4/2006


LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT


Dear Friends,

The 2006 Europe sailing season will soon be over. Worlds with a lot of sailors and Europeans with few. Some of our sailors have left the Class, but a lot of new sailors did arrive. We are growing into a great youth class.

In November there was the ISAF Meeting in Helsinki. To save money only Jorma and I went there. The two of us represented IECU at all important meetings. We brought the music video from the 2006 Worlds and it was shown on the screens all over. But sorry, there was not much talk about the Europe Class becoming Olympic again.

We went to a training seminar 2 days in the morning, before the meetings. It was very interesting to hear about how training is organized in England and France. I think that training could be of profit for all to support the sail sport promotion.

The Vintage Games will probably start in 2008. The IECU Council has decided to listen to the members at the AGM before the Europe Class goes ahead with VG.

One thing is sure it will be Christmas very soon. So I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and hope there will be nice winds for the Class in 2007.

Best regards.
Jan Abrahamsen
IECU President

 


TECHNICAL
Let's open a discussion about the rules changings (or ideas) you would like to propose for 2007. If you have any, could you please send them to Frans van Pelt (frans.vanpelt@skynet.be) or Niki Nocke (niki.nocke@web.de).
  

TAKE NOTE

2007 VETERAN CUP
25-28 August
CLUB FLUVIA LA GOLA
(Bahía de Rosas - Girona - Spain)
www.fluvia-gola.com
very soon the NR (english version) will be on the web.

2007 ALOIS ROLAND TROPHY
Platte-taille Cerfontaine (near Charleroi)
7-8 July
www.aloisrolandtrophy.org/fra/topic/index.html

 

 


FROM THE CZECH REPUBLIC
I send you our 2007 calendar of the most important regattas in our country. Calendar was approved on 25.11.06. These regattas are classified in the competition as CUP of the Czech Europe Class Association. In each regatta not less than 35 boats will be sailing. There is a very kind and friendly atmosphere. Everybody is warm welcomed.
Great Regards.
Alex Pacek
Czech Europe Class President

For all the information about our regattas please take contact with:
cze13502@centrum.cz
Date                  Venue                                                   Lake
4-6/5/07            Pálavská Regatta Home Credit                 Nové Mlýny
12-13/5/07        Jarni premiéra I.                                     Rozkos
9-10/6/07          Cena Sumavy                                         Lipno
30-31/6/07        Silhánkuv Memoriál                                 Velké Dárko
31/8-2/9/07       Cere Regatta                                          Lipno
15/9/07             Cena YC Tusimice                                   Nechranice
CZECH EUROPE CLASS CHAMPIONSHIP
28-30/9/07        C.E.C.C.                                                 Nové Mlýny

 

 


FROM THE USA

Six Europes from across the Northwest converged at the BBOD regatta for a great "start of the school year" regatta. Bellingham Bay proved to be a fun place to sail, delivering conditions at both ends of the wind/wave/weather spectrum over the two day event.

Saturday was overcast and threatened rain which never materialized, but the front responsible for the dramatic skies did deliver some strong shifty breeze, and kicked up some fairly large chop to make for challenging racing conditions. The RC decided to test the mettle of the fleets by sending us off on a 3 times around (!) course first thing in the morning, which was a little tough on some of the newcomers. This resulted in four races being sailed Saturday instead of the planned upon five.

Sunday the sun was shining and the bay had flattened out and an additional four races were held in a moderate to light breeze. The sailors had a stunning view of Mount Baker, one of Washington state's largest mountains. The contrast in conditions couldn't have been stronger, and yet fleet leaders Angus Brackett and Susannah Carr had no trouble transitioning and maintained consistently good boat speed. Unfortunately for Angus, a mis-timed clothing upgrade in the second race of the regatta caused him to have a DNC in his scoreline, and the racing instructions did not allow for a throwout. As a result, Susannah came out ahead on the final scoreboard with a very consistent run of 14 points over the 8 races.

FINAL RESULTS.
1. Susannah Carr
2. Angus Brackett
3. Tanya Haddad
4. Lisa Marsaudon
5. Sarah Kenote
6. Annika Mizuta
Have a look to www.byc.org/photos/BBOD06  , you'll see boats and beautiful landscapes.
Susannah Carr
USA Europe Class President

 


FROM ITALY

2007 qualification regattas and National Championship:
3-4        March        National Regatta - Open - qualification        ANDORA
17-18    March        National Regatta - Open - qualification        NUMANA
31.3/ 2   April         National Regatta - Open - qualification       TORBOLE
14-15     April         National Regatta - Open - Qualification       MUGGIA
29.4/1   May           National Regatta - Open - Qualification       QUERCIANELLA
19-20    May           National Regatta - Open - Qualification       BOLSENA    
27-31    August       National Championship - Open                   SENIGALLIA
Claudio Morana
Asseuropa President

