A Vintage Year for European J/22s(Paris, France)- The International J/22 class enjoys a "boutique" class of events throughout Europe during the course of every summer. With fleets in The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France and Italy, the J/22 sailors have a broad range of experiences available to them for sailing every summer-- they sure have fun sailing on a lot of Europe's more picturesque lakes and bays.
Over the past few years, the J/22s created their version of what the J/80s have enjoyed in France (their Coupe de France) by conducting their J/22 "Euro League", counting a number of regattas towards the overall count. The Euro League consists of the following four events- the Championnat de France, EC Travemunde Woche, the German Masters Championship and the Delta Lloyd J/22 Championships. This year had a record turnout of forty-eight participants in the League.
This
year's winner of the J/22 Euro League was, for the first time, the
French team on J/22 #1444 sailed by Reinier Brockerhoff.
Congratulations to Reinier's team! That is quite an awesome
accomplishment for the French J/22 fleet. Perhaps this is indicative of
the strengthened training program for some French J/22 teams preparing
for their J/22 Worlds in June 2012 held in Crouesty, France. Good news
for French sailors, but watch out for the Dutch, Germans, South Africans
and American J/22 teams!The balance of the leaderboard for the J/22 Euro League includes Rheinhold Gross sailing GER 1513 in second, a great showing for one of the top German teams. The third position Ronald Veraar's NED 1450, the top Dutch team. Fourth was Woulter Kollman on NED 1591 and fifth was Ivo Kok on NED 1600. For more French J/22 sailing information.
