FINN EUROPEANS

Where The Heavyweights Come Out To Play

Finn Europeans is a wrap! Sixty five competitors spent a week in Marseilles, France at the Yachting Club de la Point Rouge for an exciting week of sailing in the utmost variety of conditions, ranging from two to 30 knots. This is the first championship held in Marseilles for the Finn class and 26 countries were represented. Formatted like the trials, there are 10 races in the opening round, with the top three finishers qualifying for the final round. Sailors that place between fourth and 10th will then sail a semi-final round, with the top two finishers moving on to compete in the five-boat final round. The final round was on Saturday in which a final champion was determined.

The week started out with heavy winds as a mistral moved through the region allowing two races to be completed on Monday. After the brunt of the storm passed, the winds became very light, too light to sail, so competitors were postponed onshore until enough wind built back up. They got one race in for the day. On Day two the race committee was successfully able to score one race in 8-10knots of breeze. Ed Wright began his event with two bullets, but was over early in the third race, allowing Ben Cornish to take the win and move into the overall lead. On day three, Ed Wright made it back into first place overall, leading the fleet by three points after three races and a long day on the water. Southeasterly winds and rain plagued the regatta site on Day four with sailors postponed ashore. The race committee made the decision that there would be no racing that day. Day five brought shifty light-to-medium conditions that challenged the race committee to find the fairest place to set the course. Lots of changes on the scoreboard at the end of day five; with the leaders close in points, anything was possible for the last few races of the regatta.

The competitors in the top positions have a ton of pressure on them the last day, knowing that everything they’ve worked for all week could be lost with one bad tactical decision. Lobart and Pedersen acheived 1st and 2nd, respectively, on the last day of the opening round. Wright was able to pick up third place and move into the final round.

The final round results confirmed Lobert in 1st, Wright in 2nd, and Cornish in 3rd. The semifinals resulted in Wetherell placing 6th, and Heiner in 10th.

A tough regatta, but the results show us that focus and patience was the key to success last week. Congratulations to our clients for taking the silver and bronze in the finals round, and placing 4th-8th, and 10th overall, wrapping up a big week for the heavyweight division in Marseilles.

Full Results HERE