FROM ARGENTINA

This is our 2007 calendar.  Please take contact with me for any further information.
Last year we had the pleasure to welcome Teemu Rantanen in Mar de Plata and we hope to see him again this year and other Europe sailors who will enjoy good waves and winds.
All the best.
Alfredo Bafico Trench
alfre143@hotmail.com                                                

                                                CLUB                           EVENT
7-8-9-10       February            YCA                            Semana de Mar del Plata
                                                               1st 2007 Worlds qualification
23-24-25      February            YCO                             Pre Olimpico
3-4-10-11     March                 CVB                            Vela Dorada
14-15-21-22 April                    YCA                            Torneo de Otoño
                                                                                    2nd 2007 Worlds qualification
21-22-28-29 April                    CUBA                         Armada Argentina
26-27          May                     CNSI                             Campeonato San Isidro Labrador
2-3             June                     CNSI                             Campeonato San Isidro Labrador
23-24-30    June                      YCA                            Corbeta Patagón
1                July                       YCA                             Corbeta Patagón
11-12         August                   CUBA                         Semana de Nuñez
8-9-15-16
22-23-29    September              YCO                          Grand Prix Cerrato
13-14-15
20-21         October                  YCA                          Semana de Buenos Aires
                                                                                   2007 Argentina Championship

 


FROM THE NETHERLANDS

Preparing ourselves for the Worlds means a lot of training will be done in the next months.

Even in the winter we will be training on a small lake near Antwerp (Belgium). And then the new season will start. First we will do some more training and with Eastern we have our 3rd qualification regatta for the Worlds. As a tradition our Sprincup will be held in Medemblik starting on Saturday and ending on Monday. After that we will have a United 4 regatta at the location of the Worlds, Workum on the 21-22 of April. Two weeks later we will be back in Medemblik for another United 4. Our Open Dutch Championship will be in Workum too, the dates have to be confirmed, but most likely it should take place in a weekend in May.

If you want to visit one of our regattas to prepare yourself on the water of the Worlds, you are very welcome and please contact us if you need any information.
Best regards.
Martijn van den Driest
Chairman Dutch Europe Class

 


FROM THE EDITOR
"Ciutat de Palma Trophy - 6/10 December 06
The Europe had its space in the Magna Room (Real Club Nautico de Palma) and we had the pleasure to attend the visit of Optimist sailors"
copyright Nico Martinez

Content and what you as readers would like to see included in the E-News is welcomed. Would be welcomed as well all data changes of your National Europe Class.
Thank you,
Mick Mainemare
mick@yatess.com

 


PDF-Dokument INTERNATIONAL EUROPE CLASS UNION 2006-2007 WORLD RANKING LIST ISSUE 29.11.2006

Total number of sailors in the ranking list 29.11.2006: 775
Top ten:

1 FIN 6 Lehtonen,Jasmine
2 FIN 77 Jouni Kokko
3 FIN 5 Olander Krista
4 FIN 809 Joonas Lindahl
5 DEN 1717 Michael Hansen
6 FIN 769 Benjamin Grönholm
7 DEN 14 Josefine Boel Rasmussen
8 CZE 91 Teplý Viktor
9 ESP 586 CODINACHS, ADRIÀ
10 DEN 1713 BENDIX, MADS

Please continue sending your results to: info@europeclass.org

Please continue sending your results to: info@europeclass.org

If you find errors or sailors twice on the list, please report immediately to: info@europeclass.org

Complete details about the 2006-2007 SCORING SYSTEM at www.europeclass.org  
(click Ranking in left menu)


3/2006


LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT
Dear Sailors and Friends,

After a lot of perfect events we now have the new champions. Many congratulations to you all. You are great! But to me it looks like we have a little problem. I think there are too many international major events. In some countries I also think there are much too many local regattas. It might create the problem that there will not be many sailors to our championships.

The Class is changing these years. The sailors are getting younger. Many of them cannot drive a car. That means the sailors need drivers (parents). The parents might not want to use all their holidays travelling in Europe. The former top sailors in our class were receiving subventions from their federations and sponsors when we were Olympic class. The economical side was covered or nearly. Now the bigger part of the sailors have to support all the expenses, the parents perhaps may help. But how much do they want or can help? It might easily costs 10.000 Euros a year in travelling expenses if you want to sail big events. I see a problem there. I think it is too much with Youth Europeans, Europeans and Worlds the same year. I will be very happy if local or small regional regattas will respect the major events’ dates, so it will be possible for the sailors to sail what they want, and not have to choose, and in that way split the fleet. I think it is important for the class to have few events every year where there will be lots of sailors. I would be very happy to hear the sailors’ ideas.

