Draper-Greenhalgh European Champions
Written by Harvey Hillary | 14 July 2010
Its great to see the hard work put in by Peter and Chris start to pay off. Having slipped to 4th in Kiele it was important to lay a marker down at this regatta and that's exactly what the G4S boy's did.
After a poor final fleet race the lads gave the French, Austrians, Danish and Morrison-Rhodes a glimmer of hope. It meant that they needed to finish 4th in the medal race to win overall with all the other teams needed to beat each other and beat GBR6 by 4 clear places to win.The race itself was held really close to the beach in Gdynia but with a 12kt sea breeze the conditions we relatively stable. The French dominated the race having won the pin, but all eyes were on the windward mark with Sebellio's rounding ahead of NZL in 3rd and Draper and Morrioson neck and neck in 4th.
Draper-Greenhalgh extended down the run and took 3rd at the Leeward gate. From then on the race calmed down with the Italians closing on the FRA to eventually take the gun. So the podium finished with the French second with Morrison-Rhodes 1 point behind in 3rd.4 Points to come from Poland:
1.) The event was run brilliantly and the video footage and stills are fantastic...see www.friedbits.com.
2.) The Austian's were unlucky not to finish higher but they were the quickest boat on the water.
3.) Dylan Fletcher and Alain Sign have come of age and showed real character to re-set after difficulties in day 1 to sail a brilliant final series and finish 6th.
4.) Its going to be really close at the Skandia Sail for Gold regatta in August with 3 different GBR teams winning major regattas so far this year.
Next stop...SB3 worlds in Lake Garda. 100+ boats and the chance to do some sailing with fellow team GBR Coach Mark Rushall.
Harvey