2/2006

LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT Dear Sailors and Friends, A new event is born: the Vintage Yachting Games. It is the intention of the Europe (women and men), Flying Dutchman, Soling, Dragon and 5.5  Meter Classes to organise a joint 4-yearly yacht racing event for the former Olympic Classes starting 2008. The 2008 event  will be granted to the Dutch Class organisation. The plan is 20 yachts per class (women and men) at the starting line. These yachts will represent per class as many countries as possible. There is planned 3 days measurement and ceremonies and 7 days of yacht racing. I believe it can be a great event, and hope that you all will support it. I am looking forward to meet a lot of new young sailors in the class attending this year’s major events. Best regards, Jan Abrahamsen President IECU

FROM CROATIA Here in Croatia, we have a big problem with the Europe Class. Our National Federation wants that Europe sailors change class to Laser 4.7, Laser radial and Laser. I am trying to keep as many sailors as possible in our Class and for this season we will have no more than 15 sailors. We shall participate in the Worlds in Denmark with two sailors and in the Europeans in Spain with 3 sailors. But if something does not change in our National Federation in the next 6-8 months, for next season we will have no more sailors in this class. I do not know what to do with this and think I am not the only one with this problem. Our best sailor won the great regatta in Torbole-Garda and we expect a good result from him and other sailors on major events this summer. Best regards. Theo Pizzul

FROM THE USA The USA Europe Class has updated its website. Check it out at: www.europedinghy.org You can purchase hats, t-shirts and visors, search the “forums” for information about sailing europes, and see the 2006 racing schedule. This year most regattas will be in the Pacific Northwest, where the majority of active Europe sailors live. Sailors are also working to start fleets on the east cost. The Pacific Northwest fleet will also be holding two clinics to introduce new sailors to the boats. Happy sailing! Susannah Carr

FROM ITALY As previewed in the sport program 2006, interzonal  trainings are gathered in the zones where are localised the national sailing clubs. The particular geographic conformation of Italy, developed in length over hundred of kilometres from a cape to the other of the peninsula,  including the islands, condition the transport. Therefore for carrying out the trainings re-uniting the zones is essential to reduce travel expenses and time spent by the athletes to go to the place of the sport activity. The program of selection  has started for the formation of the national team who will participate to the main events abroad. Five national regattas of selection have been sailed in Lecco (Como Lake), Napoli, Torbole (Garda Lake), Monfalcone, Livorno and the last one will be n Senigallia (Adriatic Sea). The place of Senigallia was chosen for the presence in the zone of numerous young sailors, who just have left the Optimist Class, and trained by a young woman coach, Europe sailor herself. The European Championships of Marsala, the National Championship in Lovere (Iseo Lake) and the participation to the Youth European Championships and Worlds will conclude the 2006 season. After one year, it has been verified that it was feared as consequence of the loss of Olympic status: The great disorientation between the young people of the Europe Class that have been led by their clubs and their coaches towards the Class Laser, above all for expenses and organisation reasons.  The Clubs need financing and currently they try to rationalise the sport activity, choosing the classes preferred by the sponsors for a question of publicity. They also program the sport activity with the aim at limiting the expenses for the coaches and the trips of the eventual teams of various classes, comprising their own associates,  with the intention of reducing the number of classes. The Italian sailing activity is managed by the Italian Sailing Federation (FIV) to which converge hundreds of  sailing clubs, more or less important, more or less able to assign adequate amounts in order to carry out a formation and a sport activity which should be the scope of every sailing organisation, even if free and independent, following the FIV model. In the 60’s, when the Europe has begun to having an important spreading in Italy, the boat was chosen, as in others European nations, as a boat school for the formation of young champions, also because it has been always considered as one conceptually and structurally advanced boat comparing to similar boats. Now, the choice of the Clubs is mainly conditioned  by organisational appraisals and expenses. The Clubs are subject to the sponsors’ requirements which expect  as a return of the expenses a product useful to the sponsored field, more than the real sailing interest: the Clubs do not have possibility of easy independent choices. In the past years, expenses for the activity of the young sailors were supported by their families who were the single backers of the activity of their sons. Small contributions of the FIV were not determining. Thus it turns out more difficult to get a reasonable agreement for the organisation of the Clubs inclined to reduce the number of the classes in order to contain travels and coaches expenses. The  sailing activity must have other motivations. At the Olympic Games only one helmsman per nation is participating and not a team as in other events and programming  all the activities of formation of the young people in function of the exigencies of the participation to the O.G. turns out selective and reductive. The Yachting Clubs should attend the great number of young sailors who wish to be initiated at sailing activity. Beyond the practical concept of financing of the classes activities , the sailing skills development boat for excellence remains the Europe. Thus when the Europe Class is only considered as a publicity product and the activity of formation of the young people is neglected, it is necessary to substitute to the clubs and organise activities and trainings together with the Optimist Class to replace the specific activity of the clubs, in order to guide the youngest for the successive choice:  introducing the boat, insisting on the specific qualities of  formation for the young people. Champions statistics of other major classes mention athletes’ names that in majority come from the Europe Class. When it is possible, it is necessary to participate to the national and international regattas as being there it is a valid practical publicity of the boat. The physical presence of the boat in contests is a useful publicity. The boat must be seen for being known. It is indispensable to insist in order to organise ISAF Junior regattas. Such regattas require also boats that the organisation puts at the disposition of the participants. The interest of the builders for the boat should be maintained and divulgation of the boat  spread amongst private field and clubs. The above exposed, is part and synthesis of some considerations that inspire the action of the Italian Europe Class. Because  we consider that such options can be able to convince not only to follow the budgets of the clubs but choose the adequate ways to achieve the fundamental scope of the sailing sport organisations that we have to keep being at the service of the formation of the young people in order to follow them also in their development. Claudio Morana ASSEUROPA President

