The RS:X Racing fleet is gathering in Burgas, Bulgaria for the start
of the RS:X European Windsurfing Championships AND the RS:X
Youth European Windsurfing Championships. Racing starts on
Monday September 12th having completed the necessary equipment
scrutineering and practice race the day before.
This is the first time that the class has staged a major event on the Black Sea. For those out there training now conditions have been ideal with a sea breeze kicking in in the afternoons offering planing conditions in a sparkling 15 knots.
Meanwhile, the class has staged a Reach 4 The Top Training Camp to develop talent in the host country.
Whilst some hot shot athletes in the RS:X men's fleet who had such a fantastic battle at Skandia Sail For Gold in Weymouth recently may have given the event a bye in preference to some time off before the upcoming ISAF World Championship in Perth Australia, entries have been received from 34 countries and include some top talent
These include Ivan Pastor (ESP), Thomas Goyard (FRA), Byron Kokalanis (GRE) , Shahar Zubari (ISR), Mimrod Mashiah (ISR), Piotr Myszka (POL) and Joao Rodrigues (POR) in the RS:X Men's Fleet
Over in the RS:X women's Fleet, we are anticipating a repeat of the full on fight at the Test Event. Zofia Klepacka (POL), Lee Korsitz (ISR), Marina Alabau (ESP) and Bryony Shaw (GBR) are all there. With Blanca Manchon (ESP), Pauline Perrin (FRA), Laura Linares (ITA) and Olga Maslivets (UKR) all ambitious to mix it at the front of the fleet.
The Youth Europeans has entries from 16 countries. Now that Thomas Goyard (FRA) and Izzy Hamiltion (GBR), the current RS:X Youth World Champions have moved up to the senior fleet. There's a new group looking to establish dominant form. For them, this is excellent training for the RS:X Youth World Championships which will take place in Cagliari, Sardinai starting on October 22nd.
So how can you keep up with the news, minute by minute... ?
Well, we will be running two event microsites. One for the RS:X Europeans at http://europeanwindsurfingchampionships2011.rsxclass.com and one for the RS:X Youth Europeans at http://youtheuropeanwindsurfingchampionships2011.rsxclass.com Each site will have LIVE scoring with mark roundings being posted within 10 seconds. These sites will go LIVE over the weekend. The first thing to do is sign up for email or SMS alerts so wherever you are, you can get the finishing place for the sailor(s) you want to follow.
Additionally, the senior fleets will have tracking too so you can watch it all happening too
Naturally, we'll have our regular video crew from Greece. Icarus will be on hand with their helium filled balloons to give you aerial views of the start line and regular nightly video reports.
Enzo Baglione from Albaria in Mondello Sicily, will be on hand to shoot dynamic color images of the action. These will be posted on Flickr.com.
We'll also be micro blogging on both sites so you can join in the fun as well. No doubt we'll put up some flash quotes from the beach on video too. So for the first time we'll have our ccomplete media team on site.
If you've got a comment, a suggestion or just a brilliant idea that you would like to share with us, then please don't hesitate to tell us and we'll do our best to integrate it into our packed media program
Follow the RS:X Europeans on Facebook... RS:X on Twitter... Here's the RS:X European Windsurfing Championships Microsite
Follow the RS:X Youth Europeans on Facebook... RS:X Youth Windsurfing on Twitter... Here's the RS:X YOUTH European Championships Microsite
