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Matt Burge in Richard Wagstaff evropska prvaka

New European Champions are Matt Burge and Richard Wagstaff


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Po še enem dnevu v lahnem vetru in eni regati, ki jo je zaradi zelo nestabilnega vetra regatnemu odboru uspelo izpeljati šele po četrtem startu, je evropsko prvenstvo zaključeno. Vsi skupaj smo sicer upali na več vetra, kar bi nam omogočilo izpeljavo devetih predvidenih plovov, a prvenstvo bi bilo regularno že po odjadranem enem. Veseli smo, da jadralcev zahtevni pogoji niso motili, še več, z njimi so bili zadovoljni, saj so jim služili kot dober trening pred svetovnim prvenstvom, ki se z regatami začenja v nedeljo. Evropsko prvenstvo se tako zaključuje “po angleško”, saj so vse tri prvouvrščene ekipe z otoka. Evropska prvaka sta danes postala Matt Burge in Richard Wagstaff, podprvaka Dave Wade in Tim Hartley, bronasta medalja pa je šla v roke Mattu Rainbacku in Simonu Foskettu. Naši jadralki Eva Peternelj in Valentina Baruca sta kot prva slovenska posadka na 19. mestu in na tretjem mestu v ženski konkurenci. Iskrene čestitke!

Matt Burge in Richard Wagstaff: “To je bilo zelo težko prvenstvo in čeprav smo odjadrali samo tri regate je bilo najbrž eno najtežjih, kar sva jih kadarkoli odjadrala. Zelo lahko je bilo narediti napako. Ves čas je bilo treba biti pozoren na spremembe vetra, iskati veter po polju … Seveda sva zelo vesela, čeprav – zagotovo bo veselje popolno šele, če bova zmagala še na svetovnem prvenstvu prihodnji teden. To je eno najbolj konkurenčnih prvenstev v fireballu v zadnjih nekaj letih, cela vrsta jadralcev, ki so zmagali na različnih veliki prvenstvih, je tukaj. Zato zmaga tukaj še toliko več pomeni. Kakorkoli – tokrat nama je uspelo in ni razloga, da nama ne bi tudi prihodnji teden. Želela bi se zahvaliti celotni organizacijski ekipi, GoSailing je odličen organizator in vsi skupaj imamo občutek, da je vse pripravljeno tako, kot mora biti.”

Dave Wade in Tim Hartley: “Zaenkrat je bilo prvenstvo zelo prijetno, le veter je bil zelo blag in nestabilen. Vseeno, zelo sva zadovoljna z rezultatom. Za svetovno prvenstvo si želiva nekaj več vetra in več regat. Zaenkrat pa je vse odlično in nimava nobenih pripomb.”

Matt Rainback and Simon Foskett: “Pred zadnjo regato nas je bilo nekaj ekip po rezultatu zelo blizu, med nami je bila ena točka razlike, največ dve, zato sva vedela, da se morava res potruditi. Uspel nama je dober start, od tukaj dalje pa sva samo še branila tretje mesto in držala tempo z vodečima. S tem tretjim mestom imava dobre možnosti, da zaključiva svetovno prvenstvo med najboljšimi petimi, kar sva si zastavila za cilj.”

Eva Peternelj in Valentina Baruca: “Midve sicer jadrava na 470, tega prvenstva pa se udeležujeva, ker se odvija doma, v Portorožu, in ker nama predstavlja odličen trening za jadranje v veliki floti in v močni konkurenci. Rezultata sva sicer veseli, lahko pa bi bilo tudi boljše, saj sva naredili kar nekaj napak. Jadrali bova tudi na svetovnem prvenstvu in upava, da tudi prihodnji teden ne bo močnega vetra in predvsem, da ne bova ponovili napak, ki sva jih delali tokrat.”

Štirikratna svetovna prvaka Chips Howarth in Vyv Townend: “Z rezultatom nisva preveč zadovoljna. Presenečena sva nad tako blagim vetrom. Po nevihtah na prvi dan prvenstva sklepava, da se vreme še ni ustalilo. Zaenkrat še nismo uspeli jadrati v razmerah, kakršne naj bi bile bolj tipične za to regatno polje, a vseeno je bilo zaradi tolikih ponovljenih startov to evropsko prvenstvo zelo dober trening, pa tudi dobra zabava. Vseeno upava, da bo naslednji teden nekoliko več vetra in nekoliko stabilnejše razmere. Sicer nama gre dobro, hitra sva, le strateško sva še šibka, ampak delava na tem!”

After another day of tricky and shifty wind, three general recalls and some good sailing, we’re proud to present our new european champions Matt Burge and Richard Wagstaff, vice-champions Dave Wade and Tim Hartley and bronze medalists Matt Rainback and Simon Foskett! However, the first seven overall places go to British teams. The first Slovenian crew are Eva Peternelj and Valentina Baruca on 19th place and 3rd in women competiton.
Big congratulations to all the winners and warmly welcome to the prize giving ceremony at 7pm!

Matt Burge and Richard Wagstaff: “It was very difficult racing, extremely tricky. Although there were only three races that was probably one of the hardest events we’ve done, because it was so easy to sail a bad result in all three races. There was no consistency, you just had to always get in a pressure and a shift, where ever that was. And yes, we’re really pleased. Naturally we wouldn’t be fully happy until hopefully we win the Worlds next week, but this is surely a good start. We think this is probably one of the most competitive events in lots of years in Fireball, there’s a number of people that have won the championships in the past, who all of them seem to be here, so yes – to win here is perhaps extra special, so I just pray that we can try to do that again. But we’ve done it this week, so there’s no reason we can’t do it next week, we’ll just push it on and try to do it again. Thanks to everybody, the event has been perfectly organized, GoSailing is great, you definitely get the sense that it’s been done properly.”

Dave Wade and Tim Hartley: “The championship has been very very good so far, very light, very shifty, we tried to stay consistent, play the middles, sometimes it worked, sometimes it hasn’t. We’re happy with a result. For the Worlds, let’s hope we’ll have a few more races, not quite as light, but it’s been fine so far, no complains.”

Matt Rainback and Simon Foskett: “We had quite a few boats very close to us before today’s race, within one or two points, so we knew we had to push a little bit more. We had a good start and from then on we were just protecting third and keeping up with the two guys in front of us and hopefully, if we come third overall now, is looking good to come top five in the Worlds next week and that’s our goal.”

Eva Peternelj and Valentina Baruca: “We usually sail on 470, but decided to participate in this championships because they’re held here, in Portorož, and provide a great opportunity to sail in bigger fleet with strong competitors. We’re happy with a result, although it could be better. We did some mistakes we shouldn’t have done, so we’re really looking forward to the worlds, hope for light wind again and hopefully we’ll sail better then.”

Four times World Champions Chips Howarth and Vyv Townend: “We’re not too happy with our result. We’re surprised how light the wind has been, we only trapezed in one race. In the beginning of the week we had terrible thunderstorms and after the thunderstorms the wind has never had time to settle down. I have a lot of sympathy for the race officer, he did well to get three races in for us, but this was supposed to be a nine race series, so he’s really struggled. It’s been extremely light, hasn’t been a good preparation for the worlds, because we haven’t seen the true conditions across the course area, but it’s been a good fun, a lot of practice with so many recalled starts. But we’re still hoping for the next week to be a little bit windier with hopefully a little bit more steady conditions. We think we’re going ok, fast enough, we’re not strategically sailing so well at the moment, but we’ll work on this for the next week.”

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