European Champions!
Written by Dylan Fletcher | 09 July 2013
Yew! Well that was another tough week’s racing with plenty of ups and downs, but great to come away with second overall in the Open event and be the 2013 49er European Champions.
There were certainly testing times over the week with some very tricky days, it was one of the hardest weeks mentally I think we have ever done.
We got off to a cracking start in the qualifying series and then just kept it simple during the finals racing, just trying to deal with whatever was getting thrown at us. On the second day of the finals series we had a very challenging day, going into the day in first overall we were confident in our ability in the tricky conditions. 32 of the best 49ers in the world racing around a short three lap course with the wind all over the place is never going to be an easy day. To make matters worse for us we had to complete three 360s (penalty turns) for infringing other boats on the first beats. Then someone snapped our tiller extension pre-start on one of the races! It was our worst day out there but we bounced back each time we got knocked down and ended up with still an alright day.
It was close over the final two days between the Kiwis and ourselves; in fact we were on equal points going into the final race of the regatta. We launched off the pin end with the best start but within 30 seconds we had sailed into a hole and could not quite cross the fleet. It was then a game of catch up but the Kiwis did a good job of not letting us get ahead. In the end they took the overall Championship while we were the European Champions being the first European boat.
All in all it was a good week, we have plenty to work on ahead of the World Championships in September. There is no doubt that we have made some very positive steps forward since last year.
Finally, if you have not checked out the coverage from the Europeans then take a look at the 49er Sailing Offical YouTube Channel for all the action including highlights, interviews and re-runs of the final races.
Big thanks to all our supporters,
Dylan
www.teamfletcherandsign.co.uk
