Holland warm-up

Jon Emmett reports from the fourth Laser Europa Cup in Hoorn

The fourth and biggest Radial Europa cup of 2008 was held in Hoorn, Holland, from 16-18 May and attracted 102 sailors from 24 countries. This event is often used as a warm up regatta for Delta Lloyd (formerly Holland, formerly SPA regatta), so there was plenty of depth of talent in the fleet.

Day one (Friday) saw the fleet plane out to the starting area, but the wind started to drop as soon as they arrived, meaning the average wind speed for the race was around five knots. Cecilla Caranza from Argentina found the pressure on the right hand side of the course and led the race from start to finish. Sarah Blanck from Australia rounded the first mark in the twenties but pulled through the fleet to chase Caranza hard by the finish. Matthiew Frei from France finished a comfortable third with Jon Emmett from the UK leading the chasing pack in fourth. Elisabetta Macchini from Italy finished fifth. Unfortunately the wind continued to die, so further racing for the day was cancelled and sailors were towed in for free pasta and drinks.

Day two and the wind averaged around sixteen knots but remained shifty. Blanck once again showed her ability to pull through the fleet, this time working her way through to first place, overtaking Rode Van Mackelenbergh from Holland who had led for much of the race, on the final downwind leg. She just managed to hold off Emmett in third, with Solenne Brian of France in fourth and Tatiana Drozdovskaya from Belarus in fifth.

Race three and this time Mackelenbergh made no mistakes, leading the race from start to finish. However Emmett took a huge distance out of Mackelenbergh downwind, forcing him to cover him up the final beat. Viktor Teply from Czechoslovakia finished third in front of Sophie de Turckheim from France, with Drozdovskaya once again in fifth.

The final race on Saturday saw Frei take a commanding lead, from which he was never challenged. Emmett worked his way through the fleet to take second with Sarah Steyaert from France in third. De Turckheim, who showed excellent upwind boat speed was once again fourth with Fran Perucic from Croatia in fifth. There was then a long beat home for tired sailors, who were once again rewarded with free pasta and drinks. Overnight Emmett led the series from Frei and Macklenbergh.

Day three (Sunday) started with fifteen knots of breeze which allowed the first half a dozen boats to work clear of the fleet. However up the second beat the wind gradually died with the lead boats managing to get away downwind. The majority of the fleet were stuck in no wind on the final run and with the jury ever present there were many yellow flags for rule 42 infringements. Eventually the wind filled in from behind, bringing the mid fleet past most of the top twenty boats, before the wind finally settled for the final upwind leg. Jo Aleh from New Zealand made the best of the difficult conditions to win from Blanck, Frei, Teply and Nils Herrmann from Germany, in that order. This meant with just one race to go and everyone except Frei scoring a result out of the top ten, the series was suddenly wide open.

Race six, and the breeze, although shifty, remained in constant pressure for the first lap with Max Jambor from Germany initially leading before being overtaken by Emmett on the run. Emmett extended his lead, but up the second beat the wind pressure and shift both came from the right allowing De Turckheim, Jambor and Claus Maria Dapeci from Austria all to pass Emmett who just managed hold onto fourth to take the series, with Blanck pulling through the fleet to fifth to take second overall, pushing Frei, who sailed his discard in the final race down to third overall. There was once again free food and drinks after sailing with most of the sailors driving to Medemblik straight after prize giving. The next leg of the Europa cup is in Denmark in June.

Results:

1-Jon Emmett, GBR 15pts
2-Sarah Blanck, AUS 21pts
3-Matthieu Frie, FRA 23pts
4-Viktor Teply, CZE 35pts
5-Sarah Steyaert, FRA 42pts
6-Cecilla Carranza, ARG 46pts