(Submitted by Jordi Carrasco, Real Club Náutico Calpe web site: www.rcnc.es)

Silke Hahlbrock (GER), Claire Leroy (FRA), Sabrina Gurioli (ITA) and Lotte Meldgaard (DEN) qualified for the semi-finals in Calpe.

The crews enjoyed an eight knots stable wind that allowed finishing all the round robin matches obtaining the four semi-finalists crews after fighting in very tough races.

The classificatory round was very hard-fought. The favourite crews showed their high level and the will they had to obtain good results in Calpe and stay in the Ranking highest positions.

Silke Hahlbrock (GER) caught everybody unawares and obtained three amazing victories against the best sailors. Hahlbrock won her position in semi-finals by her own merits. The first one was against Sabrina Gurioli (ITA), the Italian started with a penalty and even she tried hard she couldn’t catch Silke. In the second match of the day she competed against Lotte Meldgaard (DEN), she had no opportunity because Hahlbrock controlled the match since the beginning and imposed her superiority. On the third match she surprised everybody beating Claire Leroy (FRA), defending champion.

Linda Rahm (SWE), who obtained very good results the day before, didn’t maintain the level she showed and was not classified for the semi-finals. In her first match competed against Claire Leroy, after the start there was a wonderful tacking duel in the first stage, there was a short distance between the boats and Linda tried to trick Claire on a gibe but it didn’t t work. Claire stayed with the spinnaker until she passed the mark and got enough distance to win the match. This failure shocked her and she couldn’t get her strength back. Sabrina Gurioli and L. Meldgaard, with a 13 º and 2 º position in the World Ranking respectively, also imposed themselves over her.

The step to semi-finals was really hard-fought Claire Leroy and S. Halbrock with 9 over 11 victories and L. Meldgaard and S. Guriolli with 8, will fight tomorrow for this Calpe Championship.

The Round Robin is complete in Calpe. Results after Day Three: Click Here to view the complete Round Robin results

Standings (Wins-Losses):
1- Silke Hahlbrock (GER) 9-2
2- Claire Leroy (FRA) 9-2
3- Sabrina Gurioli (ITA) 8-3
4- Lotte Meldgaard (DEN) 8-3
5- Camila Ulrikkeholm (DEN) 7-4
6- Katie Spithill (AUS) 6-5
7- Linda Rahm (SWE) 6-5
8- Lucy Macgregor (GBR) 6-5
9- Jenny Axhede (SWE) 4-7
10- Amanda Scrivenor (AUS) 1-10
11- Adriana Romano (ESP) 1-10
12- Marga Cameselle (ESP) 1-10