Best regards.
Jan Abrahamsen
President IECU


WORKING COMMITTEE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CLASS
Dear All,

At the AGM in Skovshoved, Europe Class Denmark (ECD) proposed (see below) to start a Working Committee to look into the development of the Class. The AGM  decided to follow the proposal.
The Working Group will start this autumn and will be facilitated by me Povl Friis, President of the Europe Class in Denmark.
The group will communicate its work via internet either by www.europeclass.dk or www.europeclass.org
To start the work we need the name, telephone number and e-mail addresses of all the persons from the National Class Organisations or other persons interested in this very important and exciting work, please all send this information to povl.friis@mail.dk . We would also like to have all your ideas and thoughts on the Class as well.
ECD also proposed to work with rule 42. The AGM decided that all the National Classes within the coming year and in due time before the next AGM – should try to use the Danish proposal in one or more regattas (the proposal includes changes on rule 42 and avoiding using the pump elastic).
It is very important that you all try this and send your experiences and observations to povl.friis@mail.dk
Looking forward to hear from you.
Povl Friis

The Danish proposal on Working Groups

During the last year we have in Denmark in the Class organisation, among sailors – trainers, sailmakers, etc. had a lot of very constructive discussions about the future development of our wonderful boat the Europe.
It is evident for us that we have a lot of possibilities on the Class rules, technical development of the boat and the “gear”, the format of int. competitions, the Constitution of IECU, etc.
Further on we find it very important that the Class gets a better foothold throughout the world.
We do however not think that the AGM is the right forum to take these discussions in ! We find that the time used for discussions and the format itself are insufficient.
It is therefore our proposal that the AGM decides that the Board of the Int. Europe Class should form – control – and support one or more Working Groups to come up with future initiatives for the Class. The Working Groups members should be broad and consist of  sailors, trainers, boatbuilders, sailmakers, rule experts, the board, etc. The mandate for Groups should be clarified at the AGM.
Following above mentioned work, the coming year will result in a transition period where everybody should be prepared for and ready to major changes. In this coming year we should be very careful not to take any decision at the AGM which can block  the future development  of the Class.

Reg. Rule 42 experiment

Many discussions take place regarding the handling of rule 42.
Judging this rule differs from event to event because it is extremely difficult to judge the rule objectively.
As a result of this the Danish Europe Class Association would like to propose the following changes to rule 42 implemented in Class rule 4.2 as an experiment to be evaluated at the AGM 2007.
Any of the following exceptions/changes of rule 42 is only in effect when seated in a normal position.
When not seated in a normal position rule 42 is in force without any changes by these Class rules.
Rule 42 is changed as follows:

42.2 Prohibited Actions

Without limiting the application of rule 42.1, these actions are prohibited:
No changes:
(a)     pumping: repeated fanning of any sail either by pulling in and releasing the sail.
Delete:
(b)     rocking: repeated rolling of the boat, induced by
         (1)     body movement,
         (2)     repeated adjustment of the sails or centreboard, or
         (3)     steering;
Delete:
(c)                ooching; sudden forward body movement, stopped abruptly;
No changes:
d)                sculling: repeated movements of the helm that is either forceful or that propels the boat forward or prevents her from moving astern;
No changes:
(e)               repeated tacks or gybes unrelated to changes in the wind or to tactical considerations.

42.3 Exceptions

Delete:
(a)                A boat may be rolled to facilitate steering.
Delete:
(b)                A boat’s crew may move their bodies to exaggerate the rolling that  facilitates steering the boat through a tack or a gybe, provided that, just after the tack or gybe is completed, the boat’s speed is not greater than it would have been in the absence of the tack or gybe.
Modify:
(c)                Except on a beat to windward, the boat’s crew may pump the sheet. When the sail is pumped it shall be done through the bottom block with at least three parts of the mainsheet system.
Modified:
(d)                When a boat is above a close-hauled course and either stationary or moving slowly, she may scull to turn to a 90 degrees angle to the wind course.
No changes:
(e)                A boat may reduce speed by repeatedly moving her helm.
No changes:
(f)                 Any means of propulsion may be used to help a person or another vessel in danger.
No changes:
(g)                To get clear after grounding or colliding with another boat or object, a boat may use force applied by the crew of either boat and any equipment other than a propulsion engine.

Further changes to the Class rules:
3.2.5 Fitting and equipment 
(iii)                Fittings and equipment not defined as fixed in Rule 3.2.5(i) are optional except that any electronic or electrically powered fitting or equipment other than timing devices are prohibited. They shall be removed for weighing and weight distribution tests.
Any device intended to move the boom to leeward or/and forward is prohibited. This includes elastics or lines of any kind.


OUR 2006 CHAMPIONS

Have had the kindness to answer the following questions and share their impressions with us:

1.       When did you start sailing ? Which class(es) did you sail ?
2.       How old are you, which are your weight and height?
3.       Are you studying ?
4.       Why do you sail the Europe ?
5.       Did you win previously national or international events ?
6.       What would you say about the sea and wind conditions in this championship ?
7.       Did you enjoy the program ashore ?
8.       Did you find time to tour and get to know some of the places around ?
9.       Has it been difficult to reach the top of the event and keep the lead ?
10.      How do you feel after this success?

And here are their answers:


SANDRA SANDQVIST – 2006 World Champion – Skovshoved – Denmark

1. I started sailing when I was  8 when my father put me into an optimist in the local club of Lulea, very far up north in Sweden (where the ice lies until May). As I got better I started competing in optimist and I loved it. When I was 13 I won my first championship, it was the Scandinavian Championship in Denmark as well, and at the age of 14 and 15 I competed in the IODA World Championship where I finished 14 overall and second girl, my last year. And from the age of 15 until now I’ve been sailing Europe.

2. I just turned 20 years old, and my height is 164 cm and weight 55 kg (which ironically is the weight of my last year in the opti)

3. I am studying my second year at Stockholm School of Economics and before that I went to a sailing High School in Motala, Sweden.

4 As I wrote I started sailing the Europe  at age 15 in 2002 when the Europe was still an Olympic Class, and I wanted to be good immediately, so I put a lot of work into sailing I wanted to compete with the best. In Spring 2004 in Hyères I qualified Sweden as a nation to the Olympics in Athens. Unfortunately this was not enough to fulfil the highly set standards of the Swedish Olympic Committee, who then decided not to send any Europe-Class sailors to the Games. I took it quite hard and decided to focus on my studies instead. The decision became even easier when the Europe Class lost its Olympic status since my physical dimensions didn’t fit the Laser Radial profile.
Though I felt that wasn’t completely finished with the Europe, since I love the boat and I had some more to give, when I heard the Worlds were going to be held in Denmark I knew what I wanted to do. With a bronze from the Europeans in Finland in 2005 I felt that I had all the possibilities to be on the podium. And I was lucky enough to have it all come together in those two weeks in Denmark.

5) My prior qualifications are, 
    3rd European Championship 05 Finland 
    3rd Youth European 04 Portugal
    2nd girl at Optimist Worlds 01 China
    Scandinavian Champion in Optimist 99
    In Europe Class 03 both times in Denmark and 6 times Swedish Champion.
 


6. The conditions in Skovshoved are very similar to what we are used to in Sweden during summer, we had our qualification for the championship just across the belt in Malmö, which was a good practice with the current. I could definitely not complain about the sun and the warm weather that was dominating throughout the Championship and it suited me well to have different kinds of winds since I’m kind of an all-round sailor.

7/8 The location of the event was such a beautiful village, I went rollerblading around the neighbourhood and was amazed by  all the beautiful houses and the cute stores. I had even time to go to Copenhagen and I liked it very much,  people were very friendly and it became very clear for me why Denmark is so famous for its architecture and design.
I lived in a camper in the harbour during the Championship and I spent a lot of time in the event center, what I will remember the most, I have to say, is the WC final with Italy and France, the event center was boiling with the Italian and French sailors cheering for their countries. I also enjoyed the Opening Ceremony and the good food that was served in every event.

9. This regatta for me was the regatta every sailor wishes to have during their career. After the Open Week I felt confident with my speed and to start the regatta off with two first places the first day I just had it all coming for me. The obstacles came though in the middle of the regatta when the wind dropped but I managed to keep cool and as the wind came in the end I was able to use all my experiences and win the regatta.

After the Worlds, I have been taking a long vacation to recharge for my second year in college. I leave this experience knowing that if I want something really hard and if I give it my best I’m able to succeed in everything.


SVEN STADEL – 2006 WORLD CHAMPION – Skovshoved – Denmark

1. I started to sail in 1994 in the Optimist Class and I was 6 years old at that time.

2. I am 18 years old and 179 cm tall and my weight is 72 kg.

3. I am studying in the High School in Spain.

4. I sail the Europe Class because I think it is a really good boat and because in the club I’m sailing there are many of these, so it is funny and everybody learns many things every day we go out sailing.

5. Yes but not many, I won two times the Spanish Youth Championship and one of the German rankings, but never one of these big competitions !


6. I really liked the sea and wind conditions in this competition because we had almost every weather and every wind! We had some races which were very difficult to sail and we had also a lot of stream. That made the competition very difficult.

7. Yes, I enjoyed the program ashore because I think the Opening Ceremony was quite good and we had also a little party before the “day off”. The problem was that finally we didn’t get that day off.

8. I founded the time to tour because I went some days before the Championship to see a bit how Copenhagen looks like.

9. It was very difficult to reach the top because there were many really good sailors who were very fast all time. I actually wasn’t leading until the last final result. The last day was very exciting and stressing because we were all very close.