FROM AUSTRIA On 26-27 May we had our Austrian Championship at Lake Traunsee during the Omega Sailing Week. It has been only the second regatta of this season as the Slovenian Spring Cup did not invite the Europe Class to their event at Easter! (I am still offended!). For the Championship we had a rather nice fleet of 21 Europes supported from Czechian and German sailors. Thanks at this point! The event was well organised and about 700 sailors attended the regatta! What could not be managed was the bad weather which lead to no wind, lot of rain and few starting possibilities. Only 2 races could be sailed which were too less for our Championship, but once more gave Marek Smesny (CZE11) the chance to demonstrate, that he is one of the best Europe sailors I may know. As there has been no scoring for the Championship there is a new chance for all other Europe sailors to attend: 30th August until 2nd September 2006 at Lake Wolfgangsee during the Austrian Youth Championship! www.uyc-wolfgangsee.at/regatten/2006oejm/index.html The next few months there are also going to be a lot of regattas and training at Austrian lakes. Unfortunately the younger sailors are not so perfect to sail abroad and more unfortunately we elder sailors have no time because of working... Well, in Austria we don’t have spring time. It’s only about 8 degrees (at Bon Jovi – Open Air yesterday 4 degrees and rain- brrrr) but let’s have a look what the Weekend Spring Cup at Lake Neusiedl will bring to us!! Lots of greetings from Austria to all friends abroad. Alice Fritsch

FROM THE NETHERLANDS After a transition year, in which we lost some girls to the laser radial, we started this year full of plans and with some new faces. Last year during the AGM you chose for Belgium and the Netherlands to organise the Worlds in 2007 in Workum (NED). This was a real boost for our moral and all members are looking forward to it. So plans were made, a training program was put together and then the weather made a mess of it. With winds up to 35-40 knots and water temperature around 2 degrees Celsius it was just impossible to sail.

With only two days of training we started our racing season with a regatta organised by the Belgians on Dutch waters (!). The first day was a good day for socialising as the wind was way to strong. The second day was a lot better (or worse from the social point of view) with 3 good races which resulted in an overall victory for Joost van Lingen, a second for Marie Amandine v/d Ghinste and a third for Peerke Kortekaas who transferred this year from the laser to the Europe. After all this cold and windiness our qualifying series started with the Spring Cup in Medemblik at Easter. A big improvement. There were less competitors than we had hoped for, but the good news was that there were actually some new faces among them. We sailed 10 races in three days with a moderate wind and even some sun. Final results were 1st Joost van Lingen, 2nd Yannick Laumans and 3rd Willem Jan v/d Bunt. Two well organised United 4 regattas in Hoorn and Muiderzand, with as winners Stine Paper and Joost van Lingen respectively, completed our spring sailing season. We will be competing in the Worlds with 2 ladies and 5 men and 6 boys will be defending our colours at the Youth Europeans. Before these big regattas we will put in a lot of training effort to compensate for the lost training days at the beginning of the year.

The organisation of the Worlds in 2007 by the Belgians and the Dutch is now fully underway. The location has definitely set to Workum in the north of the Netherlands. Some of you probably will know this place from the YEC in ’99 or even the EC in 1991. The race committee has been chosen and the budget is completed. Now the never ending search for sponsorship is on. In our opinion the social part of our big regattas has been gradually disappearing over the year and we are planning to do something about it. Our goal will be not only to make it a perfect regatta on the water, but also on shore. In other words it should be one big feast.

At the same location we will organise our Open Dutch Championship during the weekend of September the 23rd and 24th. The Committee will also be the same as at the Worlds, so it should be the perfect opportunity for you to make yourself familiar with the location and the Committee. We invite you all for this regatta. The Notice of Race will be available on the web around July.

Kind regards. Martijn van den Driest Chairman Dutch Europe Class Pictures courtesy of Michel Mathijs and Leo G. Eggink.

TEST EVENT IN MALLORCA A test-event for Optimist sailors was organised after the Princess Sofía Trophy at Calanova Yacht Club in Mallorca, Spain. A well known Europe boat builder was present at the site and all the local Optimist sailors could use the boats for free during a 2-days training. As there were more sailors than boats, of course they had to swap boats from a coach boat but all could have an idea about how great it is to sail a Europe. All of them loved the boat, its speed... they had great fun. You could do the same ! Why don’t you organise a “test event” in your club ? You just need one coach boat and 3 or 4 of your Europe sailors to lend a boat to their younger Opti-friends and you will see how much fun they have. It’s the best way to convince them that the Europe is THE boat.

