2021 European WASZP Games - Overall

After five days of intense competition and 14 races completed, WASZP UK Sailor Matt Beck in on top of the world! In a return to international competition that has been two years in the making, we could not have asked for a better event to return us to semi-normalcy.

The WASZP Class would like to extend its gratitude to Circola Vela Arco, who took on the challenge to run the event after moving locations from Norway just 6 weeks ago. Arco ran a fantastic event on the water and provided fantastic friendly hospitality off the water. To be able to run the event in-line with how a WASZP event should be conducted, under restrictions was not an easy task, but it was executed brilliantly!

As the final day dawned there were six boats in contention to win the title, with points between first and third exceptionally tight. To display this fact, there were eight different heat winners from 14 races showing the evenness of the competition. Since the WASZP was introduced to the sailing world in 2016, this is exactly what we had envisaged, one-design racing, on an affordable platform, insanely tight competition and a relaxed environment off the water.

Paul Farien from Germany had the best of the final day with a 1, 2, 3 scoreline, really putting series leaders Matt Beck and Francesco Bertone under immense pressure, suddenly as the scores became tighter, it was evident that you could not protect any one boat and you had to keep your eyes out and across the race-course.

Bertone, who had an unfortunate penultimate day with a breakage, which put him out of two races, sailed a sensational regatta and was still pushing hard right up to the final race, however had to settle for third overall with a 5, 8, 2 on the final day.

In a further incredible result, the Savoini brother from Italy Emmanuele and Enzio finished on level points at the end of the event (64 each), to finish fifth and sixth respectively, following Swiss sailor Jann Schuepbach who finished fourth.

European WASZP Games day 4 - photo © Anna Suslova

In the end it was Matt Beck who did enough with a 2, 3, 6 on the final day to claim the overall championships and take the crown as the best WASZP sailor in Europe. Matt was the top ranked sailor coming into competition after sitting atop the WASZP Global rankings since the UK Nationals in July. In the lead up Matt also claimed second place at the Plymouth SailGP INSPIRE Youth Racing event, clearly putting his name forward for a potential career in the sport.

It is hard to explain how tight the racing was, but you only need to look at the overall scorecard to see how close it really was. With racing this tight and flying around at speed of 14-15knots upwind and 20-25 knots downwind it is an insane spectacle.

There were eight separate nations in the top ten, showing that the global spread of the WASZP is in full flight, with access to boats all over the world and agent support in 24 countries, the class is certainly going from strength to strength. The opportunity to stay engaged with the rest of the fleet, even if isolated through our Racehub platform is a strength of the class.

In the other divisions within the overall, first women WASZP sailor Nora Doksrod from Norway had a fantastic regatta, finishing 17th overall with two top ten results. Nora has been leading the way for women in the WASZP and has been steadily climbing up the fleet. We are certain with another year of sailing under her belt, she will be right in the mix competing for the overall title at the WASZP International Games next year.

European WASZP Games day 4 - photo © Elena Giolai

The WASZP is such a fantastic platform for men and women to compete equally and the women WASZP sailors are certainly making their presence felt throughout the fleet with a number of strong performances. Victoria Schultheis from Malta finished the event strongly to take second woman and had a top ten performance on the final day, while Margherita Porro from Italy and Mathilde Roberstad from Norway also put in scintillating performances.

While the youth (20-25) and apprentice (25-35) categories were battling out at the top of the fleet, the first Junior (U20) sailor was Charles Cullen from Ireland who had a great regatta, taking out the Slalom Championship and finishing tenth overall with a heat win in the middle of the series. In the 6.9m rigs young Antonin Radu representing Switzerland at his first event took out the 6.9m division.

The master and super-master divisions were also hotly contested with Giovanni Bonzio from Italy winning the masters in 30th position and Pit Muller from Switzerland taking the super-master prize. The masters/super-master divisions were hotly contested by 15 sailors who loved having their own battles within the fleet. A strength of the WASZP class is the huge diversity of demographics that sail the class. Young, old, male and female it doesn't matter everyone can sail a WASZP.

Full results below

Divisional winners:

Women - Nora Doksrod
Apprentice - Francesco Bertone
Youth - Matt Beck
Junior - Charles Cullen
Master - Giovanni Bonzio
Supermaster - Pit Muller
6.9m - Antonin Radu
Speed Demon - Nick Zeltner 23.6knots
Share the Stoke Influencer - Zac Blomeley & Ross Banham

Nora Doksrod from Norway claimed the women's title, with a number of top 10 performances - European WASZP Games - photo © Anna Suslova

The future

As the dust settles on a very special event, we look forward to an incredibly bright future for the class. The remainder of the 2021 season sees events hosted all over the world, with a major focus on the remaining EuroCup events and individual associations National Championships.

EuroCup Events:
EuroCup Germany > Kiel Week 4-12th September
EuroCup Italy > 17 -19th of September
EuroCup Spain > 29 -31st of October

SailGP INSPIRE Youth Racing Circuit: (apply now)
Denmark - Aarhus - 17-21st August
France - St Tropez - 9 -13th September
Spain - Cadiz - 7-11th October
Australia - Sydney - 14-18th December

Next year the class is already in motion with major events planned for Europe, USA and Asia/Pacific:
European Championship - Mar Menor - (Southern Spain) April 13-17th April 2022
America's Championship - Richmond YC, San Francisco - Dates TBA
International WASZP Games - Italy, Malcesine - July 9th-16th 2022

European WASZP Games day 4 - photo © Elena Giolai

Overall Results:

European WASZP Games day 4 - photo © Anna Suslova