J/24 European Championship at Patras, Greece - Day 1
by Julie & Chris Howell 7 May 2019 09:23 PDT
4-10 May 2019
Thirty J/24s vied in three races in winds of 15-25 knots to open to 2019 J/24 European Championship, hosted by the Sailing Club of Patras in Greece.
Four different nations comprise the top four: Stefan Karsunke's Schwere Jungs of Germany (five points), Ignazio Bonanno's La Superba of Italy (eight points), Miklos Rauschenberger's El Nino of Hungary and Anthimos Nikolaidis' Evniki of Greece (17 points).
Bonanno's La Superba opened the Championship successfully as the breeze started in the mid-teens. Karsunke's Schwere Jungs and Rauschenberger's El Nino followed. Nikolaidis' Evniki won race two when the winds began piping up, and both Karsunke and Bonanno kept their claim at the front end of the fleet. Karsunke capped a nearly perfect day with a bullet, ahead of Panagiotis Kampouridis' JMania and Alexandros Tagaropoulos' Hellenic Police in Tuesday's last contest.
Racing continues through Friday. Complete results may be found at j24europeans2019.gr, and photos are available on the International J/24 Class Facebook page.