2015 International Canoe European Championships overall

by intcanoe.org on 2 Aug 2015 International Canoe European Championships – Day one - A race in light airs and very variable wind direction was finally abandoned. with Robin Wood leading. The Sunday roundup on the main website has a little bit about the Canoes.

Day Two

Three races were sailed. The top of the leaderboard looks like this: Robin Wood, 2,2,1, Gareth Caldwell 1,1,6, Phil Robin 4,3,2, Chris Hampe, 3,5,4, Arne Stahl 5,4,5. Can't wait to hear the stories: Robin lost what looked like a safe lead in race one, and in race three the GPS trace apparently shows Gareth, who had been leading, suddenly drifting away to windward(!) before resuming the race in eighth and working back up to sixth.

Day Three

Chris Hampe's day according to the race tracking. Two wins on the windiest day so far put him well in contention. A rather depleted fleet in race four and an even more depleted one in race five, with four DNFs. Robin Wood didn't have a very good day, with a seventh in race four and a DNC in race five. Amusing (at this distance) to look at the race tracking and see who didn't make the start on time for the first race!

Gareth's 4,2 puts him in the lead on eight points, Chris second on nine and Robin is on 12. Phil Robin is in fourth, currently shown with 15 points, but I think that's wrong. These four look like the main medal contenders at the half way point, but I certainly wouldn't rule out Phil Robin or Arne Stahl.

Day Four

According to tracking, the morning race started after several postponements. Breeze appeared to be light and very variable. The race tracking had its glitches (to say the least) during this one, but the results have Robin winning from Phil Robin, Gareth Caldwell and John Ellis. Andy Gordon was fifth and Roger Regitz, who from tracking looks fast but erratic, sixth. Chris had a shocker, scored 12th.

The second race looks to have had a bit more breeze, into the 10-knot region, but still quite shifty. Chris led early on, but after what looks to have been a tight race with plenty of places changing, Robin came in to win with Gareth, Chris, Dave Timson and Charlie Chandler following. Phil was sixth.

Overall then Gareth leads with 13 points, Robin has 14 and Chris 17. Phil is shown with 22 points and a DNC in race five, but the race tracking shows him finishing that race in fifth, so its a bit of a mystery. Then there's a gap to Charlie Chandler and Arne Stahl, with 31 and 34 points, and a bigger gap back to the rest of the pack, almost all of whom are counting at least one alphabet. The honourable exception there are Anton Grigull and Lis Gillen, both of whom have six finishes. Realistically I see the gold coming from the first three, amongst whom Robin has three wins and Gareth and Chris two each, so its anyone's game yet. Gareth has the best discard, so has that in hand.

Day Five

Super port end start in the televised race eight from Charlie Chandler. Way to go mate. He led for most of the race, but was eventually chased down by Robin Wood, but maintained second from Gareth Caldwell. Arne Stahl took fourth and Dirk Heitmann fifth. Chris Hampe seems to have got a DNF.

In race nine Charlie pulled off another port flyer and what may be the best one I've ever seen. Instant 100-yard lead. At the top mark, it went very light. Robin took the lead on the run, but they swapped places until Charlie misjudged a cross and ended up having to do turns in the light air. Not good - it sent him down to fourth. Arne Stahl, Rob Bell and Charlie battled for second, but Robin was gone. The wind though was getting lighter and lighter and the conditions looked awfully tricky. Much place changing ensued behind Robin, and in the end Charlie recovered to second, John Ellis took third, Rob Bell fourth and Dave Timson fifth.

So a great day for Robin, with two wins, and a pretty good day for Charlie. Gareth picked up a third and an eighth and lost a lot of ground, but is still in the running. Chris got a DNF and a DNS, so is out of the medals.

So the overall position. Judging by what Robin said in the post-race video there is only one discard. Gareth, I think, is guaranteed silver, and can win gold if Robin is down the fleet. I think seventh or better gets Robin the title. The bronze looks wide open, and even the silver is available to Phil or Charlie if Robin has a bad enough day.

Day Six - Robin Wood wins the Europa Cup

Another lighter airs day at Travemunde with the tracking showing winds in the five-knot region. Race 10 was not very easy to follow on the GPS tracking, which was suffering some horrible glitches. The boats were doing synchronised dances across the screen... Robin took an early lead, with Gareth and Phil following. I suppose tactically Gareth's best bet might have been to match race Robin to the back of the fleet, but that's more easily said than done with Canoes - especially as he'd have had to take him down to something like 15th... If anything the trace seems to suggest that Robin was keeping a wary cover on Gareth.

As the race progressed Robin kept a comfortable lead on Gareth, who by the last leg was a similar distance ahead of Phil Robin, and these three went right on the last beat. The first two didn't tack until Phil tacked - playing it cautious it seems. But Phil had tacked on the lay line for the finish, partway up the beat. Gareth seems to have realised straight away and reached across to the finish, just staying ahead of Phil. Robin, on the other hand, it seems did not spot what was going on until the other two had finished and had to run down some two hundred yards, succeeding in salvaging third place.

Arne Stahl came through the fleet for fourth, and Dave Timson took fifth.

So, provisionally and unofficially, Robin Wood wins the Championship from Gareth Caldwell, and Phil Robin takes the bronze from Charlie Chandler. Arne Stahl was fifth overall. In a very high scoring series, Gareth was the only one to finish every race, and the first five plus Anton Grigull the only ones to avoid counting DNCs or DNFs.