Europe Open Meeting at Chichester Yacht Club
by Lucy Boreham 13 May 2016 16:09 BST
7 May 2016
Europe open meeting at Chichester © Mark Green
The second Europe open of the year was held alongside the Solo Open at Chichester YC - and finally the sun came out! Two visitors from Weston SC - Emma Pearson and Ellen Clancy joined local sailors, a reverse P course was set and once the Solo fleet had decided to behave themselves on the start line Race 1 got underway!
In Race 1 Lucy Boreham managed the shifty conditions up the first beat best to take a narrow lead from Ellen at the windward mark, while Emma & Geoff Newman finding a few holes in the wind dropped behind. These positions stayed thought out the race with Lucy taking 1st place.
Emma showed her prowess in light airs in the second race, to take a lead in the first 2 laps. With an increasing breeze at the start of the last lap, Lucy managed to haul in Emma and made the best of the shifts to take the lead at the gybe mark and carry it into the finish.
Race 3 was a close affair for first and second between Ellen & Lucy with place changes during the first lap. Local knowledge paid dividends with Lucy winning the final race.
Many thanks to both Chichester YC and the Solo fleet for letting the Europe's join the open for the day. The fleet in the UK may currently be small but with a recent influx of new sailors and interest and with a friendly fleet and close racing anyone out there with a Europe in their garage come along and join the fun at the next open. If you are not planning to sail your boat, contact the class as there are buyers out there looking for boats!
More photos (look under "Solo Open") at cyc.co.uk/on-the-water/dinghies/openraceresults
Overall Results:
| Pos | Sail No | Helm | Club | R1 | R2 | R3 | Pts |
|---|
| 1st | 355 | Lucy Boreham | Chichester | ‑1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 2nd | 379 | Ellen Clancy | Weston | 2 | ‑3 | 2 | 4 |
| 3rd | 332 | Emma Pearson | Weston | ‑3 | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| 4th | 393 | Geoff Newman | Chichester | 4 | 4 | DNF | 8 |