10. I feel really satisfied because I have been training very much all this year to be at the good in this championship! Now I reached the top and I will train as hard as last year because I really would like to be good next year too.


SARAH GUNNI – 2006 EUROPEAN CHAMPION – Marsala – Italy
2006 IECU Best Sailor of the Year

1. I started sailing in the winter 1999 in the Optimist, and then I started in the Europe dinghy in Summer 2003. At the same time as I started sailing the Europe dinghy, I also started in the Yngling, but I’m only sailing in that boat for fun.

2. I am 16 years old (17 in May). I’m 178 cm high and have about 60-62 kg.

3. I’m studying in the gymnasium, the sixth form, and I just started on this education.
4. When I was an Optimist sailor, I was always looking at the Europe dinghies and I thought that it was (and still is) a very cool dinghy. Then I tried it one afternoon in my club and I felt in love with the dinghy in the same moment.

5. I have never won a whole competition – only on the girls site. This season I won the girls in the Christmas Race in Toulon, in a Danish ranking and some local competitions.

6. It was a more difficult place to sail than I thought. I thought that there would be a lot of wind and big waves. We got the big waves, but the wind was changing and there was a lot of current, which I hadn’t expected on an island.

7. Yes, I liked the program ashore, I especially like the time for the start, because it wasn’t as early as in Denmark, and not as late as it  normally is in the South.

8. Before the Open Week, I was at Etna, which is very beautiful – but extremely cold. Otherwise I was only around in the city Marsala.

9. Yes and no. If I was bad starting a race, then it was easy for me to take many dinghies, and be good at the end of the race. I’m not that used to lead a race (or a whole competition), so for me it was hard to be number one in a race and keep it, and at the top of the fleet there were some good sailors.

10. I feel very happy. Most of all because I won, but I’m also very happy, because now I know that my hard training is working, and that make me want to train even more.


JAKOB EGE FRIIS – 2006 EUROPEAN CHAMPION – Marsala – Italy
2006 IECU Best Sailor of the Year

1. I started sailing when I was 9 years old in the Optimist Class. I have only sailed competitions in the Optimist and in the Europe, but this year I started to sail competitions in the 470 as well.

2. I am 19 years old, weight:  69 kg – height: 176 cm.

3. Yes, right now I am studying my fourth and last year of high school, after that I want to go on studying.

4. I sail the Europe because I think it is a great boat with a lot of possibilities and development. I think that it is cool that boys and girls can compete against each other, that you do not see very often! I also like that both light and heavy sailors can compete on fair conditions against each other. Another thing, that I like about the Europe is the great fleets that you meet at most championships.

5. This is my first championship title, but I have won some big events, for example the 2005 Kieler Week and some Danish rankings ending up with the 2005 Danish Ranking List.

6. I had expected more wind at the championship, but we had all kinds of weather medium/light wind and mostly sunny. The wind was a sea breeze that mostly came around 12, but we also had some days with gradient wind which was funny/difficult because the big waves came from the same direction as the sea breeze and the gradient wind did almost come from the opposite direction. I would say that we had fair sailing conditions along the championship because there was something for anyone’s taste.

7. The Organising Committee realised a very extensive and exciting social program ashore: unfortunately I do not think that we (the sailors) had enough time to see it all.

8. My family and I went to Sicily one week before the championships so we had time to go around and see a lot of beautiful/exciting places. During the championships we had a few relaxing days when we also had some time to tour and get to know some of the places around Marsala.

9. During the whole event Sven Stadel and I had some fantastic fights for the leading position and it was very close run until the last races!

10. I felt very good but also released after the success. It was a fantastic feeling finally standing on the top award stool after many years trying!


MAIKEN SCHÜTT – 2006 YOUTH CHAMPION – L’Estartit – Spain

1. I started to sail Optimist dinghy when I was 10 years old, thereafter I went directly to the Europe dinghy as I was 14 years old. The last two years I have sailed Laser Radial beside the Europe dinghy.

2. I am 18 years old, 173 cm high and 65 kg.

3. I have just started my third year in secondary school.

4.  After the Optimist it was natural for me to start with the Europe dinghy, and at that time it was also an Olympic Class for women so the competition was very tough.
I think the Europe is very funny to sail, I especially like it on down wind with waves.

5. Last year I won NM (the Nordic Championships) for both juniors and seniors and I was second at the European Youth Championship, so this year it was my goal to win. I knew everything had to run perfectly for me to reach this goal, and it did. It is such a good feeling when you succeed in sport after a lot of practising, then it is all the work worth.

6. The first days we had light winds and the last days we had stronger winds, so there was weather for every sailor during the championship. I personally liked the strong winds mostly, which is also to see at my results. The days with wind there were quite big waves, which I really like.

