Difficult conditions in Crete

Chris McLaughlin reports from the J/24 Europeans

Conditions have been very tough in Souda Bay, Crete for the J/24 European Championship.

30 boats from around Europe made the trip to compete for the J/24 Class John Adams trophy - a solid silver, 1820, Georgian-era wine cooler, presented in 2006 by all the joint European Class Associations, and recognising the contribution of Stuart Jardine to the Class success.

Souda Bay is a very difficult venue. It is essentially a landlocked lake, pretending to be sea, with severe sewage problems and endless plastic bags and run-off waste. To one side, there are cliffs causing 30deg shifts and to the other there are cliffs, again causing 30 deg shifts. It never pays to go up the middle, but choosing a side can be brutally wrong.

Siting above the bay is a volcano , adding to the challenge of rading the gust cells with any degree of accuracy.

But the Club has been exceptional in its welcome. The Race management has been positive, the international Jurors on pace and the Competitors more keen than ever. The standard of J/24 sailors has gone up - with many ex-international dinghy sailors finding the class the place to be.

The opening day on Tuesday saw three races in less than five knots and a sunshine interspersed with rain. Making his claim on the cup was local sailor Alexandros Tagaropoulos, racing Hellenic Police is, as you might guess, a policeman. He is also a former Tornado Catamaran racer and a member of the previous Greek team to win the European title. The Greek scored 1,7,3 to open his account.

Pushing hard with a brilliant demonstration of pin end starts and always working the left side was Matthias Garzman in IDS. He has bought World Champion, Mauricio Santa Cruz’ boat, renaming Bruschetta, as IDS. He scored 2,1,2 on the opening day.

For the UK, it was Mark Penfold’s Reloaded, helmed by Gavin Watson in third place overnight with an 11,5,1 score.

Wednesday was a write-off with sunshine, clouds, the opportunity to count plastic bags in the water and no wind all day. No racing was possible. In the evening, crews let-off steam at the Cosmos bar in the Chania Old Town’s Venetian Harbour. A event generously supported by the Greek organisers.

Thursday started much the same with a one hour postponement in harbour, followed by another hour wait on the water. What came through were three races in never more than six knots, with sunshine and gust cells. Some lifts were over 35 degrees and to be on the worng side was very tough. The day belonged to the UK’s Ian Southworth sailing Inmarsat and clothing-equipped by Puma. A four time European Champion, Southworth is here to qualify for next year’s World Championship in Malmo, Sweden.

Southworth has completely rebuilt a 1996 Worlds winner, built for Chris Larson’s victory. His score of 1,1, 3 was achieved in very difficult conditions. The third place saw him lacking the final 50 yards of course needed to pass both IDS and Hellenic Police in the run to the finish. But, he says: “A great day, we are relearning and the boat has been exceptionally prepared by crew member, Gary Denning, and his team at No Hope Marine in Falmouth”.

A fourth race was attempted after a general recall, then wisely abandoned by the race officer, as the fleet struggled to move up the first beat .

The final day is very time limited. Racing has to start at 10.00am and no race can begin after 2pm. The forecast is for very light wind and this doesn’t tend to arrive much before mid-day. A single discard in in play at Tagaropoulos leads Garzmann by two points, with Southworth just five points behind the lead.

It will be another hard day. Forecast gradient is 5-7 knots from the mountain and volcano area which give the 30 deg shifts. Comments Southworth’s cockpit crew, Andy McLelland: “Looks like more Downstairs yachting..."

Results:

Pos	Boat	HelmName	SailNo	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	Tot
1	HELLENIC POLICE	ALEXANDROS TAGAROPOULOS	GRE751	1	-7	3	2	3	1	10
2	GUNNI	MATTHIAS GARZMANN	GER5440	2	1	2	-25	5	2	12
3	INMARSAT	IAN SOUTHWORTH	GBR4260	4	6	-11	1	1	3	15
4	VIGNE SURRAU	AURELIO BINI	ITA405	7	2	-10	4	2	8	23
5	PANTA RHEI	JAN HOESSERMANN	GER5279	5	-11	4	6	10	5	30
6	RELOADED	GAVIN WATSON	GBR4265	11	5	1	11	7	-16	35
7	NAVISCON	LITKEY FARKAS	HUN11	9	-13	12	7	4	4	36
8	EVNIKI	COSTAS HANIOTIS	GRE5239	10	10	6	3	-11	11	40
9	MAX BAHR	STEFAN KARSUNKE	GER5381	12	9	5	9	-17	6	41
10	NORD EST COSTRUZIONI	SALVATORE ORECCHIONI	ITA318	15	8	7	-22	6	10	46
11	SND	STUART JARDINE	GBR4215	6	4	(29.0 DSQ)	10	20	7	47
12	UNITED 5	JAN KAHLER	GER5281	3	14	14	8	(29.0 OCS)	12	51
13	SERCO	NATHAN BATCHELOR	GBR4247	8	3	(29.0 DSQ)	18	8	18	55
14	J MANIA	NIKOS SPIGOS	GRE5367	-17	12	8	5	16	17	58
15	EVNIKI III	CHRISTINA CONTOGIANNOPOULOU	GRE4538	16	-26	13	22.0 SCP	9	9	69
16	SIMERA	ILIAS KOVATZIS	GRE4772	13	21.0 SCP	9	-23	15	13	71
17	ACTIVISTA	NIKOS BAROUS	GRE1483	18	17	18	13	12	-24	78
18	NIKOLAS	MICHAIL OIKONOMOU	GRE3979	-24	18	16	15	14	22	85
19	CAROLINE	BJOERN THIELCKE	SUI4741	-21	20	17	12	21	21	91
20	KIKA	GEORGE PERANTINOS	GRE5205	-25	21	24	21	13	14	93
21	OKIROI	GEORGE POLIOUDAKIS	GRE3616	19	19	15	14	26	-28	93
22	MINOAN SPIRIT	ARISTOPHANIS PALLIKARIS	GRE7007	-23	23	19	19	19	19	99
23	ANIMA	ANGELOS PSOMOPOULOS	GRE3978	14	16	(29.0 DSQ)	27	29.0 OCS	15	101
24	PHISALIA-PHISALIS	STAVROULA TSOUKALI	GRE4487	20	22	21	17	-25	25	105
25	MOLLICA II	MENDRINOS SIMONLUCA	ITA476	-26	25	22	26	18	23	114
26	ASTRAPI	IOANNIS PLATSIDAKIS	GRE3066	27	(29.0 OCS)	20	20	22	26	115
27	JJ TOO	PANTELIS THALASSINOS	GRE34	-28	27	25	24	23	20	119
28	ZOUZOUNI-NIKOS KOZONAKIS	VASILIS KOZONAKIS	GRE752	22	24	23	-28	24	27	120