A Class Catamaran European Championships in Warnemunde

A Class Catamaran European Championships in Warnemunde - Day 1 & 2

by Gordon Upton 11 Jul 2018 12:41 BST

First race was sailed in Champagne Sailing conditions (if only they had known what was awaiting them later) on day 2 of the A Class Catamaran European Championships in Warnemunde © Gordon Upton / www.guppypix.com

Game over on day 2 of the A Class Catamaran European Championships in Warnemunde © Gordon Upton / www.guppypix.com

And so the 'A' Class European Championships finally got underway, with a bang on Tuesday in Warnemunde Germany, after the first day was cancelled due to excessive wind/wave limits. An earlier start time was planned as the wind was due to increase again and the PRO wanted to get some races under his belt for the 95 strong fleet of both Classics and Foilers.

So keen were they to get going that a huge bulge of boats surged forward over the line 10 seconds before the first gun, causing the inevitable General Recall. During this, one unfortunate sailor lost a starboard bow somehow. They got off cleanly second time.

In each of the three races, it was the left of the course that was favoured. Glenn Ashby, looking for something to play with after his America's Cup triumph, led from the start, and gave a masterclass in upwind foiling that few, even this DNA team-mate Mischa Heemskerk, could only dream of achieving. It the top mark he led by some 25 seconds. from Manuel Calavia and Marciej Zarnovski, who led the following pack like hounds following a fox. Next time around he led by over a minute to finish the race a good two mins ahead of Manuel in second, Marciej in third and Mischa in forth. Further down the fleet individual battles were fought by sailors who were usually good friends ashore and Ex GBR Olympic sailor Adam May, who on the first lap was fifth around the top mark, sailed into a hole on a downwind leg but finished a respectable eleventh. Also Tom Phipps, in his first 'A' Class outing managed a decent 26th, however a catastrophic rudder system failure in the second race finished his day there.

The second race got off cleanly, with young GBR rookie Oscar Lindley-Smith nailing the pin in fine style, as he had been coached to do by Paul Larsen, the afternoon before at half time in the England World Cup game. However, by the end of the first lap, Glenn was in the lead, but chased closer this time by Mischa, Majiej and Manuel with GRE ace Trigonis Konstantinos was following in fifth. By now the wind was increasing and the long fetch meant that the waves started getting larger too. Nothing unmanageable as long as you had the correct mode dialed in, but the conditions started to catch out a few lower down in the pack. Boats would foil off waves and then into the back of the next one, with predictable results. At the bottom of lap 2, the same five had been caught by SWI Champion Sandro Caviezel. At the end, Mischa was following Glenn over the line about 30 secs later, with Sandro then Manuel with Trigonis in 5th.

By race 3 things had started to get a little fruity, with larger waves causing many spills as sailors were getting tired. The wind had reached 16-18 kts with 2m waves developing and most had switched on to full survival mode by then.

Oracle Team USA star Kyle Langford enjoying his first A Cat event on day 2 of the A Class Catamaran European Championships in Warnemunde - photo © Gordon Upton / www.guppypix.com

It was thought that maybe over a quarter of the fleet had capsized at some point during the latter part of 2 and race 3. And this was not restricted to the normal people, Trigonis took less care in a gybe and fell over, and Glenn was not immune either, he went over twice, on one he did a classic Moth style capsize when his boat got too high on the foils, flew off a wave and gravity took over. A particularly crowd-pleasing one was Kyle Langford, who stuffed the nose in on the top mark bear-away. The boat went vertical and Kyle smacked into the vertical hull and clung on like a koala to a eucalyptus tree before it fell over. A few unfortunates suffered mast and rigging failures, and a few ran into each other in the bouncy, by now, survival conditions. At the top mark all but the most stupid or extremely confident decided that trapezing was possibly not the way to reach old age. However, sitting in, a few started to foil even in that mode in a sort of devil's sleigh ride to the bottom mark.

At the finish, it was again Glenn, but followed pretty closely by Marciej. Many boats pitched in on the downwind leg, and it is even more galling if it was the final leg and giving away hard won places, but that's sailing. Tomorrow promises higher winds, so it may be another day on the beach. But many of the racers might be glad of that after today's events.

