MALCESINE, ITALY — Action in the final races yesterday at the 470 European Championships cemented the respective leads for the New Zealand men?s team of Simon Cooke and Peter Nicholas and the women?s team of Jenny Armstrong and Belinda Stewell from Australia. Sailing in moderate breezes on Lake Garda, Cooke and Nicholas posted a second and a 15th, which became their discard, and handily won the regatta by nine points over former World Champions Philippe Gildas and Tanguy Cariou from France. The French duo logged a fourth and second in the final two races, which allowed them to jump ahead of SailNet?s Team 2000, Paul Foerster and Bob Merrick, moving from fourth place up to second overall and leaving the Americans in third.
The women racers were only able to complete one race when the wind dissipated after midday and all subsequent racing was abandoned. Armstrong and Stewell increased their overall lead with another first place, thereby winning the Women's 470 Open European Championship. Sofia Bekatourou and Emilia Tsoulfa of Greece, the current World Champions, posted a fifth in that race to maintain their silver-medal status. Finishing third overall were Susanne and Michaela Ward from Denmark, who finished ninth in the final contest — sufficient to keep them ahead of Vladilena Krachun and Natalia Gaponovich of Russia, who had their best result of the championship with a second. For full scores, see the event?s web site at: www.fragliavela.org.