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NEWS RELEASE FROM INTERNATIONAL EUROPE CLASS UNION RECORD EUROPE SAILOR PARTICIPATION IN THE EASTER REGATTAS Close to 400 Europe Class sailors from 17 countries met on waters of Quiberon in France, Medemblik in the Netherlands, Monfalcone and Gardasee in Italy and Calanova in Spain. The Europe class Olympic status in the past 4 Olympiads has given a good genus equality balance, the fruits of which are seen now, in excess of 40 % of total entries were women.  37TH PRINCESS SOFIA TROPHY - CALANOVA - PALMA DE MALLORCA - SPAIN  We saw a Europe Class with 105 sailors from eight nations (56 women and 49 men) as the largest single-handed class in the regatta. Helena Montilla (36) Olympic representative for Spain in the Atlanta Games and today a mother of two rising stars in the Optimist Class grabbed a respectable 7th place among 56 women and 49 men sailors.  The youngest sailor was Alba Bou (13) from Spain. CIRCOLOVELA TORBOLE - GARDASEE - ITALY Onehundredfourteen sailors (38 women and 76 men) from 9 nations participated. NATIONAL DE PRINTEMPS - BAIE DE QUIBERON - FRANCE Ninety entries (36 women and 54 men) 15 % more than last year from 3 countries.  Fiftyseven sailors of the total 90 were born 1986 or later. MORE THAN 1000 EUROPE SAILORS ON THE WORLD RANKING LIST The International Europe Class Union World Ranking List 2005-2006 with a starting date of 10.09.05 had 1006 sailors in its April 26th, 2006 issue and increasing rapidly each month. EUROPE CLASS MAJORS 2006 Closeness of the 2006 venues to the stronghold nations of the Europe Class will ensure that record participation numbers will continue second year in a row. -2006 Open Week and World Championships - Skovshoved - Denmark 2-16.7.2006 website www.ewc2006.dk -2006 European Championships - Marsala - Sicily - Italy 1-12.8.2006 website www.marsalasail.it -2006 Youth European Championships - L´Estartit - Girona - Spain 22-28.8.2006 website www.cnestartit.es -2006 Europe Class 19th Veteran Cup - Skive - Denmark 24-27.8.2006 website  www.skivesejlklub.dk Make the Europe Class website www.europeclass.org to your favorite. Jan Abrahamsen President IECU ******************************************************

RESULTS 37 TROFEO PRINCESA SOFIA - ESCUELA DE VELA CALANOVA - PALMA DE MALLORCA - SPAIN - 8-14.04.2006 Our  Class is in good shape and well balanced. Out of the 105 Europe sailors (largest single-handed class in Calanova) 56 were women and 49 men. Eight nations represented were DEN, ESP, FIN, GER, NOR, POR, SWE and USA.  Special congratulations for 7th place to Helen Montilla – mother of  two boys. Top ten results: Overall Sail Number Crew Points 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 1 ESP 257 David Kearley 32 5 1 1 1 1 3 1 2 2 2 27 7 6 DNC 2 SWE 3567 Victor Bergstrom 63 2 1 1 1 1 10 2 OCS 1 4 7 8 25 38 3 SWE 3490 Marcus Dackhammar 78 1 2 5 OCS 3 6 5 1 3 23 26 1 2 33 4 GER 100 Sven Stadel 81 3 5 3 10 4 2 3 4 1 19 28 16 26 11 5 ESP 590 Jaime Navarro 84 2 2 4 6 5 4 4 8 11 15 47 18 36 5 6 ESP 470 Eduardo Zalvide Borrero 87 4 12 5 7 8 5 12 6 6 30 9 21 11 2 7 ESP 31 Helena Montilla  92 16 8 14 2 9 6 3 3 2 16 4 9 20 26 8 ESP 997 Jordi Tur Casado 97 9 7 11 4 6 5 12 10 10 46 5 6 12 DNC 9 SWE 3552 Niklas Johansson 104 4 3 2 OCS 2 13 6 1 3 33 19 15 3 44 10 SWE 3524 Eric Lindgren 109 6 4 4 21 4 12 7 11 9 38 33 5 7 19 For complete results please see: www.trofeoprincesasofia.org **********************************************************

1/2006

Dear sailors and friends, The year 2006 is very important year for the Europe Class. The Council has to prepare a strategy for our future related to the Olympics. I will be very happy to get as many inputs as possible from our members. I have one question that I cannot get out of my mind, because I do not know the answer: Will it be a catastrophe not being in the Olympic family in the future, or will it be the best for the Class? There are a lot of positive things to say about being in the Olympic family, but it is not necessarily very bad to be a Youth Class outside. For instance the Optimist Class is not, and will never be Olympic. The 505 Class is till growing. What I really hope for the future is that our class will grow, and spread all over the world, so a lot of young sailors will sail, love and have fun with this beautiful boat for single handed sailors from 40-80 kg. I look forward to meeting you at the international championships, I hope everyone will have a nice, hot and sunny summer and that good shifts will also come to you. Best regards, Jan Abrahamsen President IECU ***********************************************************

From the UK In the UK the Europe Class is a small but enthusiastic group. We had a good year in 2005, and I think we have recovered well from the difficult time following the loss of Olympic status. We had a fleet of twenty-two boats at the National Championships, held at Bexhill on the south coast of England, and won by James Eynon of Weston Sailing Club. It was the biggest championship fleet we have had for several years, and it is a success that we hope to build on in the future. Inevitably we have lost some female sailors who have had to change to the Laser Radial for the sake of their Olympic ambitions, but we have several new faces in the c lass, both men and women, and of the range of ages. The wide variety of classes available has always been a special feature of dinghy sailing in the UK, unlike many other countries. The Europe is not an automatic choice for someone who wants to race a small single-hander, when you could also choose to sail the  Splash, Byte, Comet, Streaker, Lightning, RS300, Moth (British or International), Solo, Topper, Topaz or many more – not to mention the Laser Radial! So we have quite a task to persuade people that obviously Europe is the best! We say that, unlike the other classes, the Europe can be set up to be sailed just as well by lightweight and not so lightweight sailors, and sailors of a wide range of age and ability. There are many “one-design” boats but there are not many “one-design” sailors! Sometimes people say that the Europe looks very complicated with all the rig controls, but we say that really the controls are the same as on any boat – the difference is that on the Europe they work properly. On other boats they don´t! We also have to make the class very friendly and welcoming to new people, but most of all I like to tell people that the Europe is such fun to sail, more than any other boat. We are hoping to build a strong and enthusiastic Europe fleet here in the UK, and we look forward to having better contact with fleets in other countries. I am confident that there will be a keen UK team visiting Denmark for the World Championships, and I hope that it will be an enjoyable and successful event. WE would also like to welcome some visiting Europes to the UK. Perhaps some Europe sailors not too far from the UK would like to come and take part in some Europe racing here – perhaps to show us how it should be done? There is a challenge! How about a holiday on the south coast of England in the Bexhill Open on 3rd and 4th June, and then the UK Open Championships at Weymouth (see picture Weymouth Bay and Portland Harbour) on 10th and 11th June. Or, after the World Championships, why not take a relaxing holiday with your Europe in the highlands of Scotland and take in our inland Championships at Loch Tummel on 22nd and 23rd July. Look for details on the UK website www.europeclass.org.uk Richard Eagleton Chairman IECA (UK) **********************************************************