Glenn Ashby didn't even need a boat on day 2 of the A Class Catamaran European Championships in Warnemunde - photo © Gordon Upton / www.guppypix.com

Results after day 2:

Pos	Sail No	Team	Club	R1	R2	R3	Pts
1	AUS 111	Glenn ASHBY	10062	1	1	1	3
2	POL 17	Maciej ZARNOWSKI	UKS Navigo Sopot	3	7	2	12
3	NED 7	Mischa HEEMSKERK	Wvbraassemermeer	4	3	7	14
4	ESP 11	Manuel CALAVIA	RCMB	2	5	8	15
5	SUI 1	Sandro CAVIEZEL	YCAs	8	4	4	16
6	POL 1	Jacek NOETZEL	UKS Navigo Sopot	12	9	5	26
7	FRA 2	Emmanuel DODÉ	SR Vannes	9	13	9	31
8	GRE 1	Konstantinos TRIGONIS	N.C.Thessaloniki	10	6	17	33
9	GER 14	Bob BAIER	SCFF	23	10	3	36
10	DEN 1	Thomas PAASCH	SKS	17	15	10	42
11	POL 31	Robert GRACZYK	MKZ	15	19	11	45
12	POL 111	Michal KORNESZCZUK	YCG	5	16	27	48
13	SUI 9	Daniel CAVIEZEL	YCAs	29	14	6	49
14	ESP 16	Marc VERDAGUER	Club Nautic L'Escala	22	8	20	50
15	GER 39	Andi LACHENSCHMID	ASC	19	18	13	50
16	GBR 57	Adam MAY	WPNSA	11	20	21	52
17	GER 76	Helmut STUMHOFER	SCC	21	17	14	52
18	AUS 51	Paul LARSEN	WPNSA	24	12	22	58
19	AUS 1065	Tom JOHNSON		25	21	16	62
20	AUS 31	Scott ANDERSON	530015	36	11	18	65
21	ITA 3	Paolo PENCO	ANS	18	23	26	67
22	SUI 87	Nils PALMIERI		27	35	19	81
23	POL 7	Marcin KAMINSKI	UKS Navigo Sopot	20	41	25	86
24	POL 15	Piotr BARYZEWSKI	UKS Navigo Sopot	35	31	23	89
25	SUI 7	Robin MAEDER	CNB	37	26	30	93
26	NED 95	Roeland WENTHOLT	Hellecat	14	49	32	95
27	POL 3	Jaroslaw BETKOWSKI	RJKP	30	46	24	100
28	GER 5	Klaus RAAB	SCFF	32	36	36	104
29	DEN 20	Peter BOLDSEN	KBL	28	51	29	108
30	GER 85	Guido SCHULTE	MSV	44	33	35	112
31	POL 2	Marek ZEBROWSKI	UKS Navigo Sopot	57	29	28	114
32	AUS 1064	Kyle LANGFORD	280001	7	96	12	115
33	GBR 599	Oscar LINDLEY‑SMITH	WPNSA	42	40	34	116
34	ESP 74	Abdón IBÁÑEZ	RCNV	6	96	15	117
35	GER 37	Johannes KEMLER	TSG‑W	47	25	46	118
36	FRA 410	Jean DARNAUDE	EV Rochelaises	55	27	37	119
37	FRA 7	Jean‑Louis le COQ	SN du Roi Port Camargue	38	43	38	119
38	GER 80	Andreas GRÜNENWALD	SVBb	46	47	31	124
39	SWE 59	Alberto FARNESI	LBS	45	39	40	124
40	SUI 65	Bueche CHARLES	BT	53	42	33	128
41	NED 111	David van AART	ZVN	41	53	39	133
42	GER 27	Alexander MEISTER	YSTM	16	22	96	134
43	FRA 207	Benoit MARIE	SNO Nantes	13	30	96	139
44	GER 40	Manfred SYROWY	YCN	54	44	41	139
45	GER 20	Florian HENNIG	SLRV	58	52	45	155
