18ft Skiff Europeans at Circolo Vela Torbole

by Tom Hill 22 Jun 2016 15:59 BST 10-14 June 2016

18ft Skiff European Championships 2016 © Soren Clausen

Five days of racing had been planned for this year's 18ft Skiff European Championships 2016 in Torbole, Lake Garda. The sailing club is situated in the Northern part of the lake, which is normally the windy area. The thermal strong winds during this event only came through on a couple of the days!

Day 1:

The first day brought champagne style Garda conditions with wind about 16-22 knots - Garda at it's best. Eurolink won the day with 1,2,1 but with very close racing! Special mention to the British team of ChameleonI for getting their first European bullet in the second race.

Day 2 & 3:

No sailing on day 2 and day 3 due to the rain preventing the wind from switching on. The race committee tried hard to get races on, but couldn't justify sending the fleet out for a drift off.

Day 4:

A huge 5 races were sailed, 3 in the morning north wind on the big rig and 2 in the afternoon p where 2 boats chose to keep the big rig and the rest of the fleet went with small rig. Most of the fleet were counting on the strong south wind coming through. The racing was close between big and small rig – but end of the day the big rig was the fastest!

The Hungarian Team "Be-Light" with Miklos, Boti and Jambo won the 2 last races and created a 4 point lead in front of Team "Original CHIA" from Denmark Flemming, Thomas and Soren before the last day. Team "Magic Marine/Liros" with Norbert, Finn and Marco (all from Germany) finished 3rd overall after this day!

The big drop was team "Eurolink" with Friedl, Latsi and big Tom who capsized with gear failure and didn't finish the 2 last races! Going into the last day they were 4th overall. Union Rose had the best day of the Brits with a 2nd place and a number of top half results.

Last day:

Two races were sailed in the afternoon after the fleet didn't manage to get away in a the early morning northerly breeze. Team "original CHIA" came close to the lead boat team "Be-Light" but after a little match racing on the start line, Original Chia pulled the trigger too early and had to go back and restart. So, the overall win of European Championship went to "Be-Light" in front of "original CHIA" and "Magic Marine/Liros!"

Best UK boat Team were "Union Rose/Haier" sailed by Jarrod Simpson, Nick Murray and Sam Caslin. They ended 5th in behind team Eurolink from Germany!

Overall, the racing was close all week and the European fleet has definitely improved!

Next European 18ft skiff Grand Prix event will be in Sandbanks, UK from 1-4 September 2016. The UK National Championships will be held in a few weeks time at Paignton Sailing Club on the 16th to 18th July.

Overall Results:

Pos	Sail No	Team	Boat name	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	R10	Pts
1	HUN 18	MIKLOS UJHELYI‑GASPAR~ BOTOND NEMETH~ ZSOMBOR SZEPFY~ SPARTACUS VE	BELIGHT SKIFF TEAM	2	‑6	2	3	1	3	1	1	‑4	3	16
2	DEN 1	FLEMMING CLAUSEN~ THOMAS EBLER~ SOREN CLAUSEN~ SOENDERBORG YACHT CLUB	ORIGINAL CHIA	3	3	(dnf)	1	3	1	3	3	2	‑6	19
3	GER 33	PETER NORBERT~ MRUGALLA~ FINN~ GRASSE~ MARCO~ VEREIN SEGLERHAUS AM WANNSEE	MAGIC MARINE	‑5	‑5	4	5	5	4	2	2	1	1	24
4	GER 22	FRIEDRICH RENNER~ THOMAS EGGERSDORFER~ CHRISTIAN MEISSNER~ SLRV	EUROLINK	1	2	1	2	9	2	(dnf)	(dns)	3	7	27
5	GBR 115	JARROD SIMPSON~ NICK MURRAY~ SAM CASLIN~ RYA	HAIER	(dnf)	4	3	4	2	5	5	‑6	5	5	33
6	GBR 91	GRAHAM BRIDLE~ BEN RUSHTON~ BEN RUSHTON~ BRIGHTLINGSEA SC	CHAMELEON‑I	4	1	5	‑7	‑7	7	7	5	7	4	40
7	GBR 43	STEVE MCLEAN~ NICK PRATT~ OLLIE HARTAS~ HISC	LED LOW ENERGY DESIGN	6	‑7	7	(dnf)	6	6	6	7	6	2	46
8	GBR 118	TOM HILL~ MARK KUDLINSKI~ MICHAEL ANDREW~ RUTLAND SAILING CLUB	THE RUTLAND CHANDLERY	8	8	6	6	4	(dnf)	4	4	8	(dnf)	48
9	GBR 52	ALASDAIR YORK~ SCOTT BONNER~ MARK SEWELL~ CALSHOT	SAIL 4 CANCER	7	9	8	8	8	(dnf)	8	(dns)	dns	dns	70
10	GER 42	DANIEL RUF~ SIMON DIESCH~ CHRISTIAN RITZLER~ RVUE		(dnf)	(dnf)	dnf	dnf	dnf	dns	dns	dns	dns	dns	88