Technical Corner Today we have some good news for you. ISAF accepted at the AGM in Singapore most of the rules changes IECU proposed. The most important change is that the grandfathering for hulls is now simple and clear. You can compete in all regattas with any measured hull, only new built (after 1st March 2004) have to be within the reduced tolerances. The Class Rules 2006 will be soon on our website. Frans van Pelt      IECU VP Technical ***********************************************************

2006 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS - MARSALA, SICILY - ITALY 1-12.8.2006 Dear friends , I have the pleasure to inform you that our web site  www.marsalasail.it/eng/lab.php?sezione=9  is now on line.Some more details in English will be given later. The competitors will find the information how to reach Marsala,the hotel accommodation and prices as well as the official notice of race and the entry form. Further information will be loaded later. As concerns the camper allocation I have to tell you we don't have a special area for campers. However they can be parked near the clubs and the competitors can use the facilities the clubs offer. Best regards, pasqualeteri@libero.it **********************************************************

WELCOME TO THE CZECH REPUBLIC Hi all Europe class sailors! Let me invite you to the most important regattas for the Europe class in the Czech republic. That means very good organization, friendly people and enough sailors participating on these regattas. Alexandr Pacek

“ Pávlovská regatta” 5 - 7 May 2006 - Nové Mlýny Lake, Pavlov, CZE ISAF World Sailing Ranking List Event: GR 3 Pálavská regatta is one of the most popular regattas with excellent organization, long tradition, and fantasy sailing conditions and after sailing program. Nové Mlýny Lake is situated close to Austria border, about 100 km north of Vienna. For finding more information about this regatta please visit: http://www.palavska.com (Notice of race, Entry form, Map, Accommodation, etc.) E-mail: info@palavska.com

“35. Europe class anniversary in the Czech republic” 30. June - 2. July 2006 - Velké Dáøko Lake, close to Žïár nad Sázavou, CZE Please pay special attention to this regatta! We are celebrating 35 years of Europe class sailing in the Czech republic, so this regatta is not only a sailing competition but also nice event for all Europe sailors. After very successful 30 years celebration everybody is looking forward to another jubilee. The organizations are aware of their huge responsibility and pay lot of attention to the organization of this regatta. Information will be posted on: http://www.europeclass.cz E-mail: smesny.m@email.cz „CERE regata“ 1. - 3. September 2006 - Lipno Lake, Jestøábí, CZE ISAF World Sailing Ranking List Event: GR 3 Lipno Lake is one of the largest lakes in the Czech republic and due to it location close to Austria and Germany is one of the most popular holiday sailing places in the CZE. . Make the best of the not-that hot September weather and after-season well-being and came to the sailing regatta! Information will be posted on: http://www.cere.cz/, E-mail: kozelsky@cere.cz “Europe class Championship of the Czech republic” 28. September - 1. October 2006 - Nove Mlyny lake, Pavlov, CZE The Czech championship is the most important regatta for every sailor that takes place in our country. This year is the Championship planned quite late in autumn because in springs and autumns there are better sailing (especially wind) conditions in Nové Mlýny Lake. The Championship in autumn is nice counterpart of the Pálavská regatta in the spring (both regattas are organized in the same place).Information will be posted on: http://www.yachting.cz/csj , E-mail: csj@yachting.cz ********************************************************************************************************

NIEUWPOORTWEEK 2006 FLANDERS REGATTA 1-5.7.2006 - NIEUWPOORT, BELGIUM Enclosed you will find the NOR. From this year on the Flanders Regatta doesn't only welcome youth sailors, but is open for all Europe sailors. Since this regatta is for Belgian sailors (and more particular for the visibility and the recognition of our class in Belgium) a 'major event', we hope to be able to welcome some foreign sailors, even if the data conflict with the open week of the World Championship. Selected sailors on their way to Denmark, if interested,  or not selected sailors are more than welcome ! If the entry is received beforehand, we assure you a personalised welcome.  Please note that tents and campers are allowed on the yachtclub site (this possibility is not mentioned in the NOR).  Summary : Title: Flanders regatta (Nieuwpoortweek) Start Date: 2006-07 - 01 Finish Date: 2006-07 - 05 Venue: Nieuwpoort Nation: Belgium Entry Name: KYCN, VVW Nieuwpoort and WSKLum Entry Adress: Watersportlaan 11 8620 Nieuwpoort Belgium Tel: +32 58 23 52 32 Fax: +32 58 23 40 58 Email: info@nieuwpoortweek.be Web: www.nieuwpoortweek.be ***************************************************************

RESULTS II PHARO REGATTA - XII BARCELONA OLYMPIC SAILING WEEK - BARCELONA, SPAIN - 31.03-04.04.2006 For results please see: www.bosw.org/06/main.php?idioma=ca&area=a02&seccio=s04&edicio=06 *****************************************************************

