RS Aero Youth Team Race European Championships at Cagliari, Italy - Overall
by Elena Giolai 29 Oct 2023 17:44 PDT
26-29 October 2023
Lithuania wins the 2nd RS Aero Team Race Under 22 European Championship; Italy 1, with Sara Murru and Davide Mulas, second after a fierce final, lost 3 to 2. Bronze to Sardinia 2 with Alice Sussarello in team with Andrea De Matteis and fourth place to Estonia 1.
Cagliari and the tourist harbour-locality Su Siccu-offered a final day of team regattas with perfect conditions and the possibility to follow the various matches from the redeveloped waterfront.
After 61 matches, including five in the finals, the 2nd RS Aero Team Racing Under 22 European Championship was won by the team from Lithuania formed by crew Ruta Mazunaviciute and Nojus Volungevicius. A victory achieved after a hard-fought final that ended 3-2, against the 'Italia 1' team, formed by Sara Murru and Davide Mulas (LNI del Sulcis). Third place went to Sardegna 2 with Alice Sussarello and Andrea De Matteis, while fourth place went to the Estonia 1 team with Meribel Vahstein and George Paomees.
After Saturday's "no wind no race", the last of the three scheduled days of the RS Aero Team Race Under 22 European Championships was perfect to say the least, despite the fact that Cagliari presented itself in the morning with a compact cloudiness that left little hope of wind. In the late morning, however, once the humidity had cleared leaving room for sunshine, a fine south-south-easterly wind (120 degrees) arrived with an intensity of 8 to 16 knots. Quickly the FIV Race Committee chaired by Roberta Righetti brought out the teams and once the race course was positioned in the 'Su Siccu' basin, the round robin started on Friday was finished, with the 10 matches missing, subsequently giving way, in addition to the semifinals and finals, to a series of matches called 'king of the castle' to race the remaining teams, from fifth to tenth place.
The event, organised by the Lega Navale del Sulcis in collaboration with the Circolo Canottieri Ichnusa and the Italian Sailing Federation, proved to be exciting due to the characteristics of team racing, which in the semifinals and finals reached the highest levels, with strategies, pre-starts, cover-ups, mock tacking and engagements that were truly heart-stopping, followed on sight by the two teams of referees.
The event, which next year aims to become a World Championship with pre-selections, was realised thanks to the contribution of the Regional Tourism Department of the Autonomous Region of Sardinia.
Photo gallery available here.
Full results available here.