Optimist European Team Racing Championship

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2014 OPTIMIST EUROPEAN TEAM RACING CHAMPIONSHIP

Associazione Vela Lago di Ledro, Italy

Turkey new Team Racing Champions

Team blogs: | ITA | POL | RUS | SWE | BEL |

August 23

TUR sailed a very good championship, as they only lost two of their matches, one against IRL on the second day of racing, and against POL today. ESP, who has won the championship for the last three years, could only finish second. POL finished third, just one point behind ESP.

After an all day wait ashore due to the rain, a very light wind allowed the Race Committee to run some races. It was necessary to finish 7 flights to count stage 2. For this reason, the Race Committee decided to start racing with league C and complete their round robin (4 flights).

First position was clear at the beginning of the day but there was a big fight for second and third place between POL and ESP. ESP needed to win all their races to maintain the difference against POL, and that’s what they did.

This was a very difficult championship for all sailors, race committee and umpires but all of them did a really good job. Even with bad weather and almost no wind sailors have had fun ashore and on the water.

Final positions: 1.Turkey, 2.Spain, 3.Poland, 4.Croatia, 5.Great Britain, 6.Russia, 7.Italy, 8.Sweden, 9.Germany, 10.France, 11.Ireland, 12.Belgium, 13.Netherlands, 14.Slovenia, 15.Norway, 16.Israel

Associacione Vela Lago di Ledro (Italy) will host the European Team Racing Championship again next year.

August 22

Today once again the weather made things difficult. After a long wait ashore due to the rain and very light winds, the sailors were rewarded for their patience when a light wind arrived in the afternoon. The Race Committee set up the course and completed three flights for league C, one for league D, and started the second flight but only one match was completed.

In league C, TUR and ESP won all their matches, GBR and CRO won two and RUS won one. TUR is performing really well and are still the leaders. ESP is now second followed by POL.

League D could only finish one flight, BEL having three wins.

The schedule for tomorrow will be published in the morning, hopefully the weather will be kinder.

Results for League C Results for League D

You can follow the racing on Facebook and Twitter.

August 22

Good weather arrived after two days of rain and cold. After nearly eight hours of racing, the first stage of the European Team Racing Championship was completed. Today the Race Committee ran twenty-two flights - it was a very long day, with things getting increasing difficult as the wind became light and shifty.

TUR is now the team to beat. They are leading the ranking with only 1 loss against IRL. POL is second with eleven victories and ESP and ITA have won ten races each. RUS, who yesterday only won 2 matches, have improved and now have 9 wins and could still make the final.

Tomorrow all the teams are redistributed into two new groups, based on their ranking in the first stage. TUR, POL, ESP, ITA , RUS, CRO, SWE, and GBR will fight for positions 1 to 8 and GER, FRA, IRL, BEL, NED, SLO, NOR and ISR will sail for positions 9 to 16. There is one round robin scheduled for each group. Each win will now score 1.5 points.

Results for Stage 1 Schedule for Friday

You can follow the racing on Facebook and Twitter.

August 21

After a long wait ashore due to the weather conditions, the sun arrived in Ledro yesterday with some breeze from the East. These conditions allowed the Race Committee to set up the course and start the first round robin. Wind was rather shifty and only 8 flights could be finished (4 races per team, 32 races in all).

FRA and TUR won all of their matches and are currently leading the ranking. POL and ESP (winners for the last three years) won three. With three more days to go, everything is still very open.

The sixteen teams entered in the championship have been divided into two leagues based on their ranking of last years European Championship in Lake Balaton. The first stage of the championship is a round robin for each league and has a maximum of 120 matches. Every win counts 1 point. After this stage, teams will be renumbered according to their score and divided into two leagues. Every win will count 1.5 points. Last two stages will consist of semi finals and finals. This is a very ambitious programme and needs a great race management team and good weather.

The scheduled for tomorrow is to finish stage one. The weather forecast seems better than for today, and perhaps we will have again the typical sunny weather of Ledro. All sailors are waiting to have fun.

Results from Day 1

You can follow the racing on Facebook and Twitter.

August 20

The Opening Ceremony took place yesterday. All teams paraded from the club to the town square, showing their flags and colours.

Chris Atkins, as ISAF Vice-President and Alen Kustic on behalf of IODA made some speeches to the sailors and coaches. Helen Mary Wilkes, President of Honour of IODA, officially opened the event.

Racing should start today but at present there is rain and no wind, so sailors are waiting for good conditions to start the flights scheduled for today.

August 19

European Team Racing Championship will start tomorrow in Lake Ledro, Italy. Sixteen teams were invited to enter the continental team racing championship through a new selection system.

The European Team Racing Championship is the only IODA team race event that is sailed separately from the relevant continental championship. Up to now the selection and the ranking of country teams was based on the points of the sailors in the same year’s individual championship. But this year the IODA Executive Committee decided that invitations to the European Team Racing would be issued on the basis of the results from the 2013 European Championship. That meant a big change and has given countries the time needed to plan their selection processes and team organization in the same way as for the Worlds and Europeans.

This decision was taken after consultation with and feedback from, coaches and team leaders. The Executive Committee examined previous years attendances and compared it with the new proposal. The differences are minimal and the advantages for team preparation significant.

Slovenia, Spain, Nederland, Italy, Poland, France, Germany, Turkey, Russia, Sweden, Great Britain, Belgium, Ireland, Norway and Israel will compete for the Optimist European Team Racing title from 19th to 24th of August. Spain have been champions for the last three years - will they win again or can they be beaten?