J/24 European Championship win to Bob Turner (GBR)

by Sail-World.com on 11 Jun 2010 The J/24 European Championship winner has been confirmed. Bob Turner on Serco (GBR 4247) has taken the Championship title.

Alexandros Tagaropoulos (GRE 751) was second just one point behind the leader and Marc Daniël Mahlmann (GER 4230) was third.

No report is available at time of publishing for the final day of racing.

J/24 European Championship June 9th report.

Three races were planned but because lack of wind in the morning, the Race Committee could not set a course. During the afternoon, there was a little breeze building on the Oosterschelde so the races could start. The first race was difficult for nine teams because the tide was strong and the breeze was light, too little to reach the finish line the in time allowed.

GBR 4247 ‘Serco’, skippered by Bob Turner, did very well today. They won the first difficult race followed by GER 5420 ‘Rotoman’ and GER 5316 ‘Hungriger Wolf.

The favorite GER 4230 ‘XENON’ from Peer Kock (first in rankings) didn’t sail as strongly as in recent races and lost the first place to Bob Turner. The battle for third place is still not over with a difference of three points between Kai Mares GER 5420 'Rotoman' in third and fourth placed Stuart Jardin GBR 4215 'Stouche'.

Two races are planned for the final day of sailing and the race for podium places is very tight.

Ian Brown 'Serco': 'Because of the strong current and little wind today it was very difficult for all the teams to anticipate. We were happy to sail a good first race and we now we have a good chance to grab the title'

Paul van der Schoot of NED 67 'White Moose': 'We spent the whole morning with the other 28 boats behind the Committee Vessel to wait for wind. Fortunately, in the afternoon we were happy to sail two races with minimum wind conditions.'

June 8th report:

Six German sailors are in the top ten after six races have been sailed at the J/24 European Championship in Kamperland.

Although weather conditions were excellent during the morning, there were only two races sailed. In the afternoon the wind dropped completely after a thunderstorm so the third race of the day had to be cancelled.

Both races were surprisingly won by the GER 5420 ‘Rotoman’. The event leader Peer Kock (GER 4230) ‘Xenon’, sailed a fourth and a fifth place but retains first overall, because of the good performances yesterday. Bob Turner from England with GBR 4247 ‘Serco’ scored two second places today and is now second over all.

It is remarkable that a number of relatively ‘old’ boats (over 20 years!) perform excellently and are in the top three rankings during this European Championship. Maybe that’s one reason why this one-design class is still so popular worldwide.

website - http://www.j24.nl