6 Metre European Championships at Nynäshamn Yacht Club
by Philip Crebbin 5 Aug 2012 07:47 BST
23-27 July 2012
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Following on from the Swedish Olympic Centennial Regatta in Stockholm in June (see report of 11 June 2012), the 2012 European Championships of the 6 Metre class were held in Nynäshamn, Sweden, at the end of July. Nearly 35 boats participated, with separate starts for the Moderns and the Classics, the latter having the larger fleet.
Both fleets were strongly contested in excellent sailing conditions, except for the first day which was cancelled because of strong winds that also created large waves out on the course area. From then on the wind slowly eased down, and on the final day there was even a postponement until a building sea breeze developed.
7 races were sailed in total and in the Moderns the British boat Valhalla, owned and sailed by Paul Smith with his brother Robert driving, were consistently at or near the front to win overall in impressive fashion. Valhalla is a Peter Norlin design from the 1980s and is most interesting as the trim tab of the wing keel has been deactivated and faired into the keel. Paul Smith said it was like this when he got the boat, and initially they struggled to be fully competitive until recently fitting a full depth rudder. This has greatly improved the performance, both in terms of speed and also handling, as now demonstrated by this European Championship win.
The other podium places saw a tie between Sweden's Maybe XIV (Patric Fredell) and Sophie II (Hugo Stenbeck), with Maybe XIV getting second place on tie-break.
The strong Classic fleet was dominated from the start by the Canadian boat Gallant, which was driven by Canadian Olympic medallist Ross MacDonald. They won the first 3 races, looking very fast in the stronger wind, and had no difficulty defending their advantage in the subsequent races, even though they did not win any more.
The battle for 2nd was very hard fought with initially the Danish boat Great Dane (Erik Larsen) holding it. Then this was taken over by the Swiss boat Mecara (Reinhard Suhner - winner of the 2010 European Championship in Brunnen, Switzerland) after winning both races on the penultimate day. On the final day the steady consistency of the USA boat Llanoria (Eric Jespersen) brought them up to second overall, with Great Dane third and Mecara fourth. So at the end it was the well-sailed boats from across the pond that came out on top.
The British boat Nada won the final race showing excellent speed, but had had a few gear problems during the series and finished 8th overall. Owner Peter Harrison visited at the end of the Championship and had the satisfaction of seeing his boat win the last race. Nada was driven by Torvar Mirsky and also featured British designer Ian Howlett in the crew. Howlett had designed the new keel put on Nada in 2011.
Overall Results:
Moderns
1. Valhalla (Paul Smith, GBR) 9 pts
2. Maybe XIV (Patric Fredell, SWE) 16 pts
3. Sophie II (Hugo Stenbeck, SWE) 16 pts
4. Berta (Lars Engelbert, SWE) 21 pts
5. Temptation 3 (Beat Furrer, SUI) 30 pts
6. Gubbröra (Cläs Ahlin, SWE) 32 pts
Classics
1. Gallant (Ross MacDonald, CAN) 13 pts
2. Llanoria (Eric Jespersen, USA) 18 pts
3. Great Dane (Erik Larsen, DEN) 25 pts
4. Mecara (Reinhard Suhner, SUI) 27 pts
5. Lucie (William Brooks, USA) 33 pts
6. Fridolin (Henrik Lundberg, FIN) 35 pts