Finn European Masters Championship 2026 at Los Alcazares - Day 2
by Robert Deaves 20 Oct 22:47 PDT
16-23 October 2026
Valerian Lebrun, from France, took both race wins on the second day of the 2026 Finn European Masters at Los Alcazares, on the Mar Menor in Spain.
Portugal's Filipe Silva still leads from Laurent Hay and Nick Craig. A long delay to wait for wind was rewarded with two races in 12-15 knots, ending in the golden evening light. 118 Finn sailors from 20 nations are taking part in Los Alcazares.
Racing was delayed until nearly 15.00, first with a postponement on shore and then a further delay on the water. One attempt was made before the very light wind shifted south and came in quite fast at 10-15 knots, making for two tough races.
On his birthday, Nanno Schuttrups led round the top mark from Switzerland's Christoph Burger and Britain's Nick Craig. Lebrun was fourth and soon took the lead downwind to lead round and win the race from World No. 1, Peter Peet, from The Netherlands and Burger.
Lebrun then led the second race all the way, with the wind dropping on the final upwind to 8-10 knots down to the finish. Laurent Hay made it a 1,2 for France with Spain's David Terol in third.
Overall leader, Silva struggled with an 11, 6 but kept the overall lead. However, with two races scheduled for Wednesday, the drop will kick in and shuffle the leaderboard.
Valerian Lebrun, "Today I must say we have been very lucky with the weather because we did not expect such nice winds. Finally, we went out a bit late but with a very small breeze.
"They did the first attempt, but the wind was dying. And then when it turned right and it started to become really good, we had two really nice races. I don't really know what to expect for the next three days but we've got those two. Let's see tomorrow how it's going to be."
Five years ago, he won the World Masters here. "Five years? It's going so fast. I always like this place because usually we've got nice sea breeze. This is my third time here because I came here sailing the Europe Dinghy 25 years ago. But it's always normally nice conditions. I think we have been very unlucky with the thunderstorms those last three days. But now it seems we are getting back to normal. So hopefully those next three days it's going to be not as light as the weather forecast says."
David Terol, "Today we had two races, mid-wind, and it was a bit difficult, tricky, because of different pressures and shifts, but it was good for me. I finished third in the last one, and I'm very happy with my performance today.
"The forecast says that we have light winds for the next days, maybe tomorrow in the morning we have winds from the north, but we'll see what the committee decides, because from my point of view we should leave early in the morning at 8am to sail, otherwise we might get in trouble."
In the evening the postponed opening ceremony took place at the Centro de Tecnificación Deportiva in Los Alcázares. A paella was served followed by a flag ceremony in the dark at the sports centre.
Racing continues with two races scheduled for 11.00 on Wednesday. The event concludes on Friday.
Results after Day 2: (top ten, 3 races)
1 POR 21 Filipe SILVA 18pts
2 FRA 75 Laurent HAY 23pts
3 GBR 790 Nick CRAIG 24pts
4 FRA 111 Valerian LEBRUN 26pts
5 ESP 7 David TEROL ALBALADEJO 27pts
6 SUI 7 Christoph BURGER 27pts
7 BEL 7 Sebbe GODEFROID 35pts
8 NED 148 Peter PEET 37pts
9 ESP 161 Miguel FERNÁNDEZ VASCO 41pts
10 ITA 40 Marko KOLIC 44pts