Vassallo retains top spot in the ILCA 4
Weather conditions for the third day of the Mapfre Euromed International Championships were a significant improvement from Sunday’s light winds.
Although lighter than initially forecasted, winds were gusting at around 10 knots, with a swell ranging from 0.4m to 0.6m at the mouth of Mellieħa Bay where some very tactical racing was taking place.
The wind eventually started to die down in the latter part of the afternoon, however, this did not hinder the Race Management Team’s plan to host three races.
The Optimist fleet were back to racing after having to sit out Sunday’s racing plans. The fleet raced a total of three races.
Matteo Mamo retained his first place in the Optimist Beginners Class.
With nine points to his name, he is well ahead of Michael Galea who so far has garnered 14 points while Mattea Bowman is third with 23 points.
The Senior and Cadet fleets, on Monday, competed in the final qualifying round before being allocated to the Gold and Silver Fleets.
Joan Domingo (Spain) topped the leaderboard with eight points, having knocked off Sviatoslav Madonich (Ukraine) who yesterday finished in third place.
Making his first appearance in the top three rankings was Emmanouil Anastasios Vomvylas (Greece) who is sharing equal points with the Ukrainian sailor and stands just one point away from Domingo.
The highest-ranked Maltese in this fleet was Timmy Vassallo who had won the fifth race earlier yesterday and currently stands in sixth place.
The ILCA Classes, who on Sunday managed to fit one race, returned to action and ensued in a challenging battle for first place in the ILCA 4 Class.
Benjamin Vassallo had to contend with a strong performance from Mariyan Shangov, both of whom were vying for the first place.
Between the two, places where changing after each race but by the end of day, it was Vassallo who stood his ground to retain his place on top, just one point ahead of Shangov.
Jake Mallia, who on Sunday was in second place, slipped to third place after the final race of the day. Matthew Cachia Debono, currently standing in fifth place also gave a very good account of himself, winning two races yesterday.
Sunday’s ILCA Class 6 leader Matthew Flores slipped down to second place yesterday, ceding his place to Dmytro Karabadzhak.
A strong performance from Irene De Tomás Perelló saw her climb to third place, having won the first two races of
the day.
The conditions on Monday saw the ILCA fleet in particular pushing hard beyond the rules at times, resulting in the jury, lead by Giorgio Davanzo, to raise a number of yellow flags.
This meant that a more cautious approach was being taken by sailors keen to avoid disqualification.
Racing will continue on Tuesday from 10am when the final races will take place.
The Mapfre Euromed International Championships are being hosted by Malta Young Sailors Club under the auspices of the Malta Sailing Federation.
The Championships are supported by Mapfre Middlesea, Yachting Malta, Zhik, Greens Supermarket, S&D Yachting, Kellog’s and Farsons.
