“Two years on and another great championship here in Kisezers. We said at the time we were hoping to be back but were not hoping to be back so soon. And we have been rewarded again with an excellent Championship,” said Paul Leone, Class Chairman. “We have had strong winds and lighter winds, sun and rain; sailing conditions to please everyone.”[more]
15 races were completed over four days in conditions ranging from 6 knots to 28 knots. Day two was epic with 5 races sailed in 20 knots plus. This favoured the higher wind specialist. Exhausting but very rewarding. On day 3 the wind turned north from a sea breeze. This was the most stable of the directions throughout the week. In the afternoon The Race Committee set the longest course of the week which provided a very challenging and physical downwind leg. The lighter wind specialists had their moment.
On day 4 the wind turned back to South/South West in shifty and gusty conditions. Two races were sailed despite earlier forecasts. For the men’s Championship title it went down to the wire with POL-7 and HUN-1 starting race 15 on equal points. The title was determined at the last downwind mark where an “incident” occurred. Curro Manchon was victorious in this last race, Maksymilian Wojcik was second and Aron Gadorfalvi was DSQ after the protest hearing. And so it was that Maksymilian Wojcik (POL-7) claimed the Men’s European Champion title, Aron Gadorfalvi (HUN-1) had to settle for a hard fought second place and Curro Manchon (ESP-1) took a well-earned third place on the podium.
The top three ladies finished the championship just one point apart from each other, a clear 20 points ahead of the rest of the field. Aleksandra Blinnikka (FIN-56) has earned the Women’s European Champion title, ahead of Jana Slivova (CZE-26) in second place and Vita Matise (LAT-1) in third.
Addressing the audience at the prize giving Paul Leone said, “I hope you all had a great time here and enjoyed the warm hospitality. On behalf of the IWA I would like to thank the 360 Sailing Club and the Latvian Sailing Union for hosting these Raceboard European Championships and Baltic Cup which included Raceboard, Bic Techno and Formula Windsurfing classes.
“A special thank you to Dace and her team in the Race office who have worked tirelessly before and during the championship.
A special thank you to the remarkable Robertas and his team on the race committee who over the four days have given 54 impeccable starts; and not one general recall.
A thank you to OJ and the Protest Committee who had not been too busy until today!
And finally a thank you to Maris for hosting us. We look forward to being back again in the not too distant future.”
