Irish win

Jon Emmett reports on the Radial Danish Europa Cup

The Radial Danish Europa Cup saw a real mix of conditions which tested the 41 sailors from 11 different countries racing over 12-14 June.

Day one and with the wind averaging around thirty knots and gusts near forty it was survival conditions for most. Race One was won by eventual winner Matthew O Dowd from Ireland with Arian Aleksander from Poland in second and Jon Emmett from the UK in third. These three pulled well clear of the fleet and only around half finished. Leading the chasing pack was last year’s third place Maiken Foght Schutt from Denmark, Robin Axelsson from Sweden and Filip Kobelski from Poland.

Race two was won by Pascal Timshel from Denmark with Emmett grabbing second as a result of not swimming on the final run which wiped out most of the fleet which had just twelve finishers. Dowd, despite a few swims, clung onto third with Arain fourth, Stig Steinfurth from Denmark fifth and Schutt posting sixth.

Day two and the wind moderated to around 20 knots making for better racing conditions. In race three a large shift on the left promoted Arian to the lead in race three which he held to the finish. Sebastian Buehler from Germany was also on the left and took second with last year’s runner up Alberte Holm Lingberg from Denmark in third. Steinfurth placed another good result with a fourth from Kobielski in fifth. Emmett who was on the wrong side of the shift pulled back to sixth.

Race four and with the fleet starting to tire, Timshel made good work of the first beat to lead the race from start to finish. Dowd recovered from an eighth in the previous race to finish second, just pushing Emmett into third on the final beat. Gabrielle King from Australia posted a fourth place, her best result of the regatta with Bruehler fifth from Lingberg.

Race five and Timshel again showed his dominance in the wind with Bruehler picking up another second just in front of Schuett. Fourth place went to Aidan Mclavery from Ireland, his best result of the regatta, and Lingberg just pipped Emmett for fifth place on the line.

So going into the last day Dowd led the championship one point clear of last year’s winner Emmett with Arian five points behind the leader, but with the wind due to die for the final day there was still lots to play for.

Dowd did not make it easy for himself getting black flagged in race six which allowed Emmett who had been discarding a sixth to move into the lead with one race to go. Timshel was also black flagged pushing him out of the top ten overall.

Race six was won by Florian Haufe from Germany, his only result in the top ten with Arian posting a second. Things were now looking very tight at the top indeed. A third for Kobielski and fourth for Buehler cemented their positions in the top ten. Fifth was Chiara Christensen from Germany, her best result of the regatta, and sixth place for Lindberg brought her right back in the running for the final race.

Lindberg who recently finished second at the Delta Lloyd (grade 1) regatta, grabbed the ball by the horns to win the final race by a large margin. Out of the top three only Dowd made the top six, in sixth place to grab the lead back off Emmett. With her race win Lindberg ended up tied on points but losing on tiebreaker to Arian overall who could only manage a ninth. This meant just three points separated the top four overall!

A second place in the final race going to Daniel Edinger from Germany was nearly enough to move him into the top ten. Third place was Andre Hojen Christiansen, his only result in the top twenty. Fourth place for Buehler meant he stayed in the top five overall. Fifth place went to Louise Christensen from Denmark.

Overall places:

1st Matthew O'Dowd Ireland 27pts
2nd Jon Emmett GBR 28pts
3rd Aleksander Arian Poland 29pts
4th Alberte Holm Lindberg Denmark 29pts
5th Sebastian Buehler Germany 35pts
6th Maiken Foght Schutt Denmark 44pts

For most the next stop is then Kiel Woche in Germany before heading back to Denmark for the European Championships.