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Soling European Championship Riva del Garda – After 2 days

by Fraglia Vela Riva on 15 Jul 2017
Soling European Championship Riva del Garda Elena Giolai/Fraglia Vela Riva
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
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