Laser Radial Europa Cup at Lugano, Switzerland
by Hendrik Feddersen, RYA Race Officer 13 Apr 2010 22:28 BST
8-11 April 2010
Jon Emmett during the Lugano Laser Europa Cup © Gianni Armiraglio
Competitive sailing in varied weather conditions welcomed the 166 Laser youth sailors convening in Lugano, Switzerland, from all over Europe and further afield. The event organised by the “Circolo Velico Lago di Lugano” took place on the beautiful lake of Lugano surrounded by mountains covered with snow from 8th until 11th April 2010.
Jon Emmett, 32 years old, only British sailor present at the event, arrived second in the Laser Radial fleet. “It takes a long time to get back into condition”, he says, “and even the best sailors do one bad race at some point”. Jon Emmett from the Wier Wood Sailing club has been off the water for three months to recover from a hamstring injury. “The event was good value for money, it was well sponsored and even the Swiss national TV broadcaster came at one point and provided me a great international sailing experience.”
The PRO, Juerg Kaufmann, who is also a passionate high profile sailing photographer, laid a trapezoid course with inner and outer loops with upwind finish for an hour target time racing as previewed by the ILCA (International Laser Class Association) standard sailing instructions in an area near the city of Lugano where it is up to around 300 metres deep. The standard SIs allow for only two races per day when the event is four days long as it was the case. The starts were done mostly on I-flag. The international jury did not had many protest to deal with, but on the water policing was done for article 42 and they also blew the whistle to encourage sailors to take a penalty afloat when they saw what they believed to be a breach of a rule.
Weather-wise on the first two days there was the nice reliable 8-10 knots thermal breeze which builds up in the afternoon and which allowed for two races on each day. On the third day the wind was not strong enough due to an incoming bad weather front, so sailors kept waiting until the PRO called off for the day. On the fourth and last day, sailors had an unusual early start with two races taking place in the morning and 15 knots wind and this after the official dinner the day before, but this meant also that packing could start early and everybody was able to head off quickly to the Gotthard tunnel or to the next leg of the Grand Prix. Sailors were mostly organised in groups travelling in campervans or little vans and a trailer carrying four dinghies and a RIB.
Jon Emmett’s recommends: “Come well on time to relax after the long travel and do not forget a Swiss plug adaptor if you bring your laptop.”