British team racing medals

Gold and Silver won at the European champs

Great Britain have won the first Eurosaf 2004 European Team Racing Championship. Sailed in 420’s on Lake Garda, Italy, the championship was dominated by the two British teams entered.

Among the Irish, German, Italian and Czechoslovakian teams, RYA Team GBR entered two GB teams. GBR 1 and GBR 2, respectively known as ‘The Pirates’ and the ‘Royal Thames Yacht Club’, dominated the round robin that began on 8 September with the finals finishing on 11 September.

A victory for the younger GBR 2 team against GBR 1 saw the team of Ben Field, Karen Greenland, Andrew Cornah, Hamish Walker, Tom Hebbert and Suzie Short, move through their qualifying round robin with added confidence entering the knock out stage in first place.

After beating Italy and Czechoslovakia 1 in the semi finals, the two British teams met in the final with GBR 1 out for revenge. The formidable team of Stuart Hudson, Linda Eadie, Dom Johnson, Debs Kershaw, John Greenland and Bevis Field made no mistakes winning the final 3-0, but as Ben Field explains the score line did not mirror the racing; “The racing between us was incredibly tense and on many occasions the umpires made a big difference to the results. Obviously we are very happy to come second, and to such a good team, but with all things in life you strive for gold. Nevertheless, we are pleased with our performance, improving as the week went by, and to have two British teams in the final bodes well for the Team Racing World Championships.”

The result for Great Britain was especially pleasing after race organisers set longer courses further north of Lake Garda where the wind was shifty, conditions that the British teams were not used to. This handed Italy a home advantage and they were able to capitalise on their speed in the 420’s rather than close boat on boat tactics around the short courses. Following a playoff for bronze medal the Italians lost to Czechoslovakia.

Winning a gold medal was helm, John Greenland who said, “I am delighted to have won a European Championship but it was not easy and we were certainly not complacent at any point. Despite a 3-0 score in the final it was a hard fight. It was a great first event that was helped with fantastic weather and I am sure the championship will grow from strength to strength.”

The two teams will now begin their preparations for the 2005 Team Racing World Championships which take place at Rhode Island, America on 24 September, where they will hope for a similar result as the Europeans.

Results
1st GBR 1
2nd GBR 2
3rd Czechoslovakia
4th Italy
5th Germany
6th Czechoslovakia
7th Ireland