EUROSAF Match Racing, Open Youth Europeans at Vela Lago di Ledro

EUROSAF Open Youth Match Racing Europeans © Giorgio Davanzo

EUROSAF Open Youth Match Racing Europeans © Giorgio Davanzo

In a tantalisingly close final, the French team skippered by Guillaume Pirouelle beat defending champion Valerio Galati from Italy by 3 races to 2 in the 2012 EUROSAF Match Racing, Open Youth European Championship.

In what was the most exciting of finals, Guillaume Pirouelle from France, crewed by Valentin Sipam and Mathieu Corruble, beat Valerio Galati, the defending champion and his crew of Marco di Donato, Pasquale D'Alusio, to the title of European Youth Champion. After the first two races Galati was leading Pirouelle 2:0, but in the third and fourth races Pirouelle stormed back with two wins to equal the series 2:2 going into the fifth and deciding race. This turned out to be an absolute classic race, with the lead changing hands on several occasions, before Pirouelle very narrowly squeezed past Galati to win the race and the title.

The final race saw Galati get the better of the start, but soon afterwards he lost his advantage and at the windward mark Pirouelle was leading. By the time they approached the leeward mark for the first time the two opponents closed again, with, Galati very close to Pirouelle. Unfortunately for him, Galati touched the mark and incurred a penalty, leaving Pirouelle with a clear lead. Not to be outdone, at the second rounding of the windward mark Galati had once again closed right up on Pirouelle, but as they rounded the mark Galati managed to touch it for a second time, incurring a second penalty. He did one penalty turn immediately and set off after Pirouelle, who in the meantime had suffered some spinnaker problems. Having taken one penalty turn Galati managed to get back into the lead, but by now both boats were approaching the finishing line. Galati simply did not have sufficient time to take his second penalty turn and while he was doing this Pirouelle passed him to win the fifth and deciding race to become European Youth Champion.

The final day of the championship started with the semi-finals and the "King of the Castle" knock-out series for 5th- 8th places. The weather was almost the same as the previous day, with sun and a good wind of 6-9 knots, which occasionally dropped a little, but always came back.

The Semi-finals were scheduled to continue until one of the teams had a clear two point lead of their opponent, but in the end both victors only needed two races to achieve this. Valerio Galati (ITA) beat Jakob Klitte (SWE) 2:0, and Guillaume Pirouelle (FRA) also beat Peter Foldesi (HUN) 2:0. In the "King of the Castle" knock-out series Mirco Minotti (ITA) beat Jon Steinlein (GER), to move up once place in the final standings, but otherwise the results remained unchanged from the Round Robin.

In the Petit-Final Peter Foldesi (HUN) beat Jakob Klitte (SWE), so the Hungarian team took 3rd place in the Championship and won the bronze medal.

The Prize-giving was held at the Associazione Vela Lago di Ledro, who had organised the event in association with the Italian Sailing Federation (FIV) and European Sailing Federation (EUROSAF). All the competitors were presented with mementoes of their involvement by Paola Mora, President of the Associazione Vela Lago di Ledro. The winning team and those placed 2nd and 3rd were awarded gold, silver and bronze EUROSAF Championship medals.

Marco Predieri, President of EUROSAF, offered his congratulations to all the competitors and said that he wished to thank the Associazione Vela Lago di Ledro, their President Paola Mora, and all the volunteers who had helped to organise such a fantastic event. He also expressed his sincere thanks to Luigi Bertini, whose idea this event was, for his continuing efforts in support of the championship. He added that this was the second year the championship has been organised and confirmed that EUROSAF were now in advanced discussions with two venues concerning the championship in 2013 and beyond. EUROSAF will be making an announcement about this in the coming weeks.

Overall Results: