European Championship 2022 in Arco/ Lake Garda – from a Classic’s Perspective. Christian Stock reports

We’d all thought Wednesday was the high point of full on A-Cat racing. How wrong we were! The forth day of the European championships began as usual. The days had settled into a pattern now, as they tend to do at longer events. For most it consisted of fixing what had broken the day before. Checking those boat park or beach repairs, seeing if the resin and carbon had cured, chewing the fat with the other sailors and sitting in the beachfront café drinking that delicious Italian coffee in all its incarnations. Little did they know what was ahead on those azure waters.

The ‘All boats allowed on the water’ flag was flown on day 3 of the A-Cat Europeans a little earlier than usual. The Race Committee had decided to get the Open foiling fleet out to get a 12:30 or so start. It was pretty calm in the North of the lake area around the Arco launch area, but looking south to the racing zone, one could see a clear line on the water where the wind was somewhat stronger. What an odd place Garda is at times.

Sometimes, you just get truly memorable sailing days. Epic can be an over used word, but this for the Open fleet, was one such day out on the azure waters of Lake Garda. Bright sun, the usual southerly 14-18 kts, a day set up for Champaign sailing, This was the second day of the European Championships and in the Open foiling fleet, Mischa Heemskerk NED 7 had won the first two races in convincing style, In the Classic non foiling fleet, young Moritz Weis GER 121 was equally dominant.

The first major European event was bound to be special, following 2 years of lockdown. It was especially nice that it is being held in Italy, the country that was the first to get COVID in Europe, several weeks before it arrived elsewhere in the continent. The Circolo Vela Arco was the host club and it was a joint venture between the German and Italian national associations. The CVA club is, of course, no stranger to hosting major events, and it was fresh from holding the Dart Worlds a couple of weeks earlier, so race organizing wise, they are pretty much up to speed.

Today saw the European Championships practice races held. One for each discipline, with the Classic fleet going first. They had the better of the day’s wind with a good stiff 15-18 kits up the lake as is usual at Garda. The nature of the place tends to dictate a tack right onto Port and then sail nearly up to the cliffs. The Venturi effect of the geography means that the wind builds the nearer you get to the steep sides of the western edge. This also means that any pin end starters lose out by almost a start line’s length if they don’t tack early enough.

Yesterday, the first votes took place on the 3 proposals from various National Associations.

The results were as follows;
1. Change of Constitution to relocate the IACA.
Passed unanimously.

2. USACA's proposal to delete Rule 16 from IACA Championship Rules.
For - 66
Against - 21
Abstain - 9
Passed

3. Poland's proposal to change Class Rules E.3 and E.4.
For - 34
Against - 56
Abstain - 6
Not Passed

96 association votes were present

The sailing instructions for the European Championships are new published.

The Yachtclub Wismar (MSV/YCW) is the host of the 2022 GER nationals from 1-3 Oct.

The NOR is now published here and the event website - here - https://www.raceoffice.org/A-Class-German-Open-2022?lang=eng