Day 3

Thursday's third racing day concluded the qualifications of 2020 Optimist European Championship in Portorož, Slovenia. As scheduled, both girls' fleets successfully finished three races today, and the boys' fleets had two, so they’re both finishing the qualifying series with 6 sailed races. Finals will be sailed by being divided into gold and silver groups, and for the boys also in the bronze.

The wind was again quite shifty today, but changed direction and came from the southerly directions.

Bojan Gale, RO: "We tried to begin on time, the wind was coming from 140 degrees, but it started shifting towards 180, so we started the first race in the southerly. Later, the wind moved towards the right, and we finished racing on 220 degrees. The starts went really smoothly today, the kids were really fair, we had maybe five or six boats over the line in all together ten or more starts. Today we need to split the fleets in gold and silver, so the real fight for the medals can start tomorrow in the gold fleets. Our intention is to have two races tomorrow and to start with the gold fleets, continue with the silver and finish with the boys bronze fleet."

After today, Italy has two girls in the leading positions, as well as the first ranked boy. Marcello Meringolo, Italian coach: "I hope for more wind tomorrow, although we have good speed also in these conditions, as well as good tactics in the shifty wind and I'm very happy for that."

The third-ranked boy, Jaime Ayarza Montenegro from the Spanish Canary Islands, comments after today's sailing: "It was really shifty today and the conditions were difficult. There was light wind (at the beginning) and you needed a good start to be in the top 5 at the first mark, and the rest of the day was windier. The conditions in the second race were not as difficult as in the first one, but overall it was a tricky day. I had a really good day today, I finished the second race as first and in the first race as second and I'm happy with my results."

We asked Jaime what he liked about sailing: "What I like about sailing is regardless if you win or you lose, you're always having fun. It's a very pretty sport and I feel that the wind and the sea are in a really good connection with yourself." 

About sailing here in the Championship: "The organisation is really good and I feel this championship is really well prepared. This place is really nice, has good conditions, it's nice and sunny and you can sail some good races here."

After the last day of the qualifying series, the leading three girls are Rebecca Geiger (ITA), in front of fleet Lisa Vucetti (ITA) and Ewa Lewandowska (POL) in third. The leading boy is Adriano Cardi Quan (ITA) in front of Weka Bhanubandh (THA) and Jaime Ayarza Montenegro (ESP). 

Results: https://2020europeans.optiworld.org/en/default/races/race-resultsall