America's Cup skipper wins A Class Catamaran European Open title

by Gordon Upton/Sail-World NZ 15 Jul 2018 16:43 PDT 16 July 2018

Glenn Ashby's boat in the Forward WIP Sponsor tent, undergoing repairs on day 3 of the A Class Catamaran European Championships in Warnemunde © Gordon Upton / www.guppypix.com

Glenn Ashby didn't even need a boat on day 2 of the A Class Catamaran European Championships in Warnemunde © Gordon Upton / www.guppypix.com

Emirates Team New Zealand skipper, Glenn Ashby (AUS) has won the Open European A-Class Championship scoring four wins and a third, in the shortened series.

Manuel Calavia was crowned the 2019 European 'A' Class Champion (restricted to European nationals).

The regatta was sailed at Warnemunde, Germany sailing on the Baltic Sea

On a windy, and above all wavy morning, the final race was delayed for one hour until 11am as the sea state was above the limits set out in the Championship Rules. 1.5 – 2 m waves were rolling in from the Noreast driven by a brisk 18kt wind, with some 23kts gusts hidden within it. But by 11am, the PRO deemed it suitable to let everyone off the beach. Probably three-quarters of the fleet launched, with some of the more cautious sailors, seeing the amount of breakages taking place on a previous day, decided discretion was the better part of valour.

They needn't have worried, as no sooner than most of the fleet had assembled in the race start area, a good 30 min hard sail away, they were all sent back to the shore again. Questions were asked as to why on earth the officials insisted on strictly sticking to the designated regatta area after most of the other fleets had gone home two days before beats me. Far better to have the race area much closer inshore, where the sea was flatter and the winds less gusty is something that the organisers need to address with all seriousness.

As the fleet sailed home, past our spectacular spectator/press boat, a beautiful Catana 47 Catamaran, which was offered to us by a keen armchair 'A' Cat fan, Detlef Andreovits, president of the German Catamaran Association, who read between the lines of a previous report an jumped to our rescue. Something that we are all grateful for. A few passing boats started to hotdog shamelessly around us, particularly Mischa Heemskerk what has an unnatural ability, for a male, to do the splits on trapeze.

In the end, racing was cancelled as because the SIs said that 3pm was the last start time for the final day. This was a great pity, because, as expected, the sun then shone and a few sailors went out to experience a fantastic sailing period. Think what would have happened if that rule had been altered? They would have got possibly a couple more races in, with the discards that would have brought too, as Saturday was scheduled to be the last day and a spare in case there wasn't a championship (five races). Rules rules rules.

Mischa Heemskerk displays an unnatural ability when racing cancelled on final day of the A Class Catamaran European Championships in Warnemunde - photo © Gordon Upton / www.guppypix.com

It is often not fair to blame people for events for which little control is available, but in this case, it was generally felt that the Race Committee let the sailors down badly, losing the best sailing afternoon of the regatta by their rigid rule adherence. Many people travelled many hundreds, if not thousands of miles to this event, and in their spare time is valuable. They came to sail, at least give them the opportunity to do so by being flexible, rather than worrying about someone possibly protesting them on some technicality. Earlier in the week racing could have been brought forward rather than sticking to the 1pm start times, missing some decent winds and righting off another day yesterday. We had sailed more in the weekend of the UK Nationals than they did in all of Warnemunde week.

Top woman was Katrin Brunner. Junior champ was Robin Maeder. Classic champ was Marek Zebrowski. Third Foiling Maciej Zarnowski, second Foiling Manuel Calavia, first Foiling Glenn Ashby.

The next major European event is the 2019 Worlds at WPNSA, Weymouth. This place is a flat water foiling paradise and is very rarely unsailable. Fingers crossed!

