR (SWE), who did very well during the start of the event, move further away from chances for medals.

Sebastian PERI BRUSA and Santiago MASSERONI from Argentina started in a seventh overall position overnight and scored two second places today, which puts them in a second overall position at the end of the day.

Vladimir CHAUS and Denis GORETYY bring back the Russian influence within the 470 class Juniors since the domination of Artem Basalkin and Maxim Sheremetyev in 2007. With a sixth position in today’s first race, and a bullet in the last, they climb to a third position overall. A close battle has been established in the men’s Gold fleet, with an only six points difference between the number three and nine in the overall rankings. Sofian BOUVET and Jeremie MION (FRA) seem to handle the changing conditions the best, and maintain their overall lead in this event.

Women’s 470
Tara PACHECO and Berta BETANZOS (ESP) seem to become undefeatable in this event. The talented ladies who teamed up in early 2008, picked up the silver medal at last year’s Junior Worlds, and the silver medal at the 470 Europeans last June. They now head for the title with a nine points difference ahead of Gil COHEN and Dana MAMRIEV from Israel, and the advantage of a worst result discard to use during four races to go until the medal race on Saturday.


Image: Gil COHEN and Dana MAMRİEV (ISR) © 470 Class
The Israelis are the surprise among the women in this event. COHEN, silver medalist at the Ladies’ 420 Worlds last year, and MAMRIEV, athlete in the Kayak sport, teamed up eight months ago for a two person dinghy campaign onto the Olympic Sailing Competition of London 2012. A successful combination of a sailing helm and another Olympic sports crew happened before, like Sydney 2000 470 class gold medalists Belinda STOWELL and Jenny ARMSTRONG (AUS). ARMSTRONG was a swimming athlete before teaming up with STOWELL .


COHEN and MAMRIEV started today’s racing by crossing the finish in tenth position. In the second race they chose the right side of the course and were forced to maintain their course to tack close to the lay line. After rounding the upper mark back in the top ten, they demonstrated excellent performance on the reach and downwind leg to finally score the bullet at the finish. They maintain their second overall position after eight races.


Victoria JURCZOK and Josephine BACH take the lead within the “golden German three” in third position overall, still closely followed by the 2008 470 Women’s Junior European Championship gold medalists Annika BOCHMANN and Anika LORENZ in fourth. Tina LUTZ and Susann BEUCKE (GER) had another bad day and allowed Nina KEIJZER EN ANNELOES VAN VEEN (NED) to break into the German chain, taking fifth overall.


Two races are scheduled for today and for tomorrow.


The final medal race will take place on Saturday.





10-18 July 2009, Thessaloniki, Greece

Leaders emerge at 470 Junior Worlds

The 470 Class Junior World Championships for men/mixed and women have reached the start of the final series, where two races in light winds were completed today in each event. With two more days of racing to go until the final medal races in each event will decide on medals, Sofian Bouvet and Jeremie Mion (FRA) maintain their lead in the men's 470, and so do Tara Pacheco and Berta Betanzos in the women's.

Many crews hoped for more wind than yesterday, but their whished did not come true. The first start was scheduled at 1300, but due to a lack of wind, racing was postponed until about 1500.

Men's 470
The changing wind conditions, a rather strong breeze on Monday, and light winds during the last two days, seems to start to show effect on the allround ability of sailors. Luca Dubbini and Roberto Dubbini (ITA) profiled themselves as favorites for the title in the early phase of the event, but now move back to a fourth overall position. Also Mitja Mikulin and Sebstian Princic (SLO) and Victor Bergstrom and Marcus Dackhammar (SWE), who did very well during the start of the event, move further away from chances for medals.
Sebastian Perl and Santiago Masseroni from Argentina started in a seventh overall position overnight and scored two second places today, which puts them in a second overall position at the end of the day.
Vladimir Chaus and Denis Goretyy bring back the Russian influence within the 470 class Juniors since the domination of Artem Basalkin and Maxim Sheremetyev in 2007. With a sixth position in today's first race, and a bullet in the last, they climb to a third position overall. A close battle has been established in the men's Gold fleet, with an only six points difference between the number three and nine in the overall rankings. Sofian Bouvet and Jeremie Mion (FRA) seem to handle the changing conditions the best, and maintain their overall lead in this event.

