Runners & Riders for the 2019 Europe Nationals

The 2019 Europe Nationals will be held at the WPNSA © Europe class

The 2019 Europe Nationals will be held at the WPNSA © Europe class

With a resurgence in interest and activity in the UK Europe fleet this year's nationals are being held in the Olympic waters of Weymouth, hosted by WPNSA and looks set to be the biggest Europe event in the UK for many years.

Boats have been brought out of storage and spruced up, imported from mainland Europe and Europe's are springing up at sailing clubs all over the country.

The main contenders:

• Graham Hutchins A Brit abroad, Graham does his sailing in Belgium where the fleet is strong, based on his visits to the UK in the last year, he'll be at the front of the fleet vying for pole position.

• Chris Gill he's won more Europe Nationals titles than anyone, a few years out of the boat sailing with his brother, but he's not likely to have lost much of his form. He certainly showed the fleet the way round the course at the nationals 2 years ago.

• Laura Baldwin Last time she seriously stepped into a Europe was at the Olympics in 2004, more recently known for coaching its great to see Laura back in the Europe and it won't take long for memory to kick in and be mixing it with the boats at the front of the fleet.

• Adam May Another past Olympic sailor and technical coach for the British Sailing team, need we say more...

• Alejandro Gonzalez Spanish super sailor, a serious contender in the Europe worlds fleet, his only weakness will be a lack of local knowledge of the Weymouth sailing waters.

• Richard Eagleton class legend Richard has been sailing the Europe for more years than we can remember, always quick, always smiling Richard will be mixing it up with the front runners no doubt.

• Lucy Boreham current UK Inlands champ, but can she overcome her nemesis of downwind sailing when the breeze gets up? Emma Pearson light wind expert extraordinaire - and better than she lets on when the breeze blows! Emma will certainly be challenging for race wins if the wind is gentle and no doubt will be sharing her cakes around the dinghy park for post sailing nutrition.

This year's entries see a number of family groups entering the Morley clan will be out in force, Malcom will be joined by son Hamish and if the wind is light younger daughter Anna will also take to the water in her 1st Europe nationals. A second Father / Son duo of Ben & Ollie Harris will be on the water and new comers to the fleet Gareth & Jon Tweedle many may know Jon from his Finn days, however with a serious weight loss programme behind him Jon is now getting his sailing thrills in the Europe. Rumour has it Cameron may also take to the water everyone will be keen to see how he manages to get under the boom!

Ellie Clark will be joining the youngsters in what should be a good battle for the 1st junior and no doubt showing some of the over 18's a thing or 2, with good local knowledge from youth sailing in the waters, Ellie will be one to keep an eye on.

With 8 newcomers entered so far a further 6 sailors coming back into the Europe after a number of years away joining the regulars this year's event is set to be fantastic both on and off the water.

Laura will be leading a training day on Friday 14th June (contact the class for details via the Facebook page) the racing taking place over the weekend of the 15/16th June, 3 back to back races each day and socials planned for both evenings - if you have a Europe dinghy come along, its not too late to enter entries taken up to and on the day, what's stopping you?