2020 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP - SANREMO, ITALY
Aspire wins Europeans in sunny Sanremo After a long summer of waiting for a regatta, 20 5.5 Metres gathered in Sanremo for the European Championship. At their first ever 5.5 Metre regatta Aspire took the title after a tricky week of mainly light winds.
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he 2020 European Championship in Sanremo Italy from 25-29 August was the first major class event since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. It was also the first time many of the sailors had met since the World Championship in Pittwater in January. Though the initial entry was around 30, many were unable to travel and in the end the fleet numbered 20 boats. The fleet included five of the crews who competed in Australia, and after a lot of investment in the class there were five brand new boats taking part. It was the first competition for four of them. The fleet was as deep as ever with a range of Classics and Evolutions also taking part. Early lead for Momo The championship got underway on Tuesday after a four-hour delay waiting for wind, but with two great races late in the afternoon in 7-10 knots of warm breeze and flat water. Aspire (POL 17, Mateusz Kusznierewicz, Przemyslaw Gacek, Simon Fry) won their first race on their first day racing in class to lie second overnight with a 1,5, while Momo (SUI 229, Dieter Schön, Markus Wieser, Thomas Auracher) had the best of the day with a 3,1 to take the overall lead. Third was Caracole (SUI 214, Bernard Haissly, Berthoud Nicolas, Daniel Stampfli) with a 4,3. Aspire were fast out of the blocks in Race 1, soon tacked and were gone. They had at least a 100-metre lead at the top, and though Ali Baba (BAH 23, Martin Manrique, Flavio Marazzi, William Alloway) reeled in some distance, they could not pass and ended up second. Otto (NOR 68, Bent Christian Wilhelmsen, Lasse Berthelsen, Luka Strahovnik) had a great first upwind to round third, but Momo sailed well to cross the finish in third. Momo then gained a jump out of the start in Race 2, tacking quickly to the right while New Moon II (BAH 24, Mark Holowesko, Christoph Burger, Peter Vlasov) favoured the left.
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Momo led round the top to lead all the way to the finish to take the win while New Moon II chased hard but could not quite catch up. Another new boat, Marie-Françoise XXI (SUI 232, Jürg Menzi, Jürgen Eiermann, Bo Selko) were in third for a long time, but Caracole came past on the final downwind.
Peter Vlasov: “It goes without saying that 2020 has been a very different and not at all an easy year so far. Since our return from the Worlds in beautiful Pittwater, Australia, none of us have been able to sail. A true disaster. It’s good news and sad news. It is sad that so many of our international competitors from overseas or northern Europe simply could not find a sensible way to be here. They will be missed, that’s for sure. But on a positive note, 25 per cent of fleet here will be brand new boats and I believe there are more to come. In this class there are always new people and new challenges.”