Women's 470
Tara Pacheco and Berta Betanzos (ESP) seem to become undefeatable in this event. The talented ladies who teamed up in early 2008, picked up the silver medal at last year's Junior Worlds, and the silver medal at the 470 Europeans last June. They now head for the title with a nine points difference ahead of Gil Cohen and Dana Mamriev from Israel, and the advantage of a worst result discard to use during four races to go until the medal race on Saturday. The Israelis are the surprise among the women in this event. Cohen, silver medalist at the Ladies' 420 Worlds last year, and Mamriev, athlete in the Kayak sport, teamed up eight months ago for a two person dinghy campaign onto the Olympic Sailing Competition of London 2012. A successful combination of a sailing helm and another Olympic sports crew happened before, like Sydney 2000 470 class gold medalists Belinda Stowell and Jenny Armstrong (AUS). Armstrong was a swimming athlete before teaming up with Stowell.

Cohen and Mamreiv started today's racing by crossing the finish in tenth position. In the second race they chose the right side of the course and were forced to maintain their course to tack close to lay line. After rounding the upper mark back in the top ten, they demonstrated excellent performance on the reach and downwind leg to finally score the bullet at the finish. They maintain their second overall position after eight races.

Victoria Jurczok and Josephine Bach take the lead within the “golden German three” in a third overall position, still closely followed by the 2008 470 Women's Junior European Championship gold medalists Annika Bochman and Anika Lorenz in fourth. Tina Lutz and Susann Beucke had another bad day and had to allow Nina Keijzer en Anneloes van Veen (NED) to break into the Germain chain, taking fifth overall.

Two races are scheduled for today and for tomorrow.
The final medal race will take place on Saturday.


470 Junior World Championship, 10-18 July 2009
Thessaloniki, Greece

The qualifying series has concluded today with the scheduled six races sailed at the 470 Junior World Championships for men/mixed and women. Three races took place today, and Sofian BOUVET and Jeremie MION from France take over the lead in the men’s 470, whilst Tara PACHECO and Berta BETANZOS (ESP) maintain their leading position from yesterday.

Men’s/Mixed 470
Sofian BOUVET and Jeremie MION end the qualifying series in overall leading position, after scoring a series of 1, 2, 3 in today’s races. Yesterday’s overnight leaders Luca DUBBİNİ and Roberto DUBBİNİ (ITA) had problems with today’s light conditions and took a 14th position in race six, today’s last race, as a discard.

“There was a light and shifty wind today of maybe about 5 to 6 knots. We did not do so good as yesterday, especially in the last race. We went to the left side of the course, but the right side was favourable. We hope for heavier conditions with more wind during the finals. We’ll see what happens.” the DUBBINI cousins said.

These hopes are shared by more sailors, like Mitja MİKULİN and Sebastian PRİNCİC(SLO), who started today’s races in second overall, on equal 10 points with the Italians. “We had very light winds today, and we made bad starts. We hope for some strong wind tomorrow.“ MİKULİN said.

Women’s 470
The Spanish team who have one goal here, to claim the Junior World Championships title, had a mission today to maintain their overnight lead and score some consistent results, which they managed with apparent ease.

Gil COHEN and Dana MAMREIV (ISR) are close on their back with a six points difference, however the Israelis have already used their discard after a disqualification in yesterday’s second race.

“The first two races of today went very well; two times third. The last race was very difficult. We didn’t manage to get into the top ten on the first leg and we had to work very hard. We did really well on the reach but we knew that we had to do even better on the last downwind leg to have a good result. Finally we finished fifth, so it could have been worse.” the Spanish crew BETANZOS said.

Tina LUTZ and Susann BEUCKE (GER), who seemed to be in top form in yesterday’s heavier conditions, spent the day in the middle of the crowd, giving Annika BOCHMANN and Anika LORENZ (GER) the opportunity to climb above them with only a one point margin. Germany dominates in this event with three crews in the top five.


470 Junior World Championship, 10-18 July 2009
Thessaloniki, Greece

Ready For The Challenge On Day 2

The local Vardari wind which forced competitors off the water yesterday, returned today in a more moderate form at the 2009 470 Junior World Championships, with three races completed for each of the fleets.

