Six Metre European Championship 2022 at Clube Naval de Cascais - Day 4
by Fiona Brown 9 Sep 2022 20:03 PDT
6-10 September 2022
Cascais delivered a beautiful penultimate day of racing for the International Six Metre crews competing in their 2022 European Championship. With the wind in the north-north-west at 10-15 knots and a long ocean swell running the race committee made smart work of completing races six and seven of the eight race series.
In the Open Division the introduction of the single discard has compressed the scoreboard and going into the final day three boats remain in serious contention for the title with just two points separating them. The Portuguese are currently dominating as Patrick Monteiro de Barros's Seljm continues to lead by a single point margin from Vasco Pereira's Scoundrel One. One further point behind lies Dieter Schoen's Momo from Switzerland. Still in with a chance of a podium finish are fellow Swiss Jan Eckert's Ginkgo Too, which lies five points behind Momo, and fifth placed Violeta Alvarez sailing Stella for the Royal Yacht Squadron.
In the Classic Division Bribon 500, helmed by Canadian Ross Macdonald with a Spanish crew of Alejandro Abascal, Alberto Viejo, Eduardo Marin and Roi Alvarez, added a first and second to their scorecard and discarded a second to become the 2022 International Six Metre Classic European Champions with a race to spare. The Romanian team of reigning ORC Class B World Champion Catalin Trandafir aboard Essentia secured the silver medal in the fleet, but tomorrow will see a showdown for bronze between Spaniard Mauricio Sanchez Bella's Titia and Andy and Lisa Postle's UK based Nirvana.
After racing the new Classics Champion Ross Macdonald commented; "It's been interesting this week as we've had pretty much different conditions every day. So it's been a good test and about making sure we've got the right sails and we're sailing properly each day. Today was fun as it was the Cascais that everyone remembers with wind and waves so we really enjoyed it today especially."
Racing got under way on time at 13:00 with Momo making a spectacular pin end port tack start in the Open Division that enabled her to cross the majority fleet and head straight out for the favoured right hand side. Traffic was heavy over on the committee boat end where both Jane Ann and Thisbe mistimed their approaches and had to spin out. Scoundrel One made a lovely start a third of the way down the line and then tacked off into the right hand corner early to lead the fleet at the first mark. Following her around were Gingko Too, Momo and Seljm. Scoundrel One extended her lead to the finish to take her second win of the championship. Momo and Ginkgo Too duelled their way round the track with Momo finally clinching it on the final run. Seljm tried everything she could to overtake, but ultimately had to settle for fourth.
With the wind holding steady and building to around 12-14 knots, the race committee rolled straight into race seven. This time the Open Division kept away from the pin with Seljm getting the best of the start, but at the weather mark it was Jeremy Thorp's Battlecry that led the fleet, followed by Seljm, Ginkgo Too, Scoundrel One and Momo. Whilst the majority gybed immediately Battlecry stood on and by the leeward gate Seljm, who gybed early along with the main body of the fleet, had overtaken her. Seljm and Battlcry settled into their positions at the front of the fleet, but Scoundrel One, Ginkgo Too and Momo were fighting for every inch and the honour of third. On the line Momo took it by a whisker from Soundrel One with Ginkgo Too fifth.
Overall Seljm has clung onto her Open Division lead by a single point from Scoundrel One. With her disqualification from race four now discarded Momo leaps up from fifth into third, one point behind Scoundrel. There is then a five point delta back to Ginkgo Too in fourth with Stella rounding out the top five as the only other boat still in with an outside chance of a podium place. The scene is clearly set for a dog fight of epic proportions to decide the Overall Six Metre European Champion 2022 in tomorrow's final race.
In the Classic Division Nirvana tried a port tack start in race six too but her timing was off and she was forced to tack after only a few seconds by Titia who then sailed over her and pinned her out to the left. Bribon 500 meanwhile had opted to start at the committee boat and tack early to get into the lift along the shore earlier. Once again this supremely skilled team were on the money and they led the race from start to finish. Essentia took second, Titia third and Ted Schauman's Lisbeth V from Finland fourth.
Race seven for the Classics was all about Titia. She got a great start and was first to tack off to the shore. Bribon 500 found herself a little bit buried but soon worked her way out of trouble and by the top mark was hard on Titia's heels with Essentia third and Germany's Thomas Khumann's Hanko III fourth. Although Titia and Bribon 500 extended on the fleet the leading four held their positions all the way to the line, securing the Championship for Bribon 500 and the silver medal for Essentia.
Tomorrow's final Classics race will decide who takes the last step on the podium between Titia, who has jumped from fifth to third on 19 points, and Nirvana who had her worst day of the regatta with a pair of sixth places and now sits on 20 points overall. Both boats are discarding a sixth so it's going to be an exciting last race.
Classics runner up Catalin Trantafir was delighted with Essentia's result saying, "We are actually the newest team in the class, which is pretty much funny so I did not expect so tough competition I would say. its been all good so far. This summer we got second place, hopefully next year we return stronger and put a bit of pressure on the champions."
After racing the crews came together at the Clube Naval de Cascais for a Gala Championship Dinner, which got under way with cocktails and canapés on the terrace as the sunset and then moved onto a delicious meal in the clubhouse. Once again the club's generosity has been outstanding and the guests enjoyed wonderful food and local wines as well as each other's company.
The Race Committee has confirmed that it intends to start tomorrow's final race at 14:00. The forecast promises 10 to 14 knots from the north-west and more glorious sunshine so we look set for a spectacular final day here in Cascais.
Provisional Results after Day 4: (top five, 7 races)
Open Division
1st - POR4 - Seljm - Patrick Monteiro de Barros - 3, 1, (7), 1, 5, 4, 1 = 15pts
2nd - GBR86 - Scoundrel One - Vasco Pereira - 4, 4, 2, (8), 1, 1, 4 = 16pts
3rd - SUI142 - Momo - Dieter Schoen - 1, 6, 1, (DSQ(11)), 4, 2, 3 = 17pts
4th - SUI140 - Ginkgo Too - Jan Eckert - 5, 2, 4, 3, (8), 3, 5 = 22pts
5th - ESP16 - Stella - Violeta Alvarez - 2, (9), 3, 2, 6, 6, 6 = 25pts
Classic Division
1st - ESP16 - Bribon 500 - Ross Macdonald - (2), 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 2 = 8pts
2nd - ROU65 - Essentia - Catalin Trandafir - (4), 4, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3 = 15pts
3rd - ESP72 - Titia - Mauricio Sanchez Bella - (6), 2, 5, 5, 3, 3, 1 = 19pts
4th - GBR33 - Nirvana - Andy & Lisa Postle - 1, 3, 4, 2, 4, 6, (6) = 20pts
5th - USA96 - Hanko III - Thomas Kuhmann - 3, (5), 3, 4, 5, 5, 4 = 20pts
Full results available here.
Further information about the Championship can be found at the event website, at www.6metre.com and on the ISMA Facebook page.