Estonian teams are new 2018 ORC European Champions

Katariina II team celebrates victory as new 2018 ORC Class C European Champions © Nikos Pantis

Another brilliant sunny day in Cyprus produced the highest winds of the week for the eighth and last race of the 2018 ORC European Championship, with the final podium positions at stake in each of two competing classes.

The two teams from Estonia - Mati Sepp's modified X-41 Technonicol in Class AB and Aivar Tuulberg's Cossutti 37 Katariina II in Class C - both sailed extremely well all week and were assured of overall victory, so the fight today was for Silver and Bronze medals in each class.

Sepp commented on the dominance of the Estonian teams in this week's competition: "Since the first offshore race we managed to show to the competitors the unrivalled level of preparation and team work. Our boat Technonicol was more dominating in light and moderate winds, but Katariina II had this advantage in strong winds instead. As the races progressed and the winds were building, the boats with longer waterlines in Class AB started to fight back harder, but eventually our success continued day by day and it was no longer necessary to race the final inshore race today. Instead we could enjoy looking at the rush of our rivals in these windy conditions!"

Starts like this are what vaulted Technonicol to overall victory as the new 2018 ORC Class AB European Champion - photo © Pavel Nesvadba

Sepp and his crew of Vladimir Nikidin, Ilya Brilliantov, Raul Grigorjev, Martin Muur, Rene Jreyfield, Andrus Luht, Martin Tepp, Rino Koost, and Tanel Tamm raced incredibly well all week, amassing an impressive scoreline of 1-1-1-2-2-1-3, with a DNC in the last race as a discard. This left the opportunity for another race winner in this class, who today was Tomas Dolezal and Radim Parizek's blue Swan 42 Daring Sisters - this was a nice comeback from having to use their DNF discard yesterday due to an injured crew member in Race 7. This race win allowed the Czech team to displace Mikhail Kadetov's Skif 42 St Anna from Russia for the Silver medal position after their mediocre sixth place showing in this race.

The overall all-amateur Corinthian division winner in Class AB was Oleg Stashkevych's Ukrainian team on the XP 44 Maestro, scoring an impressive second place today following their win yesterday in race seven and earning fifth place overall.

Without Technonicol on today's course, Class AB was a little more free to stretch their legs in the spectacular 17-20 knot conditions of the day - photo © Nikos Pantis

The Class C winners on Katariina II did not have to sail today but came out to compete anyway, and with a sixth first-place score in this race they made it clear to everyone they have earned and deserve their new European Champion Gold medals. Aivar Tuulberg, August Luure, Kevin Grass, Jaan Akerman, Henri Lepik, Peter Saraskin, Karl-Hannes Tagu and Marco Bodini showed incredible skill and consistency all week.

"We had a really good regatta this week," said Katariina tactician Peter Saraskin. "The team sailed well, and we had all conditions for racing - light to heavy winds - so this really helped us to know how to get the most out of this boat we have been working on for two years."

Maestro at speed in today's brisk conditions, on her way to earning the top Corinthian prize for Class AB - photo © Nikos Pantis

In the Silver medal position was Rudolf Vrestal's Czech team on his Italia 9.98 Giulia, and was the closest rival to Katariina all week so their slightly mediocre score today did not hurt them to secure this position. But the fight for Bronze was keen today between two very different boats, both from Greece: the smaller and lighter modified Farr 30 Tamumm-Marineshop skippered by Antonis Katigiannakis and the larger heavier Bavaria Match 35 Blue Line owned and skippered by George Drakopoulos. Blue Line's second place to Katariina was their best result of the week, but they needed the race win or for Tamumm to finish worse than fourth to win Bronze for the week.

Incredible focus, attention to detail and few mistakes rewarded the Katariina team with their excellent results this week - photo © Nikos Pantis

Being confirmed as an all-amateur team, Tamumm also wins the Corinthian trophy for Class C as well.

"We congratulate the winners and thank the race officials, the volunteers, the support from our sponsors and all the teams that came from all over Europe and the Middle East to participate at our first major ORC championship event," said event organizer Stelios Charalambous of the host Famagusta Yacht Club. "We hope everyone who has come here this year was pleased to discover what we have long known to be true: that sailing in Cyprus is truly world class."

An awards celebration and ceremony will be held tomorrow evening in Limassol, with invitations to all participants in the event.

For more information and final results of the 2018 ORC European Championship in Limassol, visit the event website at european2018.orc.org.

The breezy conditions got the best of the Giulia team at one point today, but they recovered well enough to preserve their Silver medal position in the class - photo © Nikos Pantis

The Tamumm team had to hike hard at the corners, but got around the track well enough to stay ahead by one point to earn Bronze in the overall scores and the top Corinthian prize in Class C - photo © Nikos Pantis