29er Eurocup at Fraglia Vela Riva, Lake Garda - Overall

29er Euro Cup at Lake Garda podium; Matt Venables & Will Alloway (2nd), Owen Bowerman and Morgan Peach (1st), Jasper Steffens & Tom Leonart (3rd) © Fraglia Vela Riva

29er Euro Cup at Lake Garda ladies winners, Vikki Payne & Stephanie Orton © Fraglia Vela Riva

The seventh leg of the 29er Eurocup took place this week from the 1st-4th November at Fraglia Vela Riva. The previous legs were held in Spain, France, The Netherlands, Germany, Great Britain and Denmark. The only Italian leg had over 50 crews competing at Riva del Garda from 11 different countries. Victory went to Brits Owen Bowerman and Morgan Peach.

Despite the damp, rainy days there were some intervals of warm sunshine on the second day of the regatta with the 29er Eurocup finishing with a total of 12 races completed with strong winds of 8-10 m/sec. Compliments to Trentino Garda which morning and afternoon provided enviable wind conditions from the north and south and of course to the staff of Fraglia Vela Riva coordinated by regatta director Fausto Maroni who didn't lose a moment of wind which sometimes doesn't last long in this season. Satisfaction all-round for this the last regatta organised by Fraglia Vela Riva in a 2012 that has seen over 100 days of national and international regattas.

Over 50 crews made up the 29er fleet this year at Riva del Garda with a wide international representation of 11 countries with a large participation from Great Britain and Germany. After a less than brilliant start (11-11), Brits Owen Bowerman and Morgan Peach comfortably won with a 13 lead over fellow Brits Venables- Will who had started with 3 partial wins and a 2nd. In third place came Jasper Steffens-Tom Leonart of Germany equal on points with Vikki Payne-Stephanie Orton of G.B. 4th overall and first of the women.

Report from Adrian Peach

Owen Bowerman and Morgan Peach win the Lake Garda Euro Cup with a race to spare then go on the win the final race for to show they are good sportsman!

The final days racing was a mixed bag of shifty and gusty conditions, not forgetting the obligatory rain all day! in fact RYA coach Steve Irish got the forecast for the final day just right, bearing in mind he predicted rain for packing the boats away 8 days ago!

The top female team of Vicky Payne and Stephie Orton fought all the way to the wire to get a GBR 1,2,3 however they were tied on points for 3rd missing out on count back to the Germans. The girls have had a fantastic week, and said the love sailing at Lake Garda.

Rounding up a strong GBR performance with a awesome 2nd overall were Matt Venables and Will the Viking Alloway, a nickname given to Will by some of the Dutch crowd they met in Garda!

An awesome trip that saw 6 boats travel from the UK to join the 53 strong fleet.

Special thanks go to Club Fraglia Vela Riva Lake Garda for such fantastic racing.

Overall Results: