Radials in Slovenia

Jon Emmett reports as the Europa Cup circuit moves to Izola

With only two races sailed in the last two meetings at Lugano and Andorra, there where high hopes for some good racing at the Laser Radial Europa Cup in Izola, Slovenia. Racing took place from April 7-10 and it is true to say in pretty much every condition!

Day one and there was a slight delay waiting for the breeze to fill in. Eventually a NW 3 knot breeze materialised and with little current it was enough to sail. Russian Zhbankov Timofey won the favoured port end of the line but it was the right hand side of the course which paid. British sailor Jon Emmett rounded the first mark in the lead, which he held to the finish. Croatian Ivo Matic was 2nd but was passed on the downwind leg by fellow Croatian Ivo Kalebic. Up the next beat the breeze filled in from the left taking another Croatian Mateja Petronijevic passed both of them. The course was shorted at the top of the windward leg, giving Petronijevic second place from Kalebic.

Day two and the breeze, a perfect Force 3 from the South East was joined by strong sunshine. However this was the day of the Pope's funeral, so there was no racing although most of the fleet went out to train.

Day three and the sunshine had gone and was replaced by rain with a stronger SW Force 4. A very short course laid close to shore, not quite small enough for Optimist team racing but with a large fleet it felt like it! The first race should have lasted 90 minutes but was completed in less than 30 minutes. Emmett led the windward mark and held it to the finish. Second at the top mark was Kalebic but he was passed downwind by Slovakian Jan Mikulin, who held second to the finish. The Italian Pietro Cerne once again passed Kalebic downwind on Lap 2 and this was the order to the finish.

Race three and the wind swung to the SW and increased to Force 6. The fleet waited for the course to be reset, now with a target time of 60 minutes. Timofy once again won the pin end and crossed the fleet, showing excellent upwind speed he held the lead until the final run when Emmett passed him. Teja Cerne, Slovenia Olympic representative in the Europe class finished in 3rd.

The final race of the day was started in a Force 5. Timofy once again won the pin end but the wind went right, meaning he could not cross the fleet. Emmett led round the first mark with Timofy in hot pursuit. However the breeze started to die and swing back to the left. The Russian helm Anastasia Chernova managed to close the gap as the wind died downwind but the finishing order remained and shortly after the finish both the rain and the breeze stopped leaving competitors thankful for the race area being so close to the marina.

Day 4 and the Bora breeze kicked in from the North East, with 100 Km per Hour winds forecast the fleet were slow to launch and several sailors missed their start. With the rain pouring down the wind was at 25 knots and building with poor visibility.

Unsurprisingly Timofy started at the port end and the breeze went left. This confused the fleet, who proceeded to sail to mark 2, which was now directly upwind, rather than mark 1. The race was abandoned and restarted. The breeze was well left at the restart but soon came back to the right. Emmett led the Finnish sailor Pierre Collura around the windward mark and held his lead until the finish. Collura did well to stay in front of Timofy until down the final run, when the wind speed hit 35 knots and he capsized. He had to settle for third place but this was still enough for him to beat Timofy, who did poorly in the lighter wind races, overall. The wind continued to build and when it hit 40 knots the race committee decided to send the fleet in. The championship was decided on the basis of the best four results from five races.

The next Europa Cup stop is Marseille between 14th & 17th April. This is a large regatta and usually used as a warm up to Hyeres.

1 st	Jon Emmett	GBR	4 pts
2 nd	Mateja Petronjievic	CRO	18 pts
3 rd	Pierre Collura	FIN	20 pts
4 th	Yhbankov Timofey	RUS	21 pts
5 th	Ivo Kalebic	CRO	23 pts
6 th	Anastasia Chernova	RUS	23 pts