7. All the ashore helpers were very nice and helpful so that was nice. There was much space for the boats at the beach where they were placed, and it was easy to get them in the water when you wanted to.

8. As it almost always is when sailors visit other countries, we only see the harbour, which was also the case here for me. Some afternoons we went out for shopping, but it was not much. We fortunately had races every day, so that was nice.

9. Actually I was not that good at the beginning of the championship, but I came back during the days, and before the last two races I was two points behind the first boat, but I had a really good last day at the water with two first places, so I won. That day was very exciting, and nobody was sure of winning or not before the last race was finished.

10. I am of course very happy for my title. I remember right after I had finished the last race I felt so happy. First of course because I won the Championship, but also because of the way it had happen; everything had been so close and you just had to give all the power you had, because the last races were sailed in around 18 knots. It was so cool to fight in the strong winds and the big waves and afterwards just look back and see that I had been able to fight the best.
Winning this Championship also motivates me for sailing in the future. It is always good to have some experiences in your mind that make you keep on believing in yourself.


MADS BENDIX –  2006 YOUTH EUROPEAN CHAMPION – L’Estartit – Spain

1. I first started sailing when I was 13. Then I sailed Optimist and the Zoom 8 dinghy for almost a year before I moved on to Europe-dingly.

2. I’m 18 years old and this will be my last season in the Europe Class. I have gained some weight and done a lot of physical training to be fit for a campaign in Laser. At the moment I am 185 cm and weigh 73 kg.

3. Yes, I am studying but there is still plenty of time for sailing. My curriculum has been spread over 4 years instead of the normal 3 years.

4. First of all I find the Europe very challenging. It is essential that you are willing to experiment with your equipment, in order to reach the top. I like that aspect of sailing, just like all the hours on the water testing these different combinations.
But basically its just fun! The very fast acceleration is amazing and gives you perfect conditions for tight racing on starting line, and the surfing ability on the downwind is fantastic.

5. I think my interest for sailing developed after I finished second at Nordic Youth Championship in 2004. After that I won the Danish Youth Nationals, Nordic Youth Championship and National d’Automne (FRA) plus one of the national ranking events in 2005. In 2006 I have mostly concentrated on the Laser but I still managed to win both national ranking events, the European Youth Championship and the Danish Nationals.

6. I think that the conditions in L’Estartit were almost perfect. Because of my height and weight, it is obvious that I prefer to race in heavy wind, but the conditions in L’Estartit were suitable for both light and heavy sailors. There were held 2 races per day – typically with one race in the light air and one race in the sea brise.

7. The Opening Ceremony was nice as well as the Prize Giving. I think the yacht club of L’Estartit did an amazing job organizing this event.

8. The light wind conditions in L’Estartit before noon allowed no sailing before 1 am, which meant there were plenty of time for sightseeing in the mooring. The Danish team also enjoyed the go-kart facilities (in a nearby city) in the evenings.

9. It is never easy to win an event like Youth Europeans. Everybody struggle in some conditions, and basically you just have to stay calm and be focused. The more events you win it become natural to be in the lead and keep it through out the week.

10. I feel great! The Youth Europeans has been a goal ever since I started in the Europe, so it’s fantastic to reach that goal in my last season in the Europe Class.


IECU ROOKIES OF THE YEAR 2005-2006
Men:
Nicolai Holm Jensen - DEN
Women:
Maury Aurelie - FRA


IECU NATIONS CUP 2006. A PERFECT START!

Denmark beat Sweden in the final of the first IECU Nations Cup and were awarded with the Trophy which they can enjoy at least until the next Worlds in Workum where a new struggle will take place. Denmark and her winning sailors Jacob Ege Friis, Soren Johnsen and Thomas Tang will have their inscription in the Cup for years to come. Finland and Italy shared 3rd place.
It has been a great success. Sailors and Supporting Teams had great fun looking at a very exciting racing format. Of course, after the event there were many suggestions for the next edition in 2007. A longer course, to include a downwind in the format, team racing instead of match racing, etc...
We are sure that next year there will also be a higher number of competing nations (7 in 2006). IECU will work with the Organising Committee of the 2007 Worlds in order to find the perfect place to run this event, close to the harbour/beach in order to draw the attention of the spectators and with a loudspeaker’s system so that we can explain to the audience what’s going on in the water.

