Another F18 win for Heemskerk

As Carolijn Brouwer and Liz Wardley take the C1 prize at EuroCat

For the 24th Eurocat this weekend, nearly 250 catamarans gathered at the Yacht Club de Carnac in one of the world’s most beautiful bays: the Baie de Quiberon.

Benefitting from perfect conditions, most classes sailed eight races in total including the event’s famous ‘offshore’ race around the island of Houat.

In the F18 it was the Dutch crew of Mischa Heemskerk and Bastiaan Tentij which came through to claim victory by just one point over Aussie-Anglo duo Darren Bundock and Will Howden, while in third place it was another Aussie Tornado veteran Mitch Booth and Pim Nieuwenhuis. Aside from Will Howden, the top Brits were Rob Wilson and Marcus Lynch in 13th.

One of the finest results was that of Carolijn Brouwer and Liz Wardley in the C1 class aboard their Viper. The duo, who last sailed together on Amer Sports Two in the Volvo Ocean Race, are the first all-female crew ever to take a class win at Eurocat. They claimed five of the seven races and placed no worse than third over the entire weekend with their discard result following some equipment problems and Wardley falling overboard in the final race of the regatta.

"That was cool - we had heaps of fun out there,” said Brouwer. “We had a smile from ear to ear all weekend long and we still can't wipe it of our faces,'' said Brouwer. "What was also really pleasing was the fact that despite being so light, we are barely 120 kilos together, we were able to handle all the conditions at the Eurocat regatta. It was light the first day and obviously that really suited us but on the last day it was 15 to 20 knots but we still got a second and first in the races that counted. The only reason we did the last race, which we didn't need to do because we already had the win, was because we were having so much fun out there.

"There have been mixed crews in the past but no all female-crew has ever won here so we are stoked about that as Liz hasn't raced on a catamaran for five years and we had never sailed a Viper together before the regatta. I thought it would take a lot longer for us to get it all together but we just blended. We are over the moon."

They were followed of two mixed British crews - Chris Sproat and Georgina Burke and Adam Butler and Nikki Boniface.

In the C3, the victory went to Vincent Guého, President of class SL16, sailing with Benjamin Dutreux, while in the C4, the podium was international with Brits Adam and Murphy Jack taking the win, followed by a Dutchwoman team and a Frenchwoman.

Results - F18 - the rest