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FROM THE USA The USA has concentrated on building and consolidating the Europe fleet during 2005. Currently, the country’s most active region is the Pacific Northwest, though boats are located throughout the United States. In the Pacific Northwest, about 10-12 boats are sailing actively. This number doesn’t sound like a lot, but it represents significant growth from 2004. Also, the active sailors in the region live quite close together, so a good turnout at regattas and clinics. In order to increase the size and skill of the fleet, we have had two clinics. The first concentrated on boathandling and light air, flat water sailing. The second, held in the Columbia River Gorge, introduced new sailors to wind and heavy waves. In addition we created a regatta series for 2005. The series has not concluded yet, but currently Tanya Haddad is in first place, Jaime Mack is in second, and fleet newcomer Jennifer Brecker is in third. Susannah Carr

4/2005

LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT Dear Sailors and Friends ! First of all I wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. 2005 has been a very important year for the class, because it was the first year outside the Olympic family. In general there is still a lot of activity in the class in Europe. In the rest of the world it looks to me that the class is developing a bit slower. I know that a lot of people all over the world are working for the class. Thanks a lot to all the volunteers in the local clubs all over the world. I hope you all will find motivation and energy to go on with your work, it is very important for the class in these years of changes. I am very happy to see a lot of new young faces in the class this year. Welcome to you all, I expect you will not regret and have a wonderful time at sea and ashore with your friends and competitors. Next year the Worlds will take place in Denmark, Skovshoved. This will be the first year we will try the Nations Cup. Best wishes to all who have anything to do with the Class. Best regards. Jan Abrahamsen IECU President

2006 SOUTH AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIP - MAR DE PLATA - ARGENTINA 9-12.2.2006 Teemu Rantanen, 2005 European Champion was there to compete in our championship. 12 races have been sailed in the Playa Grande waters (nearby the Mar de Plata Harbour), mostly with N-NE light winds and  an important NS current intensity. The days of competition were very pleasant, with nice warm temperatures, summer type, and big waves as strong winds blown out the previous days.These waves in most of the cases raised navigation difficulties as when climbing the waves the boats were tipping over  and when getting down they were tipping over to windward demanding a fine and precise steering. Three races have been sailed every day. The first day NE winds of 15 knots aprox., Ronnie Jenkins leaded in the three races. The second day, light NE winds turning to E-SE to finally settle there. Two leaders in the races of the day: Ronnie Jenkins won 2 races and I won the last one after a close battle with Ronnie. The third day shifty winds which got mad our RO who had to change constantly the course, from N-NE everything got calm but with a strong N-S current, then  upwind it was convenient to go right handside as the wind went to this area. Specially in the last race the wind shifted  from NE to E and  increased to 17 knots aprox. resulting the last upwind leg as a close reach. The winners of the three races of the day were: Teemu Rantanen, Ronnie Jenkins and the Olympic medallist Serena Amato. The last day awaked with N-NE light winds changing to E-NE and increasing to 20 knots. The winners of these last races were Serena Amato in the 1st race, Ronnie Jenkins in both last ones. The Prizegiving Ceremony took place and the five top classified received presents from the Organizers. To finish the day most of us went to ride karts and later went out for some drinks enjoying the night in Mar de Plata. A very fine championship with a fair competition and a very pleasant atmosphere in the "Europist" group, good feeling. That's all friends. Good luck to you and good winds. Alfredo Bafico Trench President AACIE

FROM FRANCE Hi Everybody ! Here are the French sailors again. I just start writing this article while some Danish may still be in their cars, coming back from our great national autumn race which took place in Biscarosse, near Bordeaux (where the famous wine you all know is made) in the Southwest of France. Indeed, a lot of Danish sailors came to sail with us (15 in fact) accompanied by Jorgen Hölm, the famous boss of Green Sails. This year’s autumn national race was a little bit like this year’s European Championship, I mean, a race with quite a lot of races (7 in 4 days) sailed in very tight weather conditions. And in these conditions, Danish sailors were better than us with 5 Danish in the top 10 including the 3 first places. The whole fleet was divided into 2 groups of respectively 58 and 57 sailors. Now that the weather is getting colder and colder with winter coming to us fast, we hope to see you at Christmas in Toulon, in the South of France for our annual Christmas race. This race has become famous due to several assets including good weather conditions (the strength of the wind is always clever), warm weather, sun and a very good welcome from the club. Last year, a lot of nationalities were represented (France, Belgium, Denmark, Italy, Switzerland and Germany). If you have read the new world ranking list rules, you immediately understand that this race may count as an international race (or at least a national/international race). In addition, it has always be a very friendly race with good conditions, so come to us. Then, it will be a long time before we go back to our boats for racing. Next time, it will be in mid-April in Brittany, in Quiberon. Personally, I think it is one of the best places to sail in France (Hyères is another one). If you like Hyères, you will also like Quiberon or even more love (because it is in Brittany). This race will be held from April 16th to 20th, if nothing changes. Finally, I just want to remember all of you that we are always waiting for you to come in France for sailing on our magnificent pools. We always try to welcome you as well as we can (tell us if something is wrong), even if sometimes, some of us don’t speak very well English (we are French, just remember that). Antoine Préveaux FRA 5579 (el Pécador)

