Eurosaf Final Day

Following the most amazing dinner hosted by Europcar , and some midnight swimming the morning briefing was a little lacking in some familiar faces.

The breeze was as fresh as ever,but the sun too chose to absent herself for the day’ s proceedings…. A new final day format maintained the 2K tradition of allowing all the opportunity to get a place in the finals…. In fact a formula that was proved to the limit.

Team Serpentine, who finished the round robins in 7th place , took race after race to face the formidable NRV team,  two seasoned match race teams based at the other end of the lake. As with all the races on this tricky piece of water the lead changed again and again but finally Serpentine gained a winning combo with meters to go… Then it was the turn of the Dutch to face the London based steamroller.

The Dutch representing the DMTRA had finished day 1 with an unassailable lead, Day 2 only the surprise defeat against Austria forced them behind the veteran GBR team from Spinnaker Sailing Club.  But now Serpentine with the last drops of adrenalin pulled off the coup of the regatta by taking line honours in 2 consecutive races.

And now in the final series, Spinnaker emerged from the  warmth of the Clubhouse for the first time. With 3 hours of tight racing behind then Serpentine had all the advantages of knowing the lake and the shifts….. The challenge was to win the starts. Spinnaker had proved the master of the pre start, perfect timing and un complicated moves proved their worth again. Serpentine  pushed to the limit just ran out of steam, leaving Spinnaker to power away to 2 unchallenged wins and the Eurosaf Championships.

Did the new system work…. Certainly for Serpentine.

Without doubt the best venue in Europe for the championship. Delighted were the teams when the Club announced they were looking forward to seeing the teams return for the 2015 edition.