Soling European Championship Riva del Garda – After 2 days

by Fraglia Vela Riva on 15 Jul It was a challenging day two at the Soling European Championships taking place in Garda Trentino and organised by Fraglia Vela Riva.

Initially 18-knot wind blowing northwards peaked 20-22 knots in race two, which caused some difficulties to some teams (one dismasted boat) and tore off the moorings of the buoys and the committee boat due to steep and short waves.

However, thanks to the prompt actions of the crew on the water coordinated by Fausto Maroni, the two races scheduled for today have been regularly sailed. At present five races took place, but only after race six scheduled on Saturday it will be possible to implement the exclusion of the worst score.

Once again the Hungarian Litkey (twice World Champion) is the uncontested leader and with his pipe he never fails a race: thanks to his third and second places today he is not only leading the ranking, but he also gained a 10-point advantage.

The Austrian Felzman is placed second, while the Ukrainian Pichugin (2003 Soling World Champion) follows on rank three only one point away. The Hungarian Wossala won both races today, who is now paying a disqualification, but thanks to the exclusion of the worst score he still can finish high in the rank (at the moment he is placed ninth with 3-7-DQ).

The German Koch also won the fifth race. The brothers Maffezzoli are still first among the Italian teams: now placed 16th, they are waiting to implement the Low Point Scoring System for the false start of day one.

Day 1

The Soling European Championships kicked off at Fraglia Vela Riva with the first three races, as scheduled. The initial light wind increased up to 12 knots.

Many teams sail for the top three positions, as the Hungarian Litkey (twice World Champion) placed first at the moment with 7-1-2, who never misses the opportunity to smoke his pipe before every start and after each finish in a style that perfectly suits the elegant outlines of Soling, the Austrian Felzmann (10-2-1, placed second with a three-point gap), the Ukrainian Pichugin (who follows at equal points), and the Hungarian Wossala (Olympic Soling sailor in Atlanta with the Fraglia’s Gianni Torboli). The reigning Italian champions, the Maffezzoli brothers, scored 12-7 and had a penalty for a false start in race three: they are now on rank 17.

It was possible to enjoy a fine view on Garda Trentino thanks to the fleet composed of forty boats, which sailed close-hauled and downwind the three-lap course of regatta under the cliff falling sheer to the West coast of Lake Garda.

Many participants took part in the Olympic Games onboard of this class, and it is so nice to see that their spirit and love for sailing did not change, since for many age is just a number!

Two races a day will be sailed from Friday to Sunday.

Preview

The former Olympic class Soling is present at the Fraglia Vela Riva from Thursday to Sunday for the European Championships.

More than forty teams from 11 countries (the USA and Canada are also represented) will sail for gold.
The Soling class is back to Fraglia Vela Riva: the Fraglia sailor Gianni Torboli sailed this boat at the Olympic Games in Savannah, at the time he was already Italian champion and European bronze medallist (the great Shümann won the 1996 Olympic Games after his gold in 1988).

This three-sailor-crew keelboat has been a landmark for the FIV (Italian Sailing Federation) for many years and today it is still appealing for many sailors. In fact, this edition of the European Championships allows also the participation of non-European teams. Americans and Canadians will be in Riva del Garda to experience the great come back of this class both in terms of participation and international level.

There are 41 early-entered teams, the most represented countries are Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, and Italy (just to give an impression of the scope of the event, only 50 teams participated in the 2015 World Championships for the 50th anniversary of the class, while last year at the World Championships in Canada there were only 24 teams).

The competition officially kicks off on Thursday with the first three races, while the programme sets two races for the other days of the event.

The Italian brothers Maffezzoli, reigning National champions, will battle against the Ukrainian team with Lubava at the helm and other experienced sailors.

For all sailing lovers (maybe not equally for those who now sail on foils), it will surely be an opportunity to relive the extraordinary moments that made Soling an undoubtedly particular and also attracting boat: the great Paul Elvstrom, for example, was the very first Soling World Champion in 1969, an edition with almost 100 boats. The Alto Garda Trentino and in particular Fraglia Vela Riva are ready to welcome the fleet and accomplish the goal to sail all the races on programme thanks to the club’s staff, which always can exploit the wind available at its best, even if it does not blow regularly.

