Laser Europa Cup at the WPNSA

by Matt Carter, RYA 1 Jun 2014 21:14 BST 30 May - 1 June 2014

Jon Emmett during the Laser Europa Cup at the WPNSA © Paul Wyeth / RYA

Hannah Brant during the Laser Europa Cup at the WPNSA © Paul Wyeth / RYA

Great Britain's three-day Laser Europa Cup event drew to a close amid glorious racing conditions at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy on Sunday (1 June).

Battling against a light and shifty breeze on the opening day of the regatta (Friday 30 May), conditions slowly improved across the course of the weekend with today's superb sunshine and South Westerly 10-15 knots resulting in a fantastic finale and a full schedule of races across the Laser 4.7, Laser Radial and Laser Standard classes.

In the Laser Standard, the British Sailing Team's Podium Potential sailor Lorenzo Chiavarini – the under 21 World and European Champion – revelled across the eight race series and cemented his position at the top of the leaderboard, having led the event from the outset. Elliott Hanson finished seven points behind in second with Jack Wetherell in third.

Sealing an impressive four race wins, Chiavarini, who hasn't sailed competitively since the Laser World Championships in Oman in January due to injury, was pleased with his Europa Cup victory.

"I am very pleased with my performance across the weekend, the conditions suited me perfectly across the three days of racing so it was a fantastic regatta for me and I am really pleased.

"My downwind pace was pretty good which I think was the key to my success this weekend. My boat speed certainly got me out of some difficult situations and was used as a 'get out of jail free' card at some points.

With the Laser Senior Europeans fast approaching, Chiavarini admits that this regatta had provided the perfect platform for the regatta in Split, Croatia next week.

"I have certainly ticked a lot of boxes this weekend which I am happy about in preparation for the Laser European Championships in just under a weeks' time. This is my first competitive event for a while so to finish top of the pile is a great confidence boost and hopefully I can continue to perform well when up against international competitors."

In the Laser Radial event, Jon Emmett did enough in today's final two races with a second and first to hold onto his overnight lead and claim event honours ahead of John Booth in second and Jack Aitken in third.

Emmett, who coached China's Lijia Xu towards a gold medal in the Laser Radial at the London 2012 Olympic Games in Weymouth and Portland, said: "I'm pleased with the victory this weekend but I certainly made hard work of it and realised that I've got an awful lot to work on. We have got the Europeans coming up with the first race on the 9 June and I felt very rusty in the boat so this was a good opportunity to start again."

"In terms of competition this weekend it was the usual suspects, John Booth was runner up to me at the Nationals last time round and he is always sailing very high upwind and has good boat speed, and we had some of the top Radial girls here as well. But the issue we have is that as we are so close to the Europeans a lot of people will be having this time for a break which is why it was a relatively small fleet. I hope another year, if the timing is a bit better, we will see a lot more boats across the English channel for this event."

Europa Cup victory in the Laser Radial female fleet went to Hannah Brant, who also secured a qualification berth for Great Britain in the Byte CII class for this summer's Youth Olympic Games in May.

Hollowell Sailing Club's Arran Holman was victorious in the Laser 4.7 class clinching Championship honours with three race wins from the eight race series. Alex King finished runner up by two points while Ben Whaley claimed the final step on the podium.

Overall Results:

Laser 4.7

Girls Under 16
1: Chloe Collinette
2: Imogen Kemp
3: Emma Bishop

Boys Under 16
1: Alex King
2: Ben Whaley
3: Ross Thompson

Girls Under 18
1: Elizabeth Sherwood
2: Jasmine Waite

Boys Under 18
1: Arran Holman
2: Savva Tretyakov

Laser Radial

Female overall
1: Hannah Brant
2: Chloe Martin
3: Karyna Manuel

Male Overall
1: Jon Emmett
2: John Booth
3: Jack Aitken

Girls Under 17
1: Hannah Brant

Girls Under 19
1: Karyna Manuel

Boys Under 17
1: Jordan Giles