Event Date: 13-17 September 2011
Report by Paul Manning
Photos: Tania Samus http://photoskiff.com/sailing/portoroz11/
Sailors from 7 different nations fill the top 12.
The Go Sailing MUSTO Skiff European Championships from Portoroz has been won by local Slovenian sailor, Dylan Tidd.
17 year old Dylan put together a consistent series in the spotlight of national TV and press and joins World Champion, Daniel Henderson, as another hugely talented young sailor emerging from the class.
The regatta started with the opening ceremony by the swimming pool at Restaurant LAGUNA in Marina Portoroz on a warm sunny evening.
Day 1 was covered by Jolanda Bertole and her cameraman from Slovene National Television, with an entry of 45 competitors from 12 countries: AUS, AUT, BEL, FRA, GER, GBR, ITA, NED, RUS, SUI, USA and SLO.
For the first time Slovenian class regular and previous Olympic 470 campaigner Mitja Margon was joined by top local young sailor Dylan Tidd.
Race 1 started got underway in a light breeze, which was to dominate the regatta. Although the sea breeze arrived every day, it’s direction changed throughout the week and this was to be the dominating factor of the event, as the direction changes had quite noticeable effect on the decisions that the competitors had to make. Race 1 was led home by Jamie Hilton (GBR 281) closely followed by Dylan Tidd (SLO) and Australian Marcus Hamilton
Race 2 was led home by class chairman Iver Ahlmann (GER), with Scot James Lewis holding off Matt Hollis (GBR) to take second.
Ahlmann continued his good form to take line honours in race 3, Tidd was 3rd only beaten by Italian Giacomo Giovanelli
Day 2 racing was in similar conditions to day 1 with Ben Schooling (GBR) taking the first race of the day from Pieter Versavel (USA) and Gilles Peeters (BEL) in 3rd.
Jamie Hilton took his second regatta win in race 5 with Nicholas Duchoud (SUI 109) second and Andy Bunyan (AUT 401) in 3rd.
Races 6 saw Dylan Tidd start to make his move against overall event leader Iver Ahlmann by winning the final race of the day from Marcus Hamilton (AUS 453) and Emilien Taque (FRA 292).
Day 3 and Tidd continued his form by taking race 7 from Alistair Kerr (GBR 374) and Paul Dijkstra (NED 076) and Alastair Conn (GBR130) who was also starting to pull clear from the main pack in the overall standings and Austrian Andy Bunyan (AUT 401) in 3rd.
Alastair Conn continued his good form by taking the win in race 9 from Swiss master Roger Oswald (SUI 103) and British Grand master Nigel Walbank (GBR 394).
After a fantastic 5 course gala dinner and live music the final day dawned with a few sore heads.
Tidd pulled through from just outside the top ten at the first leeward rounding to take the win and secure the championships from Tim Hill (AUS 424) and Mitja Margon making it a good day for Slovenia in 3rd.
The final race was dominated by Dutch sailor Paul Dijkstra who led from start to finish for a well deserved win from Jamie Hilton (GBR 281) and Tim Hill (AUS 424).
The class continued to grow in Europe with fleets of over 50 in Germany and Switzerland, the EuroCup series will end this year with well over 100 competitors taking part.
Medal Winners
1st place: SLO 271 – Dylan Tidd – 39 pts
2nd place: GER 370 – Ivar Ahlmann – 50 pts
3rd place: GBR 130 – Alastair Conn – 54 pts
View the full results:
Silver
1st Andy Bunyan GBR 401
2nd Emilien Taque FRA 292
3rd Gilles Peeters BEL 185
Bronze
1st Christian Maier AUT 368
2nd Ron Barnes GBR 228
3rd Fritz Selb SUI 420
Youth
1st Dylan Tidd SLO 271
2nd Matt Hollis GBR 356
Master
1st Roger Oswald SUI 308
2nd Sergei Samus GBR 456
3rd Tom Conway GBR 294
Grand Master
1st Nigel Walbank GBR 394
2nd Tim Chapman GBR 333
3rd Martin Mayrhofer AUT 460
Furthest travelled
Chris Sutherland AUS 369
Tim Hill AUS 424
Marcus Hamilton AUS 453
Furthest driven
Yaroslav Petrov RUS 213 (3200km)
Please see the event official website www.gosailing.si
