Mixed conditions

And mixed results for British sailors competing at the Radial Europa Cup at Lugano

The first day set the pattern for the week with a light and shifty breeze. Things looked good for the Brits with Jon Emmett, Ben Paton and Mark Brewster all rounding the windward mark in the top ten. Up the second beat Emmett moved into the lead, while Paton and Brewster maintained their top five and top ten positions respectively. However as the wind died the race was abondanded just twenty minutes from the finish.

The second attempt at the first race got underway with the wind now coming from the south, once again at 5 knots. An over keen fleet caused a general recall at the first attempt but the second start got alway cleanly. All the brits got stuck on the right, with the left hand side paying heavily. Up the second beat Brewster sailed an excellent second beat, playing the shifts he moved into the top ten. Brewster commented "I should be good at this, it is just like a large version of Frensham Pond". Unfortunately the other Brits were already looking forward to a discard! The fleet returned ashore at 6:30 for a free pasta meal.

Day two and the lack of wind was joined by the rain, in bucket loads. The highlight of the day was the free breakfast at a villa, with the majority of the day spent hiding from the rain in a tent. There was no racing, with the wind never appearing.

Day three (and race two) and the sailors where back on the water, spending most of there time drifting in the rain. At 5:00 the southerly breeze died completeland was replaced by 11 knots from the west. Eventually at 5:30 the fleet got away, once again things good for the Brits with Emmett leading at the bottom mark and Paton firmly in the top five again. However once again it was not to be, as the wind switched off on the right, leaving the leaders dead and buried. Rosie Chapman finished top Brit in eighth with Brewster (doing his best to prove the Brits can sail, with another excellent second beat to score a constant result) and Craig Paul close behind. After the finish there was no wind at all, with the whole fleet needing to be towed in (which proved having your coach at an event can be very useful!) After sailing we had the offical dinner, which as at most Laser events turned out to be messy...

The last day once again saw no sailing, lots of waiting around, fortunately the rain was replaced by sunshine which made a nice change! With conditions much the same as day one the first start resulted in a general recall but the second start was clean and saw Brewster lead from the left, with Paton first boat on the right by some 400 yards. With the wind turning on and off at random you could toss a coin to work out who was going to be first to the windward mark. However the wind continued to die and the race was abandoned half way up the beat... With the time at 3:30 and the last possible start time 4:00 the fleet sailed ashore. the results stood:

Results:

1st Andrea Curzi ITA 3pts
2nd Thomas Nyvang DEN 6 pts
3rd Caterina Raffaele ITA 13pts
4th Luca Micolitti ITA 20pts
5th Claudio Arborea ITA 20pts
6th Christian Golnik GER 21pts

British places:

7th Mark Brewster
14th Jon Emmett
26th Rosie Chapman
29th Graig Paul
30th Ben Paton

The next leg is Andorra (Italy) which starts on Thursday (March 31st) where the British team will be joined by Lizzie Vickers and Laura Baldwin.