Division 2 European championships 2024 took place in France at the Lac des Vielles Forges in Ardennes from August 31 to September 3.
In total 17 participants raced in the event, 6 in category A and 11 in category C. Countries that participated were the Netherlands which had the most athletes in both categories, France which only participated in category C, Austria, Germany, Slovenia and Greece in category A while in C Poland, Belgium and Great Britain.
The weather was warm and sunny, but the wind was very weak and because the lake is small it was gusty and instable, with flat water conditions.
On the morning of the first day there were 3 races on the Olympic triangle courses with SE wind up to 8-10 knots. During those races sailors showed all their skills in tricky wind conditions and many position changes happened. Finally, the winners were in A category the Austrian Seppi Salvenmoser followed by the German Kay Bürger in the second place and the Slovenian Lucijan Cerne in third place while in C category the winner was the French Alain Cadre, second the Polish Franczak Tomasz and third the Belgian Peter Waters. After the break, on the afternoon of the first day, the race comity attempted to do one more race, but the wind became so light that obliged them to cancel the course.
On the second and third day a very light S-SW wind was blowing and the race comity decided to do some windward- leeward courses, but the drop down of the wind obliged them to cancel again all regattas. Finally, after many efforts to accomplish some more courses, the Championship finished with the three courses of the first day valid and with the above-mentioned results as finals.
In summary, despite the very light wind, not appropriate for sailing races the beauty of the Ardennes environment and the exceptional French hospitality by the club won the final impressions.
All photos of the event can be reached here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/pJsbiYFRo2zK4SRd9
