Star European Championship at Yacht Club Gaeta
by Rachele Vitello 7 Jun 2015 21:50 BST
2-7 June 2015
Star European Championship in Gaeta © YCG / Gianluca Di Fazio
Xavier Rohart & Sebastien Guidoux win
The Gaeta Yacht Club hosted a fantastic 2015 International Star European Championship and it will always be remembered for an amazing battle on the water, which was eventually won by Xavier Rohart and Sébastien Guidoux. Augie Diaz and Bruno Prada was second by 0.7 of a point with Torben Grael and Guilherme de Almeida on the last step of the podium.
Olympic medalist and double Star World champion, Xavier Rohart, was elated with the win. “This is the first time I have won the European title and it is not the first time of trying. Sébastien was a good crew, even though he stepped in at the last minute, today I just had to focus on my own game and he was on top of every maneuver. Every race we have had to fight, against other teams, the weather and sometimes ourselves, I have not sailed a perfect regatta but it is important never to give up and to keep fighting.”
Augie Diaz & Bruno Prada took silver by literally a few seconds. “Xavier deserved it, he sailed better than us today but we have had an amazing week with the best day being yesterday with a second and first place. Xavier and Sébastien made very few mistakes, discarding an 9th place as their worst result. Congratulations to them, they are worthy champions.”
Torben Grael and Guilherme de Almeida did not win a single race but the Brazilian team’s tenacity after a collision on Day Three was rewarded by third place for the championship. Lars Grael and Samuel Goncalves, also started well but two poor results on Day Three put the ISCYRA President, out of the running for the overall win, even though the Brazilian pair won the last race of the championship. Hubert Merkelbach and Gerrit Bartel the European titleholder, started with a bullet but his luck quickly faded with an OCS in the second round.
Four days of racing were full of drama and incidents including, general recalls, black flags, course changes, even collisions. The changeable conditions were well managed by the Race Committee, led by Peter Reggio, to give seven fair races won by five different teams.
The European Championship is one of ISCYRA Silver events, and it is worth many points for the Star Sailors League ranking, leading to the 2015 SSL Finals in Nassau in December. Before that, this year, for the first time there will be a Star Sailors League Lake Grand Slam in Grandson, Switzerland, from 8th to 12th September.
Full results can be found here.
www.starsailors.com