29er EuroCup #1 in Spain & Asian Championships 2023 - Celebrating two 29er events on two continents
by International 29er Class 22 Feb 08:07 PST
29er EuroCup Series 2023 participants © Laura Carrau
CN El Balis kicks off the 29er EuroCup Series 2023 16-19th February with very light wind conditions. With a record turnout of 136 boats, the 272 competitors were in great spirits returning to the start line after a winter of honing their skills across Europe.
The boat park was a hive of fun and camaraderie as the sailors enjoyed time catching up and making new friends at the first event of the 2023 EuroCup season and it was a perfect start to what promises to be a year of action packed, high adrenaline, closely fought racing.
Racing proved incredibly close, with the top 3 boats in the final standings joint on points after 5 races.
Taking home the Overall, Men's and U17 win was the Hungarian team, Soma Kis-szölgyémi and András Sámuel Juhász. In Overall and Men's Silver medal position, also with 8 points, was new faces to the EuroCup podium - GBR team Jamie Wilkinson and Jamie Gatehouse. Taking the third step on the Overall Men's podium was the French team of Hugo Revil and Karl Devaux.
In the Women's category, British team-mates Annabelle Vines and Madeline Bilbrough made their debut, winning their first event as a pair. In second place, just two points behind was the Spanish team of Neus García Perez and Lucia Busquets Martinez and third, Susana Bestard Mir and María Teresa Martín García-Marcos also from Spain.
The 2023 EuroCup series promises to be an exciting and closely fought contest with many of the teams building experience and some new teams forming pushing the racing tighter and tighter creating some of the best racing in the World.
Meanwhile, across the globe, the 7th edition of the Sun Hung Kai &Co. Hong Kong Race Week and 29er Asian Championship 2023 took place 14-19th February in conjunction with the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club. Competing in the event were 236 sailors from 12 countries and regions including Australia, Belgium, Chinese Taipei, Greece, Hong Kong (China), Japan, Mainland China, Macau (China), Singapore, Switzerland, Thailand and the USA and all of the sailors were thrilled to get back to top racing action in Asia.
In the 29er fleet, the sailors were tested with 10 races across a mixture of challenging conditions, from 15-20 knots shifty and wavey days to very light wind sailing, the week provided a thorough test of competitors skill and stamina.
Competing in their first ever 29er Asian Championship, dynamo female duo Emily Polson and Tiffany Mak hung onto their 1st place overall throughout the week, including six race wins, winning both the Overall and Women's Titles. Behind by a mere three points were Cameron Law and Christopher Lam who also take the win in the Men's Category. In 3rd place overall was Jayden Fung and Jack Dingemans.
The Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club were delighted to host this successful 29er Asian Championships and the 29er class are thrilled to see the fleet in Asia going from strength to strength.