Win for Ireland

Annalise Murphy comes out on top at the Dutch Radial Europa Cup

The Dutch Radial Europa Cup was held at Hoorn over 15-17 May and saw 77 sailors battle it out in extreme conditions. This year every boat was fitted with a tracker device so not only could people watch each race live but the competitors could also watch a rerun of the race on a large plasma screen when they returned ashore for their pasta.

Day one and only one race could be completed due to the extremely light conditions. It was a great start for the Dutch with a 1,2,3 with young sailors Yuri Hummel, Ben Koppelaar followed by top Dutch lady Marit Bouwmeester and veteran Brit Jon Emmett with another Dutchman Jolbert Van Dijk completing the top five. Jonathan Schopter from Switzerland was sixth.

Day two was very different with a short chop and strong winds. Race two was again won by another young Dutchman, this time Maarten Moerman, with second place Sierk Ter Haar also from Holland. Both had had a poor race in the light stuff. This was exactly the opposite of Dijk who failed to finish in the top half of the windy races. Robin Axlesson from Sweden finished third from Annalise Murphy from Ireland who showed great upwind speed. A consistent Brouwmeester put in a fifth place from Oliver Vink while Hummel, Emmett and Koppelaar all had a poor race.

Race three and Koppelaar made a great comeback leading the race for the first lap before losing it up the second beat to Emmett then regaining it downwind to take the bullet at the finish. However Hummel scored another poor result. Guillaume Girod who currently leads the Europa cup series slotted in third place in front of Axelsson who was having a great day with Murphy in fifth and the ever consistent Bouwmeester in sixth.

Tobias Kirschbam from the Netherlands won the final race on Saturday but a second for Axlesson meant he had by far the best day overall. Third was Girod, creeping up the standings. Moerman was fourth, Bouwmeester fifth and Emmett sixth. Both Hummel and Koppelaar were blackflagged but Hummel managed to get redress for a moving pin end, keeping his championship hopes alive.

So overnight Axelsson led Emmett, but both had already sailed a discard making Brouwmeester who had yet to finish out of the top six favourite, but with another windy day ahead there was still plenty of room for place changes.

A win in race five for Murphy moved her into first place from Bouwmeester who finished fourth with young Brit Oscar McVeigh claiming a third place, his best of the event. Fourth place for Marit meant she could finish no lower than third with Noel Bbayard from France taking fifth from Emmett, leaving him in sixth place, meaning Bouwmeester passed Emmett going into the last race.

Race six and the fleet were keen to get away with just thirty minutes before the last start time. Several general recalls saw many black flagged casualties including Marit who ended up counting a sixth and Emmett who counted a fourteenth. Hummel sailed the race of his life to win, moving him up to fifth overall beating Emmett on tiebreaker and putting three Dutch sailors in the top five. Likewise a second for Moerman and fifth for Girod was enough to squeeze them into the top five overall. However it was third for Murphy which gave her the title. Sixth was Lauri Kalkkinen.

Top results

1st Annalise Murphy IRE 20pts
2nd Marit Bouwmeester NED 23pts
3rd Maarten Moerman NED 29pts
4rd Guillaume Girod SUI 31pts
5th Yuri Hummel NED 32pts
6th Jon Emmett GBR 32pts

Other GBR:

9th Oscar Mcveigh
12th Hannah Snellgrove
19th John Booth
42nd Hannah Tilley
45th Ben Elvin
51st Kerry Morgan
52nd Ralph Bonfield

Full results here