Vasilis Solidakis (GRE19) with excellent and very stable performance used his knowledge of this demanding spot and stayed in the first position coming back to the throne of Greek Champion. Dimitris Vlachakis (GRE 7) managed to recover and win the 2nd position with his excellent understanding of the tricky wind conditions. Who knows what could happen if he was in a better shape in the first 2 days. Nikolaos Skarlatos (GRE28) did not manage to keep his title (Greek champion 2011), some damages in his equipment and lack of concentration did not allow him to recover and challenge against the title.
In the 1st day of the championship the thermal wind showed up at 3p.m. and it was about 6 to 12 knots , we did 3 races with Vasilis Solidakis taking 2 bullets and Nikolas Skarlatos the other one. The secret of finishing in top positions was to ‘touch’ the sand on the shore in the first tack and then it was like a drag race.
The 2nd day we did 4 races, wind conditions were tricky and shifty in the first two races, also there was a strong sea current coming from different directions, but finally the thermal wind picked up to 18 knots later in the afternoon and we did 2 more races in full power . In the afternoon races Vlachakis started a comeback that could bring him back in the title position. The last race started just before the sunset and we got back to shore at 9 p.m!!!!
The 3rd day (last day) of Greek championship found some changes in the top 6 positions. 5 races were accomplished in wind conditions between 14 to 20 knots. Tricky and shifty wind conditions were difficult to be read from the sailors since the wind was changing in the race area from west to southwest direction and dropping some times to less than 7 knots. Especially race 9 found GRE 25 and GRE 2000 on mark no2 unplanned for 1 min and they were dropped from 4 & 5 position giving the opportunity to the rest of the fleet to over pass them. A great come back of Christian Frey (GRE969) during the last day, taking advantage of the stronger winds, found him in the 4th position, and forced Kostas Tziannis (GRE1001), a good sailor in light winds, to fall in the 5th position. Nikolas Kampouropoulos (GRE2000) managed to keep his 6th position. A lot of mistakes in tactic and some damages in the equipment did not allow him to challenge a better result.
We would like to thank Luciano Treggiari (ITA6) for coming to our national championship the last day he managed to keep his seventh position, and we hope in the future more foreigner sailors to join our championship.
The most processing for the class of Formula was the participation of new young sailors; among others the 17 years old (ex RSX sailor) Stratis Doukas after 3 months of training in formula managed to take the 10th position.
Congratulation to all participants
From Greek Formula Windsurfing Association
Nikolaos Kampouropoulos
GRE2000