FROM DENMARK Even though the Europe dinghy isn’t an Olympic Class anymore, it hasn’t stopped its success in Denmark. Right now we have more than 160 sailors, which is an increase of 20 sailors since last year. The Europe Class is the second largest Dinghy class in Denmark, only exceeded by the Optimist Class. Every year we have 4 qualification regattas, which determine the participants in the different international championships. The first two in the autumn and the two last in May/early June. At each of these regattas approximately 110-120 sailors (girls and boys) compete together. We all start at the same time, which means we have a very long starting line and a crowded starting area. If you would like to sail with us and practice sailing in a large fleet, we would very much like to invite you to participate in these events. Please feel welcome to join us. In 4 or 5 other weekends we have some major grand prix sailings sponsored by the Danish Sailing Organisation and Torm, which is a big shipping company. From October to April we only sail in the weekend, as it is getting dark very early. The sailors get together in approximately 6 different places in Denmark. Only one month around Christmas we don’t sail. Only ice on the water prevents us from sailing. You could call us Vikings. Outside the Danish sailing season a lot of the Danish sailors participate in sailings arranged in other countries. Last Christmas 3 of us joined the Christmas Race in Toulon. This year certainly more sailors will join. It was a really nice experience to sail in good and sunny weather and with a water temperature around 15ºC, while at the same time we had snow and about 2-5ºC in Denmark. Every year about 65 Danes and their families spend their Easter holidays in Torbole at the northern part of the Lake Garda in Italy. We participate in the Torbole meeting in a good sailing regatta primarily with the Italian sailors, but some Germans and Swedes also participate. In the rest of the Easter holidays the Europe Class Denmark  has arranged a special training camp with some of the best Danish trainers. It is a really good start of the new sailing season. We use to participate in the 2 great sailing events in Kiel (Pfingstbusch Regatta and the Kieler Woche). If you haven’t participated yet you should really consider participating in 2006. It is a great event with a lot of sailors from all kind of boat classes staying in Kiel at the same time. Apart from a really professional arranged regatta, there is a kind of festival atmosphere and good and informal getting together between lots of sailors from many countries. This summer a lot of Danish sailors participated in the Championships in Finland, Norway and China. We would like to thank the organisers for having made such great, well-organised and successful events. 7 sailors from Denmark went to Rizhao in China to sail the Worlds and it was such a great adventure for us. The organisers did a great job and so many good assisting persons helped us getting adjusted to the new and very different conditions. We were met by so much interest from the Chinese people, they were a very dedicated audience, and we have never seen such a fantastic marina. If you have heard that there is never wind in China, we can assure you, that at least some times there is much wind. Our team leader took a photo of us sailing in the harbour with some huge waves just outside the harbour pier. We had to pass these breaking waves to sail to the racing area and it was a challenge. It also was a very new experience for us to sail with the enormous ocean waves and relatively light wind speed. In Denmark huge waves are accompanied by high wind speed. Thanks again to the Chinese organisers and we are sure, that you have also got some good experience for your big challenge arranging the Olympics in Beijing/Quindao in 2008. Good luck to you ! Unfortunately we Europe Sailors can’t be there. On our website we have published some of the great photos from our trip in China. You should really take a look. You can find them at www.europeclass.dk in the section on the left side; “Arkiv/Sejlerne Fortaeller”. Especially we can recommend the pictures (Billeder) of the amazing waves from the 30 August “Blaesevejr og bolger i Kina”. If you would like to participate in some of our regattas, feel free to contact members of the board to get further information. You can find information about the regattas on our website under “Kalender” and our email addresses under “Bestyrelsen” (the Board). The 4 qualification regattas will be held on these dates: 29-30.04.2006 Ranking 3 – Mid Jutland (final destination not decided yet) 13-14.05.2006 Ranking 4 – East Denmark (final destination not decided yet) 01-03.09.2006 Ranking 1 and Danish Championship, Arhus Sejlklub (Mid Jutland) 16-17.09.2006 Ranking 2 – Rodvig (East Denmark) Hope to see many of you at the next World Championship in Skovshoved close to Copenhagen in July 2006. You can see further on the website: www.ewc2006.dk Best regards. Kristina Dannefer and Kim Braad Carlsen, Representatives of the active sailors in Europe Class Denmark.

FROM NEW ZEALAND Winter time in NZ can be fairly cold especially down in the south island, so only a few have been out sailing, but it has been a busy time for the folks updating our rigs, equipment and bringing seven top boats down from Auckland in the north island, all this was left in the wake of the Olympic class switch. Those of us who have been fortunate to update have been waiting to see what benefits it will bring when the sailing season started again in September. Now that we have had several races in the new season it has been quite noticeable how much faster those who updated are performing, but the first real test comes on the 3-4 December when the province of Canterbury holds its championships at Pigeon Bay. One of our popular sailors, Rod Romerill, miraculously escaped death or serious injury recently, ironically on the anniversary of that fateful day in America 9/11, when the small helicopter he was a passenger in, had engine failure and crashed. Both Rod and the pilot survived but Rods injuries have kept him from trying out his new boat which was one of the seven. Thankfully all their injuries will heal with no disabilities. The south island sailors are intending to organise a national championship where both the north and south islands fleets can compete together, the two groups have not sailed against each other for many years so it is a mystery as to how well we are all sailing compared to the others. Throughout NZ we have 54 Europes on our register, plus there are a few we haven’t manage to track down, 38 of these are in the south island. We wish all our fellow sailors a happy Christmas, some of you will probably be having a white one, down here in the southern hemisphere it is sunshine and sailing, meanwhile we send Christmas cards to each other with scenes of sleighs and snow, what a strange world. Tom Arthur Europe Class South Island

WHEN YOU LOVE THE EUROPE !  Yacht Club at Pigeon Bay will welcome Canterbury Champs in December. Camping ground where we have a caravan permanently on site there. It is the best dinghy sailing water in Canterbury, but we have to drive 100 km from Christchurch to get there, so we stay for the whole weekend, usually having about 4-5 races over the weekends.