Hope to see you all in Workum NED 2007!
Paul Depoorter


19TH VETERAN CUP – SKIVE– DENMARK
Good and regular participation to the 2006 Veteran Cup. 60 sailors were there representing 9 countries: AUT, BEL, DEN, ESP, FRA, GER, IRL, NED and POL.
Here are the ten first classified:
1. Soren Johnsen DEN
2. Séverine Blondet FRA
3. Anja Fiedler GER
4. Jerzy Sztyk POL
5. Jean Paul Terret FRA
6. Jean François Guilla FRA
7. Pieter van Laer FRA
8. Patrick Chevalier FRA
9. Susanne Emonds GER
10. Vincent Pham FRA


ALOIS ROLAND CUP

The first Aloïs Roland Cup was a successful event. 41 sailors from Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands at the first start with nice windy weather. Young and old(er) sailors, even Min Dezillie, the Belgian Olympic sailor was present together with the triple European Youth Champion Marie-Amandine Vandeghinste. Also the granddaughter of Aloïs Roland participated with the old Roland of her grandfather, who was the architect and also the first builder of the Europe.

A lot of sailors were present with their magnificent wooden Roland. Near the lake, almost in a Europe village, sailors, ex –Europe sailors and fans had a nice meeting and dinner in the evening.

The next day was very windy, but presented a nice fight on the water. Min Dizillie wanted to win this first Cup, but the active Bart Struyven was the best and took the option to win a new Europe.

We hope you will be present next year, the 15th and 16th of July 2007 for the second Aloïs Roland Cup, not only to race but also to enjoy the beautiful wooden Roland’s.
1st         Bart Struyven    BEL
2nd        Min Dezillie       BEL
3rd         Marie Amandine Vandeghinste   BEL

Frans Van Pelt
President ECB


FROM THE USA

The Europe fleet is continuing to sail in the Pacific Northwest of the United States.
We are trying to recruit new members by holding clinics and loaning sailors boats.
In September, we raced in Bellingham, WA. The wind was 18-20 knots on Saturday, and 5-7 knots on Sunday. Great surfing conditions on Saturday, a lot of patience on Sunday!
We are a small group here, but very enthusiastic and dedicated. The current fleet members are committed to trying to help the fleet grow. We would like to be able to have 10 boats at all events. Our next regatta will be sailed in Seattle during October.

Susannah Carr
President US Dinghy Class


FROM ITALY

With the World, Europe, Youth, Italian Championships, 6 national qualifying regattas and one zone championship, the 2006 main program of activities is completed. Various training meetings and formation in all the national territory fulfilled the peripheral activities.

It is necessary to make a balance of the situation to verify the 2005 program and be able to plan suitably for the future.
In spite of the appearance and apart from the psychological consequence of the last Olympic incident, it is opportune to measure the practical consequence of it. A sensible decrease in participation has been observed, above all of the young sailors, more easily influenced and willing to continue the experience with Olympic results.

Anyhow, we are hopeful for the future above all because we verified the positive result of the sport activity strategy just introduced.

We do not renounce to the hope of a new Olympic future: in the final analysis, in the past, the Olympic promotion capacity was not superior than the actual one, also then some international circumstances and situations were favourable. No doubt that now the competition is harder also because the Europe is very much imitated and that its characteristics are adapted to other single handed boats.
We mainly insist on the unique technical and didactic characteristics of the Europe dinghy through appropriate promotion to convince the clubs and especially the technicians. Our opinion is that every coach should be convinced that the Europe training and practice are not more difficult than other boats ones of the same category but is a lot more complete and has outstanding training qualities. For sure it is necessary to have teaching comprehension. We need to convince them that it is not difficult to teach young sailors just having clear ideas and an adequate formation;  thus it is opportune to organise formation courses.

Following this way, we turned to the didactic capacities of our best training technician who through various national meetings has exalted the Europe qualities towards the youngest coming from the Optimist Class. Besides an adequate promotion has been adopted for the yachting clubs which have renew their executive, selecting the young’s still active in a centre board boat, even of another class, therefore able to appreciate the Europe abilities, comparing with another boat: Clubs and Executives capable to understand the qualities of our boat become a valuable promotion of the Europe towards the youngest.  

Following this way, which already gave promising results, we are working preparing the 2007 calendar which won’t be much different from the 2006’s, regarding number and importance of the events, but will be opened to attend the new clubs which already are enthusiastically asking for the organisation of Europe Class events: important national as well as international ones.

Claudio Morana -  President ASSEUROPA

Quo Vadis the Europe in the heart of  Europe

In the year 2006 the class Europe celebrated 35. anniversary of  her „birth“ in the Czech Republic. Let’s think about the future of the class Europe in the Czech Republic. For any prediction and making an „oracle“ of the future it is necessary coming back to the past. So make quick snap and look how everything started and how class Europe sailed on the last 35 years in the Czech Republic.
First we analyse the statistics of amount of competitors starts in the class Europe in the diagram 1. Amount of starts clearly shows activity and popularity of the class. In the diagram during the period of the years 1991-1994 we can see the fast decreasing of the starts. This decreasing caused by political events in 1998 when communist regime was fallen down. Sports activity was overlapped by new main direction and goals – new freedom created a lot of opportunities for earning money and being rich. The Czech Republic was fully opened for world influence. Sports equipment and sport activity were more progressive and expensive. Even more we can see in diagram that Olympic status of the class Europe in 1989 didn’t change decreasing trend of the starts. Slight improvement was note during 2004-2005 when decreasing chart trend was stopped and we hope increasing trend will start.


