Fletcher eyes 49er Europeans hat trick in Helsinki

Dylan Fletcher admits he has multiple aims for this week's 49er European Championships in Helsinki, Finland (8-13 July) where he and Alain Sign will be gunning for their third European crown.

Fletcher and Sign claimed their first European title at the same Finnish venue three years ago, and repeated the feat last year in Aarhus, Denmark, finishing as the top European crew.

But having missed out on the overall Open event victory on both occasions to Antipodean rivals, Fletcher is keen to secure an outright win this time round, in addition to claiming the top European moniker for a third time.

"We've got really good memories from Helsinki," the 26-year-old reflected.

"We had a good time last time and it was quite a close battle for the gold with the Australians Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen. I think we went into the medal race on equal points with them, but were over the line which was a bit of an error, but it was a good week for us."

The Market Harborough sailor, who's won World Cup series bronze in Palma and EUROSAF event gold in Holland this year with 28-year-old Sign, sees the European Championship as a stepping stone toward the bigger prize of World Championship gold in September, but also as an opportunity to set down a marker in the tough skiff fleet.

"The Worlds is our peak event for the year and we're building towards that, but certainly we've got all the kit here, more or less, that we're going to be using for the Worlds as we like to test our kit out before we use in at the biggest event of the year," Fletcher explained.

"All the good guys are here, they're all doing similar things and testing their best kit, and so although the Europeans is not as important as the Worlds for us this year, the competition will right up there so obviously it will be good to try and get another medal and ideally come home with the win and take down the Kiwis Burling and Tuke who keep winning!

"It's going to be tough but ideally we'd like to go one better than before and win the overall event as well as the European title. For sure, our build-up has gone quite well and we're feeling good."

Fletcher counts his British Sailing teammates Dave Evans-Ed Powys and John Pink-Stuart Bithell among the ones to watch for the European title, with New Zealand's World Champions Peter Burling-Blair Tuke and Australia's Olympic Champions Outteridge-Iain Jensen expected to challenge once again for the Open crown in the 83-boat fleet.

Also in action for the British Sailing Team will be Stevie Morrison-Chris Grube, Nic Asher-Fynn Sterritt, James Peters-Sam Batten and Jack Hawkins-Chris Thomas.

The women's 49erFX European Championships will be held concurrently, with Frances Peters-Nicola Groves heading into the event as bronze medallists from 2013 at what was the inaugural European Championship for the new women's skiff class for Rio.

The world-ranked number three pairing started the year well with a bronze at the Miami World Cup but struggled at the next two stages in Palma and Hyeres with injury playing a part. They'll be keen to show their mettle in the 50-boat fleet, as will Palma World Cup bronze medallists Charlotte Dobson-Sophie Ainsworth, and Kate Macgregor-Katrina Best, who've shown steady progress this season after teaming up following a year-long injury lay-off for Best.

Vikki Payne and Steph Orton complete the British Sailing Team's line-up in the 49erFX fleet, with the Podium Potential pairing competing in just their fourth event together in the class.

Racing at the 49er and 49erFX European Championships gets underway on Tuesday 8 July, with the final medal races scheduled for Sunday 13 July.

For full results, news and reaction from the British Sailing Team visit us at britishsailingteam.com, on Twitter @BritishSailing or via our Facebook page.