Back row, left to right. Colin Rossie, Peter Andrews, Geoff Densem, Jan-Kees Kirpensteijn, Justin Dowell, Marijn Kirpensteijn, Simon Rutherford, Tom Arthur. Front row, left to right. Ross McGregor, Nick Grant, Wayne Woodward. CANTERBURY EUROPE DINGHY CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS Held at Pigeon Bay, 3-4 December 2005-12-09 The weather was beautiful for the whole regatta, winds mainly 8-13 knots except for race 2 when it died out for a brief period which necessitated a shorten course, and the first leg of race 5 when it came in at 15-17 knots, much to the short lived pleasure of the heavyweights. Place Points Discard Hull & mast types Races 1 2 3 4 5 1  Jan-Kees Kirpensteijn 1 1 1 1 1 4 Winner Nouveau/carbon 2  Tom Arthur 3 2 2 2 2 8 Std Marten/carbon 3  Jamie Unstead 2 3 3 3 DNC 12 Winner/carbon 4  Ross McGregor 4 4 4 3 3 14 Findlater/carbon 5  Peter Andrews 5 5 7 6 5 21 Nautec/alloy 6  Geoff Densem 12 7 5 8 4 24 Winner/carbon 7  Nick Grant 8 8 9 5 6 27 Std Marten/carbon 8  Justin Dowell 10 6 6 11 9 31 Mod Marten/alloy 9  Simon Rutherford 6 10 11 10 7 33 Nautec/alloy 10 Wayne Woodward 7 DNF DNC 7 8 35 Findlater/carbon 11Marijn Kirpensteijn 9 DNF 8 9 11 37 Winner/carbon 12 Colin Rossie 11 11 10 12 10 42 Std Marten/alloy

FROM FINLAND Europe Class Finland was awarded the title “Best Class Organization 2005” by the Finnish Yachting Association at the yearly award ceremony a few weeks ago. At the same event Sari Multala was chosen “Sailor of the Year” among all sailors in all classes in Finland. Also the awards Best Junior Sailor for boys and girls were given to Europe sailors: Europe Class European Champion Teemu Rantanen was chosen “Best Junior Sailor – Boys” and Jasmine Lehtonen won the title “Best Junior Sailor – Girls”. Europe Class Finland is very proud to have all these award winners among “our” sailors. Although the autumn has been very kind to sailing this year – warm and sunny the Finnish Europe sailors finished their “official” season already on October 9, when the last national ranking sailing was held. Europe Class Finland’s own seasonal awards to the winners were presented on our annual meeting on November 19th. ECF Ranking List 2005 1. Nina Ramm-Schmidt 2. Jouni Kokko 3. Maria Saarikallio 4. Pekka Aalto 5. Jasmine Lehtonen 6. Krista Olander Best Rookie 2005 Maria Saarikallio Best Improver 2005 Pia Tulimaa

Interview with Teemu Rantanen, European Champion 2005 How did you feel to win the European Championship during your first season in the Europe dinghy? I was very surprised, but very glad. You have been sailing the Optimist since you were 7 years old. Why did you choose to sail the Europe Dinghy when you left the Optimist Class ? It was quite a natural choice for me, because all older and previously successful sailors had told me that the Europe is a very good choice if one wants to learn more about sailing and become a good sailor. Which sailor is your idol ? Tomas Johansson, gold medal winner in 49er in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. He too started out in Optimist and moved to Europe and Laser and finally to 49er. Now he is sailing those huge multihulls. What are your best achievements prior to the Europe Class European Championship gold medal ? I won the Long Distance Race at the Optimist World Championship in Ecuador in July 2004. 3rd  place in the Bermuda Junior Gold Cup 2004 2nd in the Finnish Championship (Optimist) 2003 What about your future plans ? I am now studying the first year on secondary level (Senior High School) in a Sport Lyceum in Helsinki, so I have about 2,5 years left before I graduate. May be I’ll continue in a technical university after that. But at the same time I want to sail as much as possible. I will sail the Europe at least one more season, and then we’ll see, may be I’ll try the 470 later on. And if I can keep up  good results may be I’ll have a chance in the Olympics sometimes in the future. What’s the best about sailing ? You get so many nice friends all around the world. Kathe Ramm-Schmidt

RACE  INVITATIONS July 18-23, 2006 Junior Nordic Championship (TPS) Turku, Finland www.turunpursiseura.fi/jnom2006/indexfin.html July 24-27, 2006 Europe Class Open Nordic Championship (WSF) Vaasa, Finland Information will  later be posted on www.kolumbus.fi/europeclassfinland August 25-27, 2006 Open Finnish Championship (NJK) Helsinki, Finland Information will later be posted on www.kolumbus.fi/europeclassfinland

