2002 Europeans - Race Reports

Day 1
Racing was cancelled due to the wet and wild conditions.

Day 2
4 races sailed in 10 knots and large waves that were left over from the day before. In the first race Mark Thorpe missed the gybe mark and had to go back which resulted in a seventh place. Ian Forsdike won the race easily from Freddy Duvoisin. In the third race Thorpe was apparently over the line resulting in an OCS, leaving Freddy to claim the win. Hubert Bakkker retired due to sea sickness. Thorpe won the remaining two races, but Forsdike ended up in first place overall at the eind of the day due to his consistent results.

Day 3
Only 2 races sailed today in 15-20 knots and rather large 2-3 metre waves which the surfers enjoyed near the beach. Thorpe won both races easily in the difficult conditions with Forsdike second in both while Sven Kloppenburg and Rohan Veal filled in a 3rd and 4th each. Only 10 boats finished the first race and only 8 in the second. Veteran Moth sailor Colin Newman now in his 60th year did extremely well just beating the time limit in both races to get a finish.

Day 4
The weather fined up giving us the most favourable sailing conditions of the week. The off shore wind of around 10 knots resulting in fantastic but challenging flat water sailing. Thorpe came home with 3 wins while Veal claimed a win in race 8, followed by 2 second places. Andy Davis also did his usual port end flyer start in the last race of the day, which allowed him to get to the windward mark first, followed closely by Newman and Thorpe. Davis sailed brilliantly only to lose two places to Thorpe and Veal.

Day 5
Racing cancelled due to excessively light winds.

Final Results:
1st Mark Thorpe - AUS (Coupé d' Europe Champion)
2nd Ian Forsdike - GBR (European Champion)
3rd Rohan Veal - AUS
4th Freddy Duvoisin - SUI (4th in 2001 World Championships)
5th Sven Kloppenburg - GER (ex-European Chmpion)
6th Doug Pybus - GBR
7th Patrick Ruf - SUI (5th in 2001 World Championships)
8th Andy Davis - GBR
9th Colin Newman - GBR
10th Dirk Koepe - GER