Silver solace for Fletcher-Sign after tough 49er Europeans 

Fletcher-Sign fight back for European Championship silver in Helsinki

Dylan Fletcher says he’ll take confidence from a gritty performance at the 49er European Championships in Helsinki, where he and Alain Sign claimed European silver and overall event bronze on Sunday (13 July).

The duo finished as the top European crew at last year’s event in Aarhus, Denmark, and were hopeful of a repeat performance on Finnish waters this week.

But a nightmare first race on the very first day of the regatta saw the world number four-ranked pair wreck their race boat after hitting submerged rocks on the race course, causing them to miss all three of the opening day’s races and effect emergency overnight repairs to the boat.

The repairs held, and having also gained points redress from the Race Committee for their crash, Fletcher and Sign launched themselves back into the mix with four top five results to see them in second place heading into the second half of the week.

Fletcher and Sign were the top-ranked European boat heading in to the final three-race day on Sunday, but the pressure was on for both the European crown and the overall event podium with the New Zealand World Champions Burling-Tuke and Australian Olympic gold medallists Outteridge-Jensen ahead of them in the standings, and Germany’s Heil-Ploessel breathing down their necks.

It made for some tense finals racing, with Fletcher and Sign picking up 2,6,7 to bag them the Europeans silver and overall event bronze behind the Kiwis and the German crew.

“It’s tough in those short theatre-style races as if someone gets even the slightest break it can literally make a massive difference,” Fletcher explained.

“We narrowly missed a cross with the Germans in the third and final race today which made the difference I think between rounding second and rounding ninth.”

“We didn’t sail badly today so are a bit frustrated to have not come out a bit better, but to come away with another medal, and beating the Olympic gold medallists, is always good.  Right now it’s a bit annoying, but I’m sure we’ll come round pretty quickly and see all the positives.”

The 26-year old Market Harborough sailor agreed that their backs had been against the wall after their first day incident, but was pleased with their resilience.

“If you’d told us on Tuesday afternoon that we were going to be sat in this position I wouldn’t have believed you.  After we hit that rock in the first race of the first day and smashed our race boat up – and it was a brand new boat we brought here – we were feeling pretty down. 

“We were really happy to be able to get back on it, get our heads together and put a good series together.”

“Results aside, we’re really pleased with all the gains we’ve made with our process goals.  Last year we would struggle in the breeze and this year we’ve been racing round holding our own with the top boats in the windier conditions.  It was a bit disappointing to have had only one day of less than 10 knots as we feel we’re strong in that and could maybe have worked in our favour, but that’s how it is."

Fletcher’s eyes now turn to Rio and the Olympic Test Event where he and Lee-on-the Solent’s Alain Sign will compete as part of a 30-sailor British squad in just over three weeks’ time.

“We know what we’ve got to work on.  We made good gains coming here. The big test will be Rio – we’ve got the Test Event coming up which we’ll be at.  That will be a real good test of how we’re going against each other in those conditions.  It’s very tidal, very shifty, maybe lighter winds so pretty opposite to what we’ve been having here.”

The British Sailing Team’s John Pink and Stuart Bithell were also in final day action in Helsinki, earning the tenth and final berth in the finals via a repechage round.  They ended the regatta in ninth overall and as the seventh European crew.

In the women’s 49erFX event, held concurrently, Charlotte Dobson and Sophie Ainsworth finished as the fourth-ranked European crew and sixth overall in the regatta, with the European title going to Denmark’s Ida-Marie Nielsen and Marie Thusgaard Olsen for the second year. 

Britain’s Frances Peters-Nicola Groves and Kate Macgregor-Katrina Best were the seventh and ninth-placed European crews, finishing ninth and tenth overall respectively.

Elsewhere in European Championship action, Beijing Olympic gold medallist Pippa Wilson and crew John Gimson were the top British pairing at the Nacra 17 European Championships which drew to a close in La Grande Motte, France, on Saturday (12 July).

After a week punctuated with weather delays, Wilson and Gimson sailed a strong second half of the week to elevate them into eighth place heading into the final day, before a third place in the final ten-boat medal race improved their final position to overall sixth and the fifth-best European crew.

“We’re pleased.  It was a tough week for us – a few random things happened to the boat which we couldn’t really do much about so that made it harder,” Wilson explained.

“Overall we sailed pretty well.  We’ve just got a few things we need to work on and we’re still learning about each other – the who says what and when, and decisions as to who’s good at what – but we’ll take sixth overall. 

“It’s probably a little bit better than we expected and it’s good that we managed to move up on the last day.” Wilson and Gimson were the sole British qualifiers for the final ten-boat medal race, with Lucy Macgregor and Andy Walsh missing out after Walsh sustained a muscle rupture on Friday’s penultimate day.  World silver medallists Ben Saxton and Hannah Diamond ended their regatta in 15th overall and the 11th European crew.  

Click here for full results from the 49er and 49erFX Europeans, and here for the Nacra 17 European Championship standings.

The British Sailing Team is in further European Championship action with the 470 Europeans culminating in Athens on Tuesday 15th July.  Luke Patience and Elliot Willis are poised as the top European crew after eight races, with Hannah Mills-Saskia Clark and Sophie Weguelin-Eilidh McIntyre the second and third European crews respectively after six races.  

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