British sailors chase Laser, 470 and Finn Gold

by RYA on 2 Jun 2007 With less than a month to go before the start of the ISAF World Sailing Championships in Cascais, Portugal (28 June-13 July), Britain’s Olympic sailing hopefuls will be looking to fine-tune their skills when the European Championships for the Laser, 470 and Finn classes get underway this weekend.

Skandia Team GBR’s top ranked sailors in the Finn and 470 events may have opted to skip the Europeans in favour of preparing for the Worlds, but Paul Goodison will be in the hunt for a third straight European title when racing gets underway at the Laser Europeans in Hyeres (FRA) on Sunday 3 June.

The world number one from Rotherham finished a frustrated fourth at the recent Breitling Regatta in Holland (23-27 May), so will be looking for a confident performance on the French Riviera ahead of the World Championships in Cascais, which is a major regatta in the qualification process for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

The 29-year-old is one of 158 sailors set to compete at the Hyeres event, which runs from Sunday through until Friday 8 June, with the British contingent also including Lymington’s former Youth World Champion Nick Thompson.

With Ben Ainslie still on America’s Cup duty and Ed Wright passing up the opportunity to defend his crown at the Finn Europeans on Lake Balaton, Hungary. Portsmouth’s Matt Howard heads into the event – which starts on Monday 4 June – as the top ranked British Finn sailor amongst the 108-boat fleet.

He’s joined by Skandia Team GBR stablemates Ed Greig and Scotsman Mark Andrews, who was crowned Junior European Champion last year when the event was held in Palamos, Spain.

Over at the 470 Europeans, held in the shadows of Mount Olympus at Thessaloniki (GRE), World Champions Nic Asher and Elliot Willis, and development squad sailors Luke Patience-Chris Grube and Tom Mallindine-James Clark will be flying the Skandia Team GBR flag.

Nick Rogers-Joe Glanfield and Christina Bassadone-Saskia Clark will not compete at the five day event, which starts on Monday 4 June and concludes on Friday 8 June.

Laser Europeans – British entries:
Paul Goodison; Nick Thompson; Dan Belben; George Cooper; Sean Evans; Robert Godwin; James Gray; Max Holloway; Dyfrig Mon; Mark Powell; James Royston; Michael Sims; James Trewick; Dan Ward

Finn Europeans – British entries:
Matt Howard; Mark Andrews; Ed Greig; Henry Bagnall; Chris Brittle; Nick Craig; Richard Hart

470 Europeans – British entries:
Nic Asher-Elliot Willis; Luke Patience-Chris Grube; Tom Mallindine-James Clark; Johnny McGovern-Tom Mapplebeck