ISAF Sailing World Championships - 470 Class Men & Women
4-13 July 2007- Cascais, Portugal

First day of 470 class finals on the schedule today

Cascais, 11 July 2007 - The 470 Class Men and Women will start in the final series today at the ISAF Sailing World Championships. 38 Men’s and 32 Women’s 470’s will start in the Gold Fleet, to race for two more days before the final Medal Race will take place on the 13^th of July.

The weather forecast predicts lighter conditions with winds of 14 knots, increasing during the afternoon, but probably remaining under 20 knots.

All top players in both the Men and Women’s fleets have reached the Gold Fleet, with some exceptions of crews who did not manage to handle the heavy circumstances, or could not continue racing because of damage of their equipment.

The Ladies from Switzerland, Emanuelle ROL and Anne-Sophie THILO, who have been doing very well in Junior 470 events and who won the Bronze medal at the last 470 European Championships, did not reach the Gold Fleet.

Also Europe Class Silver Medalist in the Athens 2004 Olympic Regatta, Lenka SMIDOVA (CZE) who has teamed up with Veronika FENCLOVA, did not manage to handle the heavy conditions, and they will start in the Silver Fleet.

The 470 Men from Argentina, Matias BUHLER and Marcos LAMAS did very well on the first day of racing, and even took an overall first place after day one.

Because of equipment damage in race three, the first race of day two, they were not able to continue racing, which caused them their leading position. After a 24^th position in yesterday’s race, they will continue the event in the Silver Fleet.

With three Olympic Regatta’s behind them, Greece’s Andrea KOSMATOPOULOS and Andreas PAPADOULOS did not manage to get control over the Fleet in heavy conditions. On a 62^nd overall position they enter the final series in the Silver Fleet.

World Champions in the International 420 Class of 2006, Carl EVANS and Peter BURLING from New Zealand debuted in an International 470 Class Championships at the Open European Championships last June in Greece, where they got into the spotlight because of their excellent performance, to end the Open event sixth as overall.

Nathan WILMOT and Malcolm PAGE from Australia rule the 470 Men, and title defenders Marcelien DE KONING and Lobke BERKHOUT from the Netherlands in the 470 Women.

NOTE TO THE EDITORS

Event Information
For more information about the ISAF Sailing World Championships and the 470 World Championships, visit the web site http://www.cascaisworlds2007.com/

The 470 Class
For more information about 470 Internationale, visit the web site www.470.org

ISAF World Rankings
The official ISAF World Rankings of 470 sailing sportsmen, go to www.sailing.org/rankings/

Photography
High Resolution pictures will be made available to the media during the event.
Please contact David Bell at location in Cascais: bellyvision@mac.com