Open European Championship well under way
By Jakica Jesih
The Harken Derm Seascape & First 18 Open European Championship has officially opened on Wednesday, and we’ve already seen some intense racing in the first three days in. There are 25 boats competing, coming from 8 different countries – Austria, Germany, UK, Slovakia, Chech Republic, Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia. Among them there are the defenders of the last year’s winners’ title Mitja Margon with his crew (his daughters Urška Margon and Sara Margon, ŠD GoSAILING), and the third placed team Dejan Presen with Denes Szilagyi, JK Mipc.
The first sailing day was not the easiest, the wind was shifting and the right decision about which side of the racing field to sail was crucial. First race’s winners took the right. Second and third race winners took the left. Tricky. The sea breeze didn’t exceed 9 knots, holding around 5-7 for most of the day.
Yesterday a coastal race was scheduled, from Portorož to Izola and back. The sea breeze picked up again, not too strong though, yet the conditions were just interesting enough for some exciting changes on the ladder board. Dejan Presen, after winning three bullets on day 1, scored both wins also in yesterday’s coastal races.
The wind changed on the day three, filling the Piran bay from the NE – so called bora wind, known by its shifty and unstable nature. The race committee had to make the start on the opposite side of the Piran bay, closer to the Croatian waters, and the upwind mark was just in front of the main Portorož beach. Very exciting view for the tourists for sure! Unlike them, the sailors had to work hard – the first race of the day was abandoned soon after the sailors reached the first downwind mark, due to the huge wind drop, almost to zero. In the meantime, just a couple hundreds meters higher upwind, at the first mark, the wind was still over 10 knots. The second start was successful, still the race was abandoned moments later, due to a huge wind shift. The RC decided to move the racing field further out of the bay, closer to Piran, and sailors managed to start successfully, yet the race was shortened at the second upwind mark. Interestingly enough, the last boats heading upwind were already lifting the gennakers, since the southerly kicked in temporarily. The racing field had to be adjusted again for the last two races of the day.
There’s a lot going on off the water too – after-sailing pasta on the pontoons, daily evening baseball matches, morning racing rules debriefings, and tonight we’re looking forward to the official dinner, followed by the title sponsor’s Harken Derm presentation and the concert of the local super popular band King Foo.
V sredo se je v okviru portoroškega regatnega tedna začelo odprto evropsko prvenstvo Harken Derm Seascape & First 18. Na startni črti se je zbralo 25 posadk iz osmih držav – Avstrije, Nemčije, Velike Britanije, Slovaške, Srbije, Češke, Hrvaške in Slovenije. Prvi dan so v blagem maestralu moči med pet in devet vozlov odjadrali prve tri plove, včeraj je bila na sporedu navigacijska regata od Portoroža do Izole in nazaj, danes pa se v močno spremenljivih vetrnih razmerah jadralci ponovno merijo v tehničnih plovih.
Lanska naslova prvakov in tretjeuvrščenih sta prišli branit slovenski posadki – zmago ekipa olimpijca Mitje Margona (Urška Margon, Sara Margon, ŠD GoSAILING , ter bron ekipa Dejana Presena (Denes Szilagyi, JK Mipc). Ekipa Dejana Presena je bila danes nepremagljiva, prvi dan končujejo z zmago v vseh treh plovih.
Dejan Presen po prvem dnevu: “Za nami so tri vetrovno težke regate, regatno polje je bilo zahtevno, veter je obračal po smeri in po moči, težko se je bilo po startu prebiti na pravo stran regatnega polja, ki je bila v drugem in tretjem plovu leva, v prvem pa desna, pod obalo. Sklepam, da je nekatere ostale posadke prav to po prvem plovu nekoliko zavedlo. Drugi plov je bil zahtevnejši, prvega in tretjega pa smo zmagali z lepo prednostjo.”
Udeleženci so jadrnice splovilii pred jadralnim klubom Pirat v Portorožu, po regatnem dnevu pa so jih privezali v centru Portoroža na glavnem mestnem pomolu, na ogled radovednim obiskovalcem. Za GoSAILING rutiniranega organizatorja jadralkih dogodkov evropskega in svetovnega formata ter soorganizatorja tega EP (skupaj s Slovenskim združenjem tega razreda), je bilo to novo prizorišče in nekoliko tudi preizkus lokacij pred regato RC44, ki jo bodo v središču Portoroža gostili prihodnjo pomlad.
Mitja Margon iz ŠD GoSAILING, ki se tega evropskega prvenstva udeležuje tudi kot jadralec in celo branitelj lanskega naslova evropskega prvaka: “Po prvem dnevu lahko rečem, da je naporno, saj preizkušamo novo prizorišče, kjer doslej še nismo organizirali regat, tako da je potrebne nekaj improvizacije. Verjamem pa, da bo vse steklo gladko in to jemljem kot dober test glede nadaljevanja organizacije naših jadralskih dogodkov na teh lokacijah. Da sem del organizacijske ekipe, se mi je nekoliko poznalo tudi na vodi, ampak tudi lani prvi dan nismo najboljše jadrali, tako da mislim, da se je vse skupaj še dobro izteklo. Upam, da so udeleženci zadovoljni in da nam bo uspelo izpeljati vse po programu.”
Regatni teden bo popestren s košarkarsko tekmo trojic na izpadanje, v petek, 30. avgusta zvečer, pa bo na plaži hotelov Lifeclass koncert skupine King Foo.