46	AUT 96	Michael MÖDLHAMMER	SCSW	20	45	96	161
47	ITA 86	Michele PATELLI	H2O 151	40	28	96	164
48	GER 15	Katrin BRUNNER	BSF	66	58	42	166
49	GER 21	Marco GÖTZ	BYC	33	38	96	167
50	GER 3	Matthias DIETZ	SLRV	39	34	96	169
51	POL 18	Jakub SOBALA	Club Port Mechelinki	62	59	48	169
52	ESP 7	Micky TODD		50	32	96	178
53	DEN 111	Morten KOHLENBERG	SYC	72	61	47	180
54	ITA 777	Marco PUPPO	CNUC	74	64	43	181
55	NED 96	Gert Jan KOS	Hellecat	96	2	96	194
56	GER 75	Jörn KNOP	BSV	49	50	96	195
57	GER 6	Rainer BOHRER	TSVU	52	55	96	203
58	BEL 19	Wim DECA	RNSYC	71	37	96	204
59	NED 44	Wiro ZIJLMANS	Hellecat	51	57	96	204
60	GER 57	Martin BACH	MSV	70	96	44	210
61	SUI 33	Heiko MAIER	SCU	61	54	96	211
62	BEL 9	Michel WARLOP	RBSC	68	48	96	212
63	DEN 13	Lars SCHRØDER	FS	96	24	96	216
64	GBR 22	Tom PHIPPS	Windsport	26	96	96	218
65	FRA 101	Hervé LEDUE	C.N.Portes en Ré	67	56	96	219
66	GER 10	Jörg HORN	STS	64	62	96	222
67	ITA 101	Andrea FERRARI	USC	31	96	96	223
68	CZE 1	Vladislav PTAŠNIK	ALT F20T	34	96	96	226
69	NED 1	Piet SAARBERG	Hellecat	69	63	96	228
70	SUI 22	Hermann WALLMER	SCMd	73	60	96	229
71	GER 61	Gerian KÜHLBORN	E.S.V	75	65	96	236
72	GER 86	Alexander ZYLKA	SCH	48	96	96	240
73	AUT 98	Ronald van der VALK	YCZ	78	66	96	240
74	GER 38	Thorsten LORENZ	BSV	56	96	96	248
75	ESP 5	Enrique CORNEJO	RCMB	59	96	96	251
76	ITA 110	Stefano TACCHI	UVM	60	96	96	252
77	GER 2	Georg REUTTER	TSVH	63	96	96	255
78	GER 34	Jan KREUTZMANN	YCN	65	96	96	257
79	SWE 2	Ulf TJERNBERG	LSS	76	96	96	268
80	GER 81	Maren ODEFEY	MSV	77	96	96	269
81	SUI 70	Darius GOLCHAN		79	96	96	271
82	ARG 21	Sergio MEHL	AGUILA	96	96	96	288
82	DEN 17	Frank LAVRSEN	ES	96	96	96	288
82	ESP 42	Mariano MARTINEZ	CAR MURCIA	96	96	96	288
82	ESP 48	Oscar QUIRANTE	RCMB	96	96	96	288
82	ESP 9	Juan Antonio LADRÓN de GUEVARA	CAR	96	96	96	288
82	NED 14	Rutger KRIJGER	WSVW	96	96	96	288
82	NED 28	Pieter Jan DWARSHUIS	WV Flevo	96	96	96	288
82	NED 41	Caroline van BEELEN	catclub zeeland	96	96	96	288
82	NED 911	Juppe HEBLY	Roerkoning	96	96	96	288
82	POL 100	Karol KWIATKOWSKI	UKS Navigo Sopot	96	96	96	288
82	POL 101	Andrzej SENKUS	UKS Navigo Sopot	96	96	96	288
82	POL 197	Maciej TROCHA	UKS Navigo Sopot	96	96	96	288
82	POL 21	Ewa GÓRSKA	UKS Navigo Sopot	96	96	96	288
82	SUI 81	Nicolas BORGHETTI		96	96	96	288