A fantasic opening day for the defending Silver medallists in the women’s fleet Tara PACHECO and Berta BETANZOS (ESP) who scored a fourth in the opening race, which was solidly backed up with a first and second to lead the fleet overall. For this pairing, who finished fourth at last month’s 470 European Championship, they couldn’t have wished for a better start to their campaign.

Germany’s Tina LUTZ and Susann BEUCKE sit in second overall, with a 2,4,3 posting. Back in 2005, Lutz claimed overall victory at the Optimist World Championships before making the transition to the 420 and then 470 Class. This pairing will be aiming to secure themselves a podium position this year, after finishing just short of the medals in 2008 with a fourth.

Rounding out the top three are Dana GUR and Ravid KANONİCH (ISR) who sailed a consistent 3,5,8.

Their team mates Gil COHEN and Dana MAMRİEV enjoyed the glory of taking victory in the Championships’ opening race and will be pleased with their first day of racing, which saw a second bullet in race 3. However, a DSQ in race two placed them back in eighth overall. Their result in the 2009 470 European Championships, where they finished twentieth in the senior fleet, clearly doesn’t demonstrate their ability in the under 21 fleet.

Split into two fleets, the men’s/mixed entries also completed three races apiece. The defending silver medallists, cousins Luca DUBBİNİ and Roberto DUBBİNİ (ITA) rising to the top in the blue fleet with a 2,7,1 – which also gave them the lead overall – a positive start to their campaign. On equal points, but sitting in second on countback in the blue fleet and second overall are Mitja MİKULİN and Sebastian PRİNCİC (SLO).

A placing of 47 overall at the 2009 470 Europeans was the best MİKULİN and PRİNCİC could secure, and they were placed equally far down the scoreboard at last year’s 470 Junior World Championships with a 22. Last year they lacked consistency, mixing up some top results with some moderate mid-fleet placings. However, so far 2009 has been a marked improvement for this pairing on their campaign trail, with two top 10 placings at ISAF Grade 2 events seeing them make a steady move up the ISAF Sailing World Rankings to a career best of 80 in June 2009, from 140 a year ago.

It seemed, they had the perfect scoreline of 1,3,3 in the white fleet but faced with three ZFP (RRS30.2) penalties, Victor BERGSTROM and Marcus DACKHAMMAR (SWE) took scoring penalties to give them 22 points and be in tenth overall. Holding the lead in the white fleet was Great Britain’s Ben SAXTON and David Kohler with a scoreline of 9,1,4 which sees them in third overall.

The men’s/mixed fleet will be re-seeded for tomorrow’s racing.

470 Junior World Championship, 10-18 July 2009
Thessaloniki, Greece


Day 1 Blown Out

Sunday’s first scheduled day of racing was blown out for the junior crews gathered in Thessaloniki, Greece for the 2009 470 Junior World Championships.

The renowned local wind, the Vardari, which takes its name from the local River Vardar, has the reputation of appearing suddenly – and it did yesterday. A steady wind of 28-32 knots, with gusts up to 36 knots, gave the Principal Race Officer Athanasios Papantoniou (GRE) the task of deciding to keep the sailors ashore. Equipment breakages in the opening day of the Championships would not have been on anyone’s wish list.

Hoping for a break in the weather, racing was postponed under 1600 hours, until finally Papantoniou made the “no racing” decision.

The 79 crews, representing 25 nations are sailing in two events, the men’s/mixed and women’s. The men’s/mixed fleet of 54 entries has been split into two fleets, based on their world rankings, and the women are sailing as one fleet.

The qualification series is taking place through until 14 July, with the final series from 15-18 July.



470 Junior World Championship – Preview
158 Sailors, 25 Nations Ready For Racing

A new generation of youth sailors from all over the world is preparing for the 470 Class Junior World Championships for Men/Mixed and Women, taking place from 10 -18 July in Thessaloniki, Greece. Racing starts on Monday, and will continue until the 18 July, where the final medal race will decide the new Junior World Champions in each of the mens/mixed and womens events.

