420 European Championships
July 2004.
Zadar Croatia
The British team at the European Championships in Zadar had a successful week. In the Ladies fleet Pippa Wilson and Harriette Trumble won with a race to spare from Alison Martin and Maia Walsh with Lucy McGregor and Niss Booth and Joanne MacDonald and Laurie Marsden at 7th and 8th. In the Open fleet Nathan Batchelor and Joe Crabb sailed consistently to finish 9th with James Goss and Daniel Schieber winning the last race to get 10th overall. This was one of the best run events I have been to, which combined with the setting, good weather and range of wind strengths made for a very good championships
Zadar is an old fortified town protected from the Adriatic by a large island some two miles off shore. Sailing was in the channel between the mainland and the island. The club was a little out of town in a new marina and next to a new holiday resort based on the old communist party holiday hotels. It is easy to see why the communists chose this area for their party treats.
All the team took their own boats. This meant 7 cars double trailing 1100 miles from Calais. The last 5 hours south from Trieste gave spectacular views of the coast and islands from the tortuous coast road. The team arrived by plane and bus on Tuesday evening after a long wait in Zagreb. Only one bag was lost. Fortunately this turned up on Wednesday. It contained Nathan and Joe�s slot gaskets.
Wednesday and Thursday were practice days. The weather was hot with 8-12 kn of sea breeze along the Zadar channel. Every one got out on the water. The wind was found to have long swings with short shifts superimposed. Just the conditions to let one get to a lay line and then get no help getting back.
It was 38 centigrade for measuring. The team was second through after the Croatians. They had no boats that measured. The hulls and sails were no problem, but scrutineering of personalised systems was a nightmare. No one wanted to give up on their ideas until the measurer insisted. By evening everyone was through, but even so we had a few scares later in the week. Perhaps we need to be more rigorous with our rule interpretation at home events.
The opening ceremony followed measuring. We didn�t know what to expect. We had to tow 420s to the old town quay and moor off it. On shore they had a stage with singing and dancing to a crowd of several hundred including tourists. The 420 teams were then the backdrop to their show. And to an air display with a fire plane, helicopter dancing and high speed acrobatics. The teams did a sail past the crowd. All this was shown on national TV.
The sea breeze stayed for the practice race. The starting was chaotic and the judge�s yellow flagged half the fleet for pumping, rocking and sculling. Not surfing weather they said. Let this be a warning.
The wind changed for the first day sailing. It came and went and shifted. The girls sailed all of a race except 50 meters before it was abandoned. In the end at least two races were sailed by all. Hannah Mills and Peggy Webster won the first race.
It was a little steadier for the second day. Two more races were sailed. Hannah and Peggy and Pippa and Harriette sailed well and stayed in 2nd and 3rd. The American girls led. The Americans started wondering if they would be booed at the prize giving (optimists at this stage with so many races left!).
By the end of day two the boys had completed their selection series. Although no one had starred, 6 out of the seven teams made the Gold fleet. This is the best for some time.
Day 3 was very shifty from the east. The first race was from 5 to 15 knots the second 15 to 35kn. Pippa and Harriette took a 2nd and 1st. In the second race of the day the wind rose steadily. The highlight of the Ladies race was Pippa and Harriette, Joanne and Laurie and Ally and Maia flying down the last run in 1,2,3. Pippa and Harriette and Joanne and Laurie made the last gybe but Ally and Maia wiped out. With the wind up to 35 kn and the spinnaker around the spreaders they just couldn�t make the last three hundred metres to the finish. Now they had a black flag and a DNF. Luke Patience and Adam Wagner enjoyed the wind with a 2nd place.
For day 4 the wind went back to the sea breeze direction and was a bit lighter.� Pippa and Harriette had another good day with a 1st and 2nd to put them on top of the Ladies. The open fleet sailed three races. The Croatian boat was starting to get ahead. Nathan and Joe and James and Daniel had single figure results to move up the leader board.
Day 5 was even lighter. The race officer managed 3 races for all fleets to get him up to schedule. Ally and Maia had a great day with 2nd,1st,1st which with the second discard coming in brought them from nowhere to second, failing by 1 point from preventing� Pippa and Harriette winning with the final race still to be sailed. The Open fleet was still difficult. The fleet was very very close. Only the Croatian had speed to escape and post regular good results.
The sea breeze stayed for the final day.� Pippa and Harriette sailed with a huge Union Jack at the masthead. Ally and Maia and their rival Italian both got caught on the wrong side of the first beat. Ally and Maia picked their way through the crowd best to consolidate their 2nd. place. In the Open fleet Nathan and Joe posted and 2nd and 13th to move to9th overall. James and Daniel led the last race from the first mark to win by a big margin and grab 10th overall.
Prize giving was in the dusk outside the club. With the Croatian winning the Open it was accompanied by much noise and lots of flares. The prizes went to 10 in each fleet so six GBR teams got to the platform. This was matched only by the Italians who included 2nd and 3rd in the Open and 3rd in the Ladies.
Prize giving was followed by a trip to a disco in the old town. This was scheduled to finish at 3 am. Fortunately it was closed at 1pm so everyone was back at the hotel by 3am ready for a call at 5.30� to catch the 7 am plane from town. Not everyone was in good shape but no one was lost.
The team was supported by Mark Rushall and Sam Carter as coaches who endured long hours in measurement and on the water. Howard Marsden, Fiona Mills and Julia Fraser worked tirelessly to ensure everyone�s well being.� Burghfield sailing club RIB stood by to provide food and water (and mend turkish spinnakers and italian boats). Speed Sails lent us a stockpile of emergency spares, fortunately none of which were needed and are now safely returned.
Nick Martin
6 August 2004.