Posted By: Dylan ••••••DATE: September 16, 2009



The 2009 European Laser Radial Youth Championship started July 1st with measurement and registration at Skovshoved Sejlklub, just outside Copenhagen, Denmark. Girls from 26 countries and boys from 33 countries all over the world lined up to get absolutely every part of their boat measured and inspected. While the line was a bit long to start, once the sailors arrived at the measuring area they were quickly passed through an assembly line of measurements. Each group of inspectors were responsible for a different inspection. Blades were checked as was rigging, lines, sails and battens to make sure everything was class legal. Once the measurement was over each sailor derigged, got their registration papers and headed off to the shorter registration line where each boat was assigned a parking spot. Since it was done in alphabetical order the US sailors were farthest from the water.

Day one was hot and sunny with a 4 - 7 knot variable breeze. Racing was postponed till 13:00. Once the breeze was more constant and less shifty the four fleets were sent out to sail their two races. Yellow fleet started on the outer trapezoid while the other fleets alternated inner trapezoid and outer. There are three boys Radial fleets with 197 total split evenly between Yellow, Blue and Red. The girls are sailing in a single 75 boat Green fleet.

After the first day I finished very well with 7th overall

Day two, Saturday, had all sailors showing before 9Am to get ready for the 11AM start. US Sailing Team Alphagraphics (USTAG) Coach Bern Noack had everyone show at 8:30 AM to get rigged, ready and have a team meeting. USTAG members Emily Billing, Claire Dennis, Mateo Vargas and John Wallace were joined by fellow Americans Dylan Finneran, Alec Payne and Erika Reineke. Light and shifty breeze lasted through the morning. By the afternoon some sailors got bored and went out while other played games. Coach Bern Noack flexed his camp counselor muscles and kept the kids occupied with Frisbee, and Portuguese tug of war.

With postponement still up the day wore on under the hot Danish sun. The heat forced everyone to the pier where the 8’ drop into deep water was put to good use. With the wind refusing to cooperate the race committee gave up and fired the gun at 5PM. While the sailors didn’t get any racing in everybody made some new friends.

Day three, Sunday, had the forecast looking good but once we got to the club it looked doubtful. All four fleets were sent out for an 11AM start and the wind cooperated for a Yellow fleet start. The wind started shifting and the Yellow fleet was able to finish their race in the shifty breeze. At one point on the reach leg they were sailing by the lee. With thunderstorms on the radar and winds forecast to shift considerably for the next few hours everybody was sent in. Being stuck between two stationary weather systems does not make for good racing!

After Day 3 I moved up to 4th place overall

Day Four, Monday, was looking to be building from 5kts out of the West. This direction made for very tricky conditions compass degrees ranging from 255-300. There was no right way to sail in the conditions but American John Wallace put together a great day moving him up the fleet. He said his success was due to the fact that he started on the favored side and went to the opposite side to catch the shift and then tack back, a little crazy! Yellow fleet competitors sailed two races while the rest of the fleets sailed 3 due to Yellow fleet sailing a race the previous day.

After Day 4 I moved down considerably to 21st place

Day Five was very much like the previous day with erratic shifts, personal puffs and long waits. After waiting until 5PM to sail due to many scoring issues which had to be resolved(many weren’t) for the split of gold, silver, and bronze, we finally went out and sailed 2 more races in the puffy and shifty conditions. Places were inconsistent throughout the fleet and new US coach Caroline Brisebois, filling in for Bern Noack, measured the wind coming from compass directions of 180-230. The fleets all came in late but the girls came in latest, at 9PM.

After Day Five I moved down once again

Day Six, final day of racing started on time and instead of sitting around on land we sat around on the water because several restarts, postponements and wind shifts obstructed our racing. Finally a race was sailed in 15- 20 kt breeze, and yes there were huge shifts, puffs, and lulls.

After Day Six I moved down even more, and finished 67th. Not what I hoped for but it was an amazing experience and couldn't have asked for a tougher regatta. This regatta made me learn how good the competitors at the international level really are and also that I could compete with the best of them in steady conditions. I was proud to represent the USA and would gladly and willingly do so whenever possible

The results go as follows:
Top 10 Boys: 1st Alexios Katsios GRE, 2nd Jacob Shahar ISR, 3rd ViŠiĆ Toma CRO, 4th Yan Chekh RUS, 5th Filip Koziol POL, 6th Stefano Mazzofero BRA, 7th Filip Kobelski POL, 8th Christian Vitulano ITA, 9th Adrian Padilla Delgado ESP, 10th Chris Penney IRL.

Top 10 Girls: 1st Annina Takala FIN, 2nd Erika Reineke USA, 3rd Claire Dennis USA, 4th Emily Billing USA, 5th Olimpia Bosch Corral ESP, 6th Marie Bolou FRA, 7th Saima Plerpaite LTU, 8th Kate Sargent GBR, 9th Michon Pernelle FRA, 10th Evgeniya Kuznetsova RUS

Americans finished: Erika Reineke 2nd Girls, Claire Dennis 3rd Girls, Emily Billing 4th Girls, Alec Payne 68th Girls, John Wallace 36th Boys, Mateo Vargas 50th Boys, Dylan Finneran 67th Boys.
Results are at http://www.skovshoved-sejlklub.dk/6/public/raceShow.aspxrid=55