54 crews are entered for the mens/mixed event, and 25 for the women. The separate fleets at the 470 Junior World Championships was introduced for the first tie in 2008, and with the ongoing growth in the fleets, the fleet separation has continued.

“We have noticed an increasing number of under 22 years old sailors participating in our Junior Championships over the past few years, especially women.” said International 470 Class President, Stanislav Kassarov. “The number of women’s entries is sufficient for a separate event, and that is the simple reason we have one. Other reasons are that we see sailors performing at higher levels at an early age and we want to prepare them better for what they are ultimately aiming for; reaching the Olympic stage. Over the past year, a lot of the top performing crews have passed the Junior age limit of 21 and are now participating in the senior events, with some of them showing potential for an Olympic campaign in 2012 and 2016. We are happy that although many crews have moved on from the Junior fleet, purely because of the age limits, we equally are welcoming many new names on the entry list from countries all over the world. The 470 class wants to maintain and expand global competition.” Kassarov continued to say.

Men’s 470
Last year’s gold medalists in the men’s 470, Steven LEFEVRE and Steven KROL (NED), having celebrated their 21st birthdays, leave the Championship title open to an impressive number of crews, many whom were contesting close battles in last year’s Junior Championships.

Lior LAVIE has teamed up with Ayal HAMBURGER to represent Israel. LAVIE participated in last year’s Junior events with Yam AMIR, and won the silver medal at the Junior Worlds.

For Luca DUBBINI and Roberto DUBBINI Sofian BOUVET and Jeremie MION took a fifth and fourth at the Junior Europeans and Worlds respectively. Victor BERGSTROM and Marcus DACKHAMMER (SWE) finished fifth at last year’s Junior Worlds and are likely to occupy a top ten spot.

Women’s 470
A fierce competition has been established amongst the new talents in the women’s fleet over the last two years, and has now come to a situation where Tara PACHECO Berta BETANZOS (ESP) have their last chance to claim a place on the Women’s Junior Worlds Title, as they will be over 21 next year. Having secured the silver place last year, they stand ready to take over the gold medal position from Hannah MILLS and Katrina HUGHES (GBR) who claimed victory at last year’s 470 Junior World Championship. and

MILLS and HUGHES (GBR), who picked up their first gold medal at the Women’s Junior Europeans in 2007, will not be participating. Their absence, is not an automatic entry for the Spanish team, as PACHECO and BETANZOS have been significantly increasing their successes, with their silver medal at last month’s 470 European Championships marking the highlight in their career.

“ Of course we would like to take revenge here and now, but our objective is 2012. We race each other at many events, which will include the 470 Worlds next month.” PACHECO said. “However, we don’t want to leave this venue [Thessaloniki] without the Championship title,” both girls added smiling.

Still, the Spanish women will need to be aware of the strong competition, especially from Germany’s Annika BOCHMAN and Anika LORENZ and Tina LUTZ and Susann BEUCKE. These sailors, who are all relatively young, from 18 to 19, have achieved similar results in the 470 as those secured in the 420 – always towards the front of the fleet. BOCHMAN and LORENZ won their first gold medal at the women’s 470 Junior Europeans last year.

The host country, Greece, is strongly represented in the Championship with eight men’s and four women’s crews.

470 Class veteran Andreas KOSMATOPOULOS, who has represented Greece at the Olympic Games five times in the 470, and has been running a 470 Clinic prior to the 470 Junior Worlds, commented, “ A Junior World Championship has an enormous value for young sailors with Olympic aspirations. Of course one can participate at a young age at regional and international regattas, but a Junior Worlds or Europeans is the first event where you represent your country. The performance level of sailing is high, because all countries around the world send their best under 22 years old sailors to this event. Young sailors that participate in Junior Events, will meet over again, again, and again. Those who have the talent, discipline and strength to go on, will finally meet at the Olympics. I participated in the Junior Worlds in ’87 and placed 15th. It was a perfect result for Greece in those days. Today, I met an old friend who also participated in that same event in ‘87. It was ANTONAZ, who represented Yugoslavia in those days. He used to be the Juniors’ hero. He is here now coaching the Italian team. “

Racing is scheduled to start on Monday 12 July at 1300 hours local time.