Diagram 1
The next diagram 2 shows and compares amount of the starts of the other classes with the class Europe in the Czech Republic. Chart of the class Europe has similar characteristics with the other classes but in 2004-2005 when chart of the other classes was falling down the trend of the class Europe is slightly increased. That is great !


Diagram 2
Let’s come back from the rough numbers to the interesting history of the class Europe.
Predecessors of the class Europe were classes Moth, Mlok (czech version), Canda. The first Czechoslovakia championship in the class Moth was held in 1953. The first „nursery school“ of the 6 „baby“ Europe  appeared in 1967. The first Czechoslovakian championship in class Europe with 23 boats was held in 1967. First winner in history was Jinrich Crhak from yacht club ZJS Brno. The first amount  of the 409 starts of the class Europe was written to statistics in 1971. The first national Europe association in the former Czechoslovakia was established during the meeting at the yacht club nearby lake Velke Darko. Here was elected the first Europe president Dalibor Kulisek. The first 70 boats were registered at the end of  1972. These boats were wooden and there were built by amateur with love, maximum accuracy and care. During the next 6 years number of boats very quickly arose. This was evidence about popularity class Europe in our country.


The class Europe played important role in developing yachting in the former Czechoslovakia. According the annual report from 1985 more than 70% of the competitors were young people. Europe welcomed competitors from classes Optimist and Cadet. Europe prepared the best sailors for classes Finn, FD, FB. With great proud we can say that the best Czech sailors came from class Europe. The broad friendly society was the second very important aspect that the class Europe created. Even nowadays in our lakes we can see the old wooden boats with the old sailors. They still maintain their boats with care and around the fire near the lake they talk about the past and future of the class Europe. Not only that - they also train and prepare new sailors for class Europe.
Life is continual change. The „quiet“ Europe class life was disturbed by the class Laser. Some male sailors leave Europe. Worse is that Laser radial was chosen as Olympic class for women. The Europe lost her position in Olympic world and „top performance“ dingy yachting. It was like „the cold shower“. The first moment it looks like terrible disaster for class Europe in the Czech republic. Reality wasn’t so bad. Only three female sailors leave class Europe and more than 10 new sailors came from class Optimist. On the other hand we also noted that competitors from Laser like sailing class Europe. That is nice, isn’t it?
The next „black“ event for the class Europe was class Laser 4.7 which started  in the Czech republic in 2006. Laser 4.7 during this year took out about 6 sailors from class Optimist.
Too much negative events was happened during last two years. Czech Europe class national association had to find the answer for the very difficult question -
Quo Vadis the Europe in the heart of Europe ?
It was clear that the class Europe has to make quick and active response on changes. Real time is changing and dinghy classes now are like a nowadays business. There is competition among the classes – who gain more sailors – „customers“. Sailors, especially young people, have more opportunities today for choosing a lot of sort of  entertainments which fit them the best.
The CZ E National Association analysed this situation in 2005 and sensitively have changed policy and strategy of  the class Europe movement in the Czech republic.
There are main points of our policy:
  1. communicate & communicate with sailors. Analyse and realise their requirements.
  2. communicate and cooperate with class Optimist !
  3. drag sailors and friends for active cooperation for organising class Europe events
  4. improve management of the CZ E National Association
  5. communicate and cooperate with other dinghy classes
  6. communicate and cooperate with Czech sailing association and yacht clubs
  7. create and maintain international relations
  8. find new forms and methods of sport and social entertainments during the competitions

    During the period of 2005 – 2006 we prove our new policy by real actions:
    Þ    changing the members of the CZ E National Authority
    Þ    CZ E National Authority changed their constitution
    Þ    „Czech and Slovak CUP of the class Europe“ was founded
    Þ    CZ E National Association and CZE Optimist National Association cooperated their national cups in 2006 – races are on the same date and same place.
    Þ    New age category up to 15 years was declared in the Czech National Championship 2006 for supporting the youngest sailors
    Þ    Organising training camps together with class Europe and Optimist
    Þ    CZ E National Association organise 7 great events for sailors – training camps and competitions

    The most positive facts which prove chance for the Europe to get alive  can be seen in the simple indicators:
    1.      increasing amount of the starts of our competitors in 2005
    2.      about 10 new sailors came to Europe class from class Optimist in 2006

    The Europe in the heart of  Europe predict her „bright“ future . They have the most valuable things what no one can buy – long year tradition and perfect action team which really love their Europe forever !

Alexandr Pacek

President of the CZ E national association


Race “Palavska regatta” in the lake Nove Mlyny( Czech republic)