No	Numero	Nome	Punti	1	2	3	4	5
1	HUN 11	Farkas Litkey, Karoly Vezer, Weinhardt Csaba, KMP VSE	15,0	7	1	2	3	2
2	UKR 1	Yushko, Pichugin, Severianov, UNIOR	25,0	2	4	7	6	6
3	AUT 135	Florian Felzmann, Michael Felzmann  , Margund Schuh, SCK / UYCAS	26,0	10	2	1	2	11
4	NED 33	Rudy den Outer , Theo de Lange , Hans Zijlstra, KZC	40,0	4	10	12	9	5
5	ESP 26	Carlos Elosegui , Gomez Arisqueta Joaquin, Juan Ramón Jiménez, RCN DE MADRID	44,0	5	3	13	14	9
6	HUN 1	Sandor Varjas, Kovasci Laszlo, Gabor Meretei, BYC	46,0	3	12	20	7	4
7	GER 11	Michael Dietzel, Vera Geck, Sigrid Dietzel, BYC	48,0	6	8	8	12	14
8	HUN 77	George Wossala, Kristof Wossala, Pepe Nemeth, TECON	50,0	1	dsq	3	1	7
9	SVK 1	Mosny, Szomolanyi, Jankovic, FYC SLOVAKIA	51,0	26	6	5	11	3
10	GER 1	Roman Koch, Bjorn Geisler, Valentin Koch, CYC YCBG SVR	52,0	15	5	15	16	1
11	USA 853	Matias Collins, Rob Mountain, David Baum, CNSI, BYC	53,0	13	19	6	5	10
12	CAN 225	Peter Hall, William Hall, Ross Findlater, RSTLYC	56,0	22	9	4	13	8
13	GER 331	Thomas Scherer, Dominik Meissner, Markus Stallhofer, WSG / YCP/BYC/YCC	57,0	8	11	11	15	12
14	CAN 233	Tom Freeman, Blair Tully, Dave Veldstra, PSSS	70,0	9	20	16	10	15
15	GER 308	Karl Haist, Martin Zeileis, Max Haist, BYC	72,0	25	13	10	8	16
16	ITA 259	Bruno Maffezzoli,  Pierfrancesco Maffezzoli, Marco Maffezzoli, LNI GARDA	88,0	12	7	ocs	18	13
17	GER 209	Tim Giesecke, Johannes Glitzky, Sven Rikwald, WSV 1921	94,0	31	16	22	4	21
18	NED 49	Han van Veen, Tom van Veen, Ralph Heemskerk, KZC	97,0	28	21	9	17	22
19	ITA 215	Michele Campagnoni, Francesco, Davide, A.V.A.S.	97,0	11	18	26	24	18
20	AUT 114	Christian Feichtinger, Florian Leitner, Klaus Kratochwill, SCE	98,0	18	23	18	22	17
21	AUT 127	Alex Hasch, Bernhard Kreutzer, Oskar Hasch, SCK	111,0	23	17	27	20	24
22	FRA 198	Marc Lefevre, François Gombeaud, Marc Furic, CVA	114,0	14	30	23	21	26
23	AUT 97	David Schuh, Harald Schuh, Tobias Schuh, UYCAS	117,0	21	25	25	23	23
24	ITA 251	Federico Boracchi, Vincenzo Greco Manuli, Andrea Negri, CVP	118,0	30	14	17	30	27
25	HUN 17	Istvan Szucs, Gabor Gyulai, Peter Szucs, BHSE	122,0	17	28	19	27	31
26	GER 12	Christian Mack, Florian Lautenschlaeger, Thomas Fabry, WSG	124,0	34	24	21	25	20
27	AUT 102	Ludwig Beurle, Christian Fischer, Ekkehart Steinhuber, UYCAS	132,0	19	31	28	29	25
28	NED 37	Ben Boogaerdt, Gerben den Hartog, Karsten Kraan, KZC	132,0	27	27	31	19	28
29	ITA 258	Michele Tognozzi, Haakon Haraldsen, Rieder, CVCP	133,0	36	26	14	dnf	19
30	GER 312	Gernot Heller, Gerhard Auerswald, Frank Gundlach , SCE / SCAS	134,0	29	15	29	31	30
31	GER 323	Matthias-Christoph Dulce, Sean O'Meara, Eberhard Franke, VsaW/BYC	146,0	32	33	24	28	29
32	AUT 185	Hermann Beurle, Stephan Beurle, Veronika Beurle, SCK	159,0	16	29	ocs	dnf	dns
33	ESP 46	Francisco Villa, Miguel Martinez, Allo, CNSR	160,0	20	32	32	dnf	dns
34	ITA 241	Fabio Armellini, Attilia Papini, Nicola Armellini, CVT	161,0	33	34	30	26	dns
35	AUT 136	Johann Kalhs, Nikolaus Kalhs, Tamara Kalhs, STYC	162,0	24	35	dnf	32	33
36	ITA 252	Alberto De Amicis, Matteo Vanelli, De Amicis Marco, CVB	167,0	35	22	34	dnf	dns
37	NED 48	Danker Rijk, Danker Rijk Jr., Arko Hoondert, WSVW	171,0	37	36	33	33	32