Glenn Ashby struggled to get a third in the last race after a rudder fixing failure on day 3 of the A Class Catamaran European Championships in Warnemunde - photo © Gordon Upton / www.guppypix.com

Glenn Ashby show the way and was foiling whilst sitting because of the conditions on day 2 of the A Class Catamaran European Championships in Warnemunde - photo © Gordon Upton / www.guppypix.com

GBR Sailor Adam May finished a good eleventh with racing cancelled on final day of the A Class Catamaran European Championships in Warnemunde - photo © Gordon Upton / www.guppypix.com

Overall Results:

Pos	Sail No	Helmut STUMHOFER	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	Pts
1	AUS 111	Glenn ASHBY	10062	1	1	1	1	3	7
2	ESP 11	Manuel CALAVIA	RCMB	2	4	8	2	1	17
3	POL 17	Maciej ZARNOWSKI	UKS Navigo Sopot	3	6	2	4	6	21
4	SUI 1	Sandro CAVIEZEL	YCAs	8	3	4	3	16	34
5	POL 1	Jacek NOETZEL	UKS Navigo Sopot	12	8	5	5	5	35
6	NED 7	Mischa HEEMSKERK	Wvbraassemermeer	4	2	7	13	15	41
7	GER 14	Bob BAIER	SCFF	23	9	3	6	12	53
8	FRA 2	Emmanuel DODÉ	SR Vannes	9	12	9	29	4	63
9	DEN 1	Thomas PAASCH	SKS	17	14	10	11	19	71
10	POL 31	Robert GRACZYK	MKZ	15	18	11	18	11	73
11	GBR 57	Adam MAY	WPNSA	11	19	21	7	23	81
12	POL 111	Michal KORNESZCZUK	YCG	5	15	27	14	21	82
13	ESP 16	Marc VERDAGUER	Club Nautic L'Escala	22	7	20	19	17	85
14	AUS 51	Paul LARSEN	WPNSA	24	11	22	9	29	95
15	AUS 1065	Tom JOHNSON		25	20	16	27	10	98
16	ITA 3	Paolo PENCO	ANS	18	22	26	26	13	105
17	GRE 1	Konstantinos TRIGONIS	N.C.Thessaloniki	10	5	17	33	44	109
18	NED 95	Roeland WENTHOLT	Hellecat	14	48	32	17	7	118
19	GER 39	Andi LACHENSCHMID	ASC	19	17	13	20	57	126
20	POL 7	Marcin KAMINSKI	UKS Navigo Sopot	20	40	25	36	8	129
21	SUI 87	Nils PALMIERI		27	34	19	12	37	129
22	FRA 207	Benoit MARIE	SNO Nantes	13	29	96	8	2	148
23	ESP 74	Abdón IBÁÑEZ	RCNV	6	96	15	10	22	149
24	SUI 9	Daniel CAVIEZEL	YCAs	29	13	6	40	63	151
25	POL 15	Piotr BARYZEWSKI	UKS Navigo Sopot	35	30	23	38	27	153
26	POL 2	Marek ZEBROWSKI	UKS Navigo Sopot	57	28	28	25	18	156
27	GER 85	Guido SCHULTE	MSV	44	32	35	21	26	158
28	FRA 7	Jean-Louis le COQ	SN du Roi Port Camargue	38	42	38	32	14	164
29	FRA 410	Jean DARNAUDE	EV Rochelaises	55	26	37	23	24	165
30	GER 27	Alexander MEISTER	YSTM	16	21	96	22	28	183
31	SUI 7	Robin MAEDER	CNB	37	25	30	48	46	186
32	POL 3	Jaroslaw BETKOWSKI	RJKP	30	45	24	37	52	188
33	SUI 65	Bueche CHARLES	BT	53	41	33	41	32	200
34	DEN 20	Peter BOLDSEN	KBL	28	51	29	54	40	202
35	ESP 7	Micky TODD		50	31	96	24	9	210
36	GER 37	Johannes KEMLER	TSG-W	47	24	46	44	61	222
37	GBR 599	Oscar LINDLEY-SMITH	WPNSA	42	39	34	49	64	228
38	AUS 1064	Kyle LANGFORD	280001	7	96	12	55	60	230
39	GER 20	Florian HENNIG	SLRV	58	52	45	51	25	231
40	GER 21	Marco GÖTZ	BYC	33	37	96	30	39	235
41	GER 57	Martin BACH	MSV	70	49	44	46	30	239