FROM ITALY The ASSEUROPA AGM has reconfirmed the previous board and approved the following calendar of the most important regattas of the year: 11-12 March  1ª regata nazionale open/selection Lecco 25-26 March  2ª regata nazionale open/selection Napoli 8-10 April  3ª regata nazionale open/selection Torbole 13-15 April  4ª regata nazionale open/selection Monfalcone 28 April/1 May  5ª regata nazionale open/selection Livorno 20-21 May  6ª regata nazionale open/selection Senigallia 1 August  Open Week registration – European    Championship    Marsala 2-5 August  Open Week regattas   Marsala 6-7 August  Registration and measurement    European Championship  Marsala 8-12 August  European Championship – regattas Marsala 26 August  Registration, measurement    Italian Championship   Costa Volpina (Iseo) 27-30    Italian Championship – regattas  Costa Volpina (Iseo) During the ASSEUROPA AGM various matters in relation with the Europe Class actual situation have been dealt with and considered the steps to be taken to go beyond this delicate moment for the Italian and foreign activity. The exclusion of the Europe Class from the Olympic class status is a resounding fact and disruption for some of us. The first consequence is that the athletes’ status has to be requalified and that our dinghy goes back to the traditional training goal of the young sailors coming out of the Optimist Class. The decision of amplifying the collaboration with the Optimist Class and promote the Europe Class at the Optimist level is much appreciated. Positive is the interest of IECU to define new rules and norms for the Class activities and striving after the Olympic status. It is an evidence that the moment is not easy for the sailing activities which have to respond after a strong constraint, due to the resource scarcity provoked by a lengthy deadline. It was reminded that it is expedient to choose the suitable national and international sailing venues to keep the lively image of the Europe Class and be present in these sports events. The constant presence and the best promotion will avoid the Class to fall into the background. The Asseuropa goal is to carry on, as usual, with the training and preparation of the young sailors. The main activities will be completed with Club’s regattas and clinics for the youngest ones as well as for the more advanced sailors. The intention of the Asseuropa is to promote the participation of other countries’ sailors and to intensify the activity in Italy and abroad of the best sailors, to keep the attention of the sailing world, in spite of the heavy expenses. If the Europe Class goes back to its origins for having unquestionable formation qualities for the young sailors, if the Europe Class is recognised as the real school for young sailors, then it will be opportune to intensify the promotion of our dinghy. It is expedient that the International and National authorities, each with its competencies, suggest the application of an ISAF Youth Championship,  which in the past have been deciding for the development of the Class amongst the young sailors and yachting clubs. During 2006 Italy will welcome the European Championships and Open Week. We hope a large participation. This will be the opportunity to enjoy the optimal sailing course and the Marsala warm hospitality. Claudio Morana ASSEUROPA President

FROM AUSTRIA Season is over as you know. The first autumn training, in nearby Slovenia, was quite nice but windless. May be we are going to have more luck in February when training is located in the South of France. The schedule for next year is nearly finished. First information can be found on our homepage www.europeclass.at Main regattas are going to be: · International Austrian Championship during the Omega Week at Lake Traunsee       25-28.05.2006 www.traunseewoche.at · International Austrian Youth Championship at Lake Wolfgangsee 27.08.-02.09.2006 www.uycwolfgangsee.at · Spring Cup at Lake Neusiedl (ISAF Grade 3 for Laser and Laser R!) 03.-05.-06.2006 www.uycns.at We hope that a lot of sailors from abroad are going to attend these regattas! Next year schedule will also content a lot of regattas abroad, but there is already enough space so don’t hesitate to send your regattas to alice.fritsch@gmx.at With great pleasure we are following up the development of the homepage of the IECU! Congratulations ! As the end of the year is going to be very soon the Austrian Europe Class Association wishes all of you MERRY CHRISTMAS and THE VERY BEST FOR YEAR 2006 !! Many greetings. Alice Fritsch Austrian Europe Class Association Treasurer

A NEW FUN REGATTA! NATIONS CUP 2006 Skovshoved – Denmark 2006 July 7th I would like to introduce a new event that will be held in the same yacht club as the World Championship next year. It will be sailed between the Open and the Worlds, one of the Measurement Days. It’s a race between Nations, a kind of Match Race. We expect that it will be very fun and spectacular. The principle of the competition is the following: ENTRIES Each Nation enters 3 sailors (male, female or both, it’s up to every Nation). Minimum 8 Nations are needed to run the Cup. COURSE Start between Committee Starting Boat and Starting Mark – 300 meters upwind – mark 1 to port – 200 m reach – Finish between Finishing Boat and Finishing Mark. COMPETITION FORMAT. 2 sailors per start (one per Nation). Each Heat between Nations has 3 individual heats. Individual Heat 1 = Nation X, Sailor 1 against Nation Y, Sailor 1. Individual Heat 2 = Nation X, Sailor 2 against Nation Y, Sailor 2. Individual Heat 3 = Nation X, Sailor 3 against Nation Y, Sailor 3. SCORING SYSTEM. Winning the heat = 1 point Loosing the heat = 0 point. A Nation that wins 2 or 3 points goes forward. The other one is eliminated. No second chance to qualify. STARTS. There will be a start given every 2 minutes. Starts will be signalled by flags and, if possible by loudspeakers/megaphone. EXAMPLE OF A BASIC 8 NATIONS SYSTEM. When 8 Nations participate, we initiate the Event with QUARTER FINALS. 4 Nations against the other 4 4 winners go on to SEMIFINALS (the other go to the BAR!!!) At the SEMIFINALS, 2 Nations against the other 2 The best 2 Nations go on to FINAL and after 2 or 3 heats, we will have a winner ! DIRECT JUDGING in the water. No protests allowed. PRIZES. I suggest a bottle of beer or coke for the winners, and a couple of hours of fun sailing for everybody. The COMPLETE RULES of this Event can be checked at www.europeclass.org We hope that you will like it. We will place the marks REALLY close to the shore, so the spectators can see (and support !) their Teams ! Bring flags, horns, and whatever you want. And enjoy the show. Paul Depoorter IECU VP Racing

JESUS ROGEL SANCHEZ - 2005 WORLD CHAMPION IN RIZHAO - CHINA All the spanish team travelled to China and I with my wife. After all a day of flight we arrived at the Rizhao city where the people attended us so warmly. It was great. At the beginning the meals were a bit surprising but little by little we got used to it. The races were all a challenge as the courses were complicated because of the streams. For me the most difficult to win has been JiangLinhua who sailed very well and had a great knowledge of the courses. Anyhow, I could win the Open and as well the Worlds and am very pleased of it. It has been a great and unforgettable experience to get to know such a different culture, so many things to learn. Let me send friendly greetings to all the Europe sailors and wish them the best. My feeling is that the Europe is the boat which permitted me to improve my sailing knowledges and I'll never forget it. Kind regards. Jesús Rogel Sánchez