Barcelona provides the backdrop for six days of high octane skiff racing as the 49er and 49erFX European Championships get underway at the Spanish resort this week (11-16 April).
Having secured their Rio 2016 berth last month, Charlotte Dobson and Sophie Ainsworth continue their Games build up in the 37-boat 49erFX fleet.
They’ll be up against current and former World Champions in the new class, facing the likes of the Spain’s 2016 Worlds winners Tamaara Echegoyen-Berta Betanzos and Italy’s 2015 World Champions Giulia Conti-Francesca Clapcich in the hunt for the podium spots.
Podium Potential duo Anna Burnet-Steph Orton will also be making their regatta debut together having recently teamed up in the FX.
In the 49er men’s fleet, World Championship bronze medallists Dylan Fletcher-Alain Sign will be hoping for a strong showing to make amends for equipment breakages suffered during the Princess Sofia Trophy two weeks ago, while fellow Podium squad pairing John Pink-Stuart Bithell will also be in action and keen to follow up their medal success at the 2015 edition of the Europeans where they finished as the second European crew, third overall.
Podium Potential squad pairings James Peters-Fynn Sterritt, Rory Hunter-Neil Hunter, Chris Taylor-Sam Batten and Jack Hawkins-Chris Thomas complete the British Sailing Team line-up in the 72-boat men’s fleet.
The Reigning World Champions and dominant New Zealand pairing of Pete Burling-Blair Tuke are back on the startline in Barcelona, and London 2012 gold medallists Nathan Outteridge-Iain Jensen, Austria’s world number two pairing Nico Delle-Karth-Niko Resch and the host’s world number six-ranked Diego Botin-Iago Lopez Marra will also be looking to be among the medal challengers.
Racing gets underway on Monday 11 April with the final medal races scheduled for Saturday 16 April.
Full results will be available at
http://49er.org/2016-european-championship and we’ll bring you updates on Twitter @BritishSailing