42	GER 76	Helmut STUMHOFER	SCC	21	16	14	96	96	243
43	AUT 96	Michael MÖDLHAMMER	SCSW	20	44	96	45	41	246
44	NED 111	David van AART	ZVN	41	53	39	56	58	247
45	GER 5	Klaus RAAB	SCFF	32	35	36	96	49	248
46	SWE 59	Alberto FARNESI	LBS	45	38	40	68	59	250
47	AUS 31	Scott ANDERSON	530015	36	10	18	96	96	256
48	ITA 86	Michele PATELLI	H2O 151	40	27	96	57	50	270
49	GER 40	Manfred SYROWY	YCN	54	43	41	67	65	270
50	GER 15	Katrin BRUNNER	BSF	66	58	42	62	53	281
51	BEL 19	Wim DECA	RNSYC	71	36	96	35	47	285
52	DEN 13	Lars SCHRØDER	FS	96	23	96	39	36	290
53	GER 75	Jörn KNOP	BSV	49	50	96	53	43	291
54	BEL 9	Michel WARLOP	RBSC	68	47	96	50	31	292
55	SUI 33	Heiko MAIER	SCU	61	54	96	43	38	292
56	ESP 5	Enrique CORNEJO	RCMB	59	96	96	31	20	302
57	POL 18	Jakub SOBALA	Club Port Mechelinki	62	59	48	69	67	305
58	ITA 777	Marco PUPPO	CNUC	74	64	43	63	70	314
59	ITA 110	Stefano TACCHI	UVM	60	96	96	28	35	315
60	GER 80	Andreas GRÜNENWALD	SVBb	46	46	31	96	96	315
61	DEN 111	Morten KOHLENBERG	SYC	72	61	47	70	71	321
62	GER 10	Jörg HORN	STS	64	62	96	59	54	335
63	POL 100	Karol KWIATKOWSKI	UKS Navigo Sopot	96	96	96	15	33	336
64	ESP 48	Oscar QUIRANTE	RCMB	96	96	96	16	34	338
65	SUI 22	Hermann WALLMER	SCMd	73	60	96	52	62	343
66	GER 61	Gerian KÜHLBORN	E.S.V	75	65	96	60	56	352
67	CZE 1	Vladislav PTAŠNIK	ALT F20T	34	96	96	58	69	353
68	GER 3	Matthias DIETZ	SLRV	39	33	96	96	96	360
69	NED 44	Wiro ZIJLMANS	Hellecat	51	57	96	61	96	361
70	GER 81	Maren ODEFEY	MSV	77	96	96	42	55	366
71	POL 101	Andrzej SENKUS	UKS Navigo Sopot	96	96	96	34	45	367
72	GER 86	Alexander ZYLKA	SCH	48	96	96	66	66	372
73	NED 96	Gert Jan KOS	Hellecat	96	96	96	47	51	386
74	GER 6	Rainer BOHRER	TSVU	52	55	96	96	96	395
75	GER 34	Jan KREUTZMANN	YCN	65	96	96	96	48	401
76	SWE 2	Ulf TJERNBERG	LSS	76	96	96	65	68	401
77	GBR 22	Tom PHIPPS	Windsport	26	96	96	96	96	410
78	FRA 101	Hervé LEDUE	C.N.Portes en Ré	67	56	96	96	96	411
79	ITA 101	Andrea FERRARI	USC	31	96	96	96	96	415
80	GER 38	Thorsten LORENZ	BSV	56	96	96	71	96	415
81	NED 1	Piet SAARBERG	Hellecat	69	63	96	96	96	420
82	POL 197	Maciej TROCHA	UKS Navigo Sopot	96	96	96	64	72	424
83	POL 21	Ewa GÓRSKA	UKS Navigo Sopot	96	96	96	96	42	426
84	AUT 98	Ronald van der VALK	YCZ	78	66	96	96	96	432
85	GER 2	Georg REUTTER	TSVH	63	96	96	96	96	447
86	ESP 42	Mariano MARTINEZ	CAR MURCIA	96	96	96	96	73	457
87	SUI 70	Darius GOLCHAN		79	96	96	96	96	463
88	ARG 21	Sergio MEHL	AGUILA	96	96	96	96	96	480
88	DEN 17	Frank LAVRSEN	ES	96	96	96	96	96	480
88	ESP 9	Juan Antonio LADRÓN de GUEVARA	CAR	96	96	96	96	96	480
88	NED 14	Rutger KRIJGER	WSVW	96	96	96	96	96	480
88	NED 28	Pieter Jan DWARSHUIS	WV Flevo	96	96	96	96	96	480
88	NED 41	Caroline van BEELEN	catclub zeeland	96	96	96	96	96	480
88	NED 911	Juppe HEBLY	Roerkoning	96	96	96	96	96	480
88	SUI 81	Nicolas BORGHETTI		96	96	96	96	96	480