Tornado European Championships - Vilamoura, Portugal Overall

Styles/May finish eighth at Tornado Europeans

Fresh from success at the Hyeres Olympic Classes Regatta last month, Olivier Backes/Laurent Voiron of France continued their winning streak, taking the Gold medal at the Tornado Europeans, Vilamoura, Portugal, from Dutch sailors Mitch Booth/Herbert Dercksen. RYA team GBR sailors Hugh Styles/Adam May finished in eighth place overall, with team mates Rob Wilson/Will Howden in tenth.

Two races were sailed on the final day of the Tornado Europeans, in light conditions of 8-11 knots, sunshine and calm seas. Santiago Lange/Carlos Espinola of Argentina crossed the finish line first in race one of the day, in front of Fernando Echavarry/Antón Blanco of Spain. Styles/May crossed the finish line in ninth place, with Wilson/Howden in thirteenth. Leigh McMillan/Mark Bulkeley were unfortunately penalised for starting prematurely, along with a number of other sailors, scoring a black flag disqualification, and with it putting an end to their successful Championships, as they would have to count these high points in their overall score.

Race two was won by Olympic Gold Medallists Roman Hagara/Hans Steinacher of Austria, who finished just in front of Lange/Espinola with Backes/Voiron of France in third place. For Hagara/Steinacher it was not enough to see them feature at this event, although it guaranteed them an overall result inside the top ten. Lange/Espinola had the best day of the fleet, adding a first and a second to their already impressive score line, it was enough to see them take Gold in the Open Championships. Backes/Voiron also finished the Championships on a good note, scoring two results inside the top five, which was enough to see themselves crowned as the new Tornado European Champions with Booth/Dercksen taking silver and Dutch team mates Karsenbarg/Heemskerk finishing in bronze medal position.

Styles/May had their worst race result of the Championships in the final race, the race committee called them over the line at the start and therefore they were given maximum points, although this was their discard, it meant that they would have to count one of their twentieth places from the beginning of the week, resulting in them finishing in eighth place overall, one place behind the Sydney Olympic Gold Medallists Hagara/Steinacher. Team mates Wilson/Howden also sailed well to finish inside the top ten, in tenth place in the European Championships. McMillan/Bulkeley finished the Championships in nineteenth place with Steven Lovegrove/Martin Sellars in twentieth.

"We were hoping to finish a bit better at this Championships, but at least we came inside the top ten. We made a few mistakes throughout the event, but on the whole I think we sailed well. We sailed a good day today, but I am disappointed that we got an OCS [on course side], as I I am not sure if we were early on the start." Commented Hugh Styles on their performance, who went on to say, "the overall standard of the fleet has moved up a level and many of the sailors here have said it has been one of the hardest Tornado regatta's so far. The fleet is very tight and therefore you really need to fight to stay in the top ten. We have learnt a lot at this event, and now need to move on, to focus on the World Championships and what we need to do to get a medal there."

The RYA Olympic Manager, Stephen Park, summed up the regatta, "following Hugh and Adam's medals at both the European and World Championships in 2001, the best British result of an eighth place is perhaps slightly disappointing. However, the Tornado class has gone through a huge period of development and the level of the game has risen. With the top Tornado sailors from all around the World attending every major event, the standard is equivalent to World Championship level at most regatta's. There is still some more work that needs to be done, and the sailors will now need to concentrate in the time between the Europeans and World Championships."

Overall Results: