(Zierikzee, Netherlands)- The 2013 J/22 European Championships had an
excellent turn-out of twenty-eight teams from across Europe with teams
representing The Netherlands, Germany and France.With so many good teams, it was busy on the starting line and at the mark roundings, causing many boats to flip-flop from the front of the fleet to the back more than once in the eleven races sailed. The French and German teams were really surprised by the erratic flow of the current and wind conditions in the Oosterschelde - reason for no less than three general recalls in the third round on Saturday - and somewhat variable wind.