European DIV II championships – 1st day of race summary by Piotr Oleksiak, pictures by Márk Ujvárosi
Today, four races were completed in Balatonfured, where the Raceboard and DII European Championships are taking place.
96 sailors from over 20 countries started off at 11 o’clock with the enthusiastic DIV II class going out first., followed by Raceboard Women and then Raceboard Men.
The two smaller fleets sailed on the outerloop in winds ranging from 5 to 12kts.
The men went on the inner with an exciting start of 71 windsurfers racing here in a fleet ranging from youth, through seniors to veterans including former and current Olympians.
After 3 races a one hour break was scheduled for the event, and then the fleet returned for the final race.
The conditions were typical for the area. The wind speed and direction changing throughout the day. This was not a problem however for the local Áron Gádorfalvi, who won 3 out of 4 races. Behind him the former champion – Patrik Pollak in second and Sánta Bence third.
Over in the ladies fleet Viviane Ventrin from France is leading, followed by Ilona Grinberga from Latvia and Molly Howell from Great Britain.
The DII is led by Irek Kutyła from Poland, followed by Juris Rozkalns from Latvia and Peter Murray from Great Britain.
We start tomorrow at 11:00 and you can follow the races live both on the event website and on the led screen at the venue.
http://europeans2017.raceboard.org/news/full-schedule-on-the-first-day
