44th Garda Lake Opti Meeting, Jesper Karlsen leads after the first two days

Riva del Garda – The 44th Garda Optimist Meeting continues according to schedule, completing its second day of racing in the waters of northern Garda today. After the three races held yesterday, the Race Committee managed to complete two more races for all fleets, bringing the total number of races counting towards the ranking to five.

Racing began slightly later than scheduled, as the Ora took a while to enter the race course. Once stabilized, the southerly wind still allowed the day’s program to be completed as scheduled, albeit at a lower intensity than the opening day.

With today’s races, the discard of the worst result also came into play, helping to more accurately define the balance of the provisional ranking.

In the Juniors, the top spot sees Jesper Karlsen (ITA) leading the provisional standings with 6 points, followed by Portugal’s Guilherme Magalhaes Costa, just 2 points behind, and Fraglia Vela Riva’s Roman Vyevyenko in third. Rounding out the top five are Georgios Mandilas (GRE) and Davide Veronesi, tied on 13 points.

In Division B, reserved for Cadets born in 2016 and 2017, Turkey’s Ruzgar Uras Sahin leads the standings, tied on 11 points with Italy’s Valerio Pucci (2-2 today). Archie Dowling finished third, just 4 points behind, while Poland’s Julia Saj, the first female, finished just outside the podium.

Racing will resume tomorrow, with the first starting signal set for 1:00 PM, the day that will conclude the qualifying series. At the end of the trials, the Junior fleet will be divided into the Gold, Silver, Bronze, Emerald, and Pearl fleets. The Gold fleet, the most coveted, will determine the overall winner of the 44th Garda Optimist Meeting.

Regatta operations continue to be efficiently managed by the Race Committee chaired by Giancarlo Crevatin, with the support of Fraglia Vela Riva staff coordinated on the water by Fausto Maroni.