Star Sailors League: Slovenia hold onto a slender lead over Lithuania and Ecuador

At the end of Day 1 of SSL Gold Cup 2022 Qualifying Series Round 2, SSL Team Slovenia holds a slender advantage over its opponents, SSL Team Lithuania and SSL Team Ecuador.

They may have had the best start in Race 1, but SSL Team Lithuania’s “The Ambers” finished the race in last place.

“Race 1 went very well for us”, explained Rokas Milevicius, SSL Team Lithuania’s tactician. “We won the start and we were leading the first half of the race. Ecuador actually had a great angle at Gate 2. We rounded the gate all together and we just had a bad manoeuvre and tacked in a rush. The sheet didn’t go well in the winch, and that cost us the whole positioning in the fleet. We were late into the tack and we had to fight for the free wind and couldn’t react into the wind shifts. That cost us the first place.”

In Race 2, they also had the best start, but this time, they did not leave their lead to their opponents and cruised to victory, sailing clean and fast. “It was an even start, we then kept our side and were the first to read the left shift and got us to the top mark first. We then let the other two teams fight and extended our lead”, concluded Rokas Milevicius.

Although the “Krpani1860” from Slovenia (named after their national mythical figure) won Race 1, they had to fight a hard battle in Race 2 against the underdog SSL Team Ecuador to take second spot.

This crucial second place was all down in the last Leg when Slovenia – captained by Vasilij Zbogar, Finn, and Laser Olympic Silver and Bronze medalist – gybed in front of “La Tri” captained by Julio Vélez who, despite coming back very strongly at Mark 3, had to bow down. “We had a nice battle with the other teams, especially with SSL Team Ecuador”, said Igor Lah (Slovenia’s helm). “In the last downwind of the last race. It is always a challenge when you have someone chasing you from behind, you have to keep an eye on them especially on the gybes, so it was a little bit stressful”.

For SSL Team Ecuador’s helm Jonathan Martinetti it was challenging but interesting day. “The day was great, we had two good race, it was the first time for our team racing on the SSL47, the boats were all very close and the last race we finished third but only a boat lenght from the second. We are pretty happy with our performance and we’ll hopefully keep on going and gain some places.”

With just 2 points difference between Slovenia (5 points) and Ecuador (3 points), everything is still possible for all in this three-short team Group 3.

Text and images courtesy of Star Sailors League.