Livia Ciampinelli and Nicola Brunotti claimed two race wins on opening day of the 470 and 420 Junior European Championship in Nida, putting the Italian pair at the top of the 470 fleet overnight.
Their day spanned a demanding programme that threw everything at the sailors, from dying 8-knot breezes in Race 1 to building 20-knot breeze by the final race.
Germany's Amelie Wehrle and Riccardo Honold led Race 1 for much of the race alongside Ukraine's Sviatoslav Madonich and Yelyzaveta Vasylenko, with five boats covered by a small margin heading into the final leg. A major wind shift on the last downwind reshuffled the order, putting two Italian crews at the front. Ciampinelli and Brunotti crossed first, with teammates Lisa Vucetti and Vittorio Bonifacio close behind.
"We began the day with very light wind that dropped completely, and I think we found our space because we managed to recover our performance and we won the race," Ciampinelli said. "Then we had to wait like an hour for the wind to fill in and we made a second race with medium wind but always getting stronger, and it was not our best performance but we managed to cancel the errors to focus only on our strength and we won the last race, so we are happy about it."
Race 2 went to France. After a short postponement to let the breeze stabilise at 12-17 knots, Lomane Valade and Julien Bunel put together the comeback of the day, gaining sixteen places on the second beat after rounding the first mark well outside the leaders. They held on through to the finish, with Wehrle and Honold second and Croatia's Ema Samaržija and Leon Scheidl third.
The Germans have their sights set on consistency. "Because we're racing in a single fleet, the key is to avoid big scores. We want to stay clear of UFDs and BFDs, keep our results consistent, and remain near the top of the standings to put ourselves in a strong position for the medal race," said Amelie and Riccardo.
Race 3 was the closest of the day, sailed in 16-20 knots with Ciampinelli and Brunotti, their Italian teammates, and the French pair locked in a three-way fight to the final metres. Ciampinelli and Brunotti found the best pressure on the final run to claim the win. Valade and Bunel finished second, Vucetti and Bonifacio third. The overall standings after day one mirror that podium exactly.
Brunotti credited targeted preparation for the Italians' speed. "I think we trained a lot on the downwind, especially in light wind conditions, and it paid off a lot, especially in the first race. Also, in the last race we felt comfortable with a pretty strong wind, and we managed to take two boats in the last upwind. We were very fast in the second race."
