Win for Emmett in Holland

Standards and Radials at the Laser Europa Cup

From 21st-23rd May, 62 Standard rigs and 55 Radials battled it out in the first event of the Europa Cup series since the Worlds, in Hoorn Holland. This event was also the Dutch Nationals for the Radial class. Youth Worlds' representatives Nick Thompson and Charlotte Dobson put in excellent performances, finishing second and first overall in their category, which bodes well for Poland.

The first day saw medium waves and twenty knots of breeze, sometimes more. Getting round the first mark in good shape proved crucial. In the standard rigs Simon Groteluschen stamped his mark on the event with a sound win in the first race and Nick Thompson took race two. The Radials saw two bullets for Emmett with top Dutch sailor Rodie van Mackelenbergh runner up in the first and Dobson second in the last race.

Saturday saw the wind further round to the left but still extremely strong. Groteluschen sailed a perfect day, with two more race wins, and Thompson did enough to hang onto second place but with the field closing in behind him. In the Radial things were not so clean cut, Mackelenbergh had the best day with two seconds, but Emmett did enough to lead into the final day. Dobson confirmed her place as top girl.

Sunday the wind finally had a breather, with the short chop flattening off and the pressure becoming patchy. Groteluschen could only manage a second and a third but this was more than enough to walk away with the event. Thompson hung onto second by the skin of his teeth, but Keir Clarke who was third overnight was not so lucky and a poor last race dropped him well down the finishing order.

Going into the last day Dobson had a narrow points advantage on the chasing pack but had already sailed her discard. Two top ten results maintained her place but the battle for the top four was only decided on the final race. Ben Paton showed the fleet how to sail in the difficult conditions to win the final race and move into the top ten overall. However the fight for the championship was decided further back with another top five result for Emmett, just giving him the event from Rodie who had a poor last race, with the other places remaining unchanged.

Overall:

Standard
1st Simon Groteluschen 8pts
2nd Nick Thompson 25pts
3rd Eduardo van Vanien 25pts
4th Bastiaan Reichartz 27pts
5th Sietse-Jan Sietzema 35pts

Other British Boats:
Keir Clarke 9th

Radial
1st Jon Emmett 13pts
2nd Rhodie van Mackelenbergh 17pts
3rd Onur Berebasi 21pts
4th Martin Sundelin 28pts
5th Charlotte Dobson 35pts

Other British Boats:
Ben Paton 10th
Nick Van Tienen 17th