The International 420 Class Junior Europeans Championship, hosted by the Royal Plymouth Corinthian Yacht Club utilising the new Mount Batten Centre, was closely contested by 156 competitors from 15 nations. The atmosphere was electric as the 1998/99 420 World Champions Nicholas Charbonnier and David Deguine, who had already taken the ISAF Youth World title, were sailing for the 'triple crown'. Exciting and exhilarating from the very beginning, the practice race not only gave the Race Officer plenty to think about, but also the sailors, many just returned from the World Championships in Athens, who needed to adjust to the strong swell and powerful tidal waters found outside the Plymouth Sound breakwater.

This event may be called 'Junior', but sailing was certainly not at a junior level among the 78 boats. Racing was extremely keen and the depth of talent was seen in the many place changes at the top of the fleet throughout the 10 race series. Hot favourites to win, Charbonnier and Deguine of France, had to fight hard to gain the title as Europe's best youth sailors put up fierce competition. The International Event Measurer Don O'Donnell was also kept busy as the variety of hulls, sails and spars was spread across the participating countries. The eventual winners Charbonnier and Deguine sailed in a Nautivela with Tony Tio sails.

The excitement often provided by 420 burn-ups was sadly not to be for this European Championships. Wind deserted the race course altogether on the first day and racing was postponed. Winds were light on Tuesday and 3 races were sailed in a Force 2-3 coming mainly from the south-east. Early excitement with the eclipse on Wednesday was followed by an inconstant afternoon wind in which many sailors, eager to start racing, found themselves over the line. After 4 attempts at starting, the fleet eventually sailed for home. Racing continued early on Thursday and the Principal Race Officer was able to set 4 races and catch up on the series. Friday brought the best wind of the week, but also a wet weather front. Light winds and strong tides contributed to the excessive number of OCS's, but the top boats were rarely caught out. Charbonnier and Deguine managed to survive the entire week without disqualification to pip Alberto Padron and Antonio del Castillo of Spain at the post and complete their hat-trick. Meanwhile, Anne-Claire Leberre and Marie Riou, also of France, sailed to a consistently high level to take the Ladies' title and finish third overall.

The strong British contingent sailed enthusiastically throughout the week, an extremely promising start unfortunately being marred for several boats by the fickle winds of Friday 13^th. The new trophy donated by the City of Plymouth for the Best British Boat finally went to Ian and Chris Martin, who finished in an extremely creditable 10^th place, whilst Karen Greenland and Kate Sanders were first amongst the girls in 19^th.

Support for the International 420 Class is still very strong around the world and not only for youth sailors. The Czech Republic have confirmed the 420 as the ISAF Team Championships boat in 2001 and there is also a strong rumour circulating that the 420 will be established as the ISAF Youth double-hander for some years yet! Gail Nuttall, International 420 Class General Secretary said: "We consider this youth event very important to our calender and will be encouraging other such regional events around the world, as the International 420 is continually being adopted into national youth training programmes, including China and India."

This page was last updated on 24-Sep-1999 19:04. 420 UK Webmaster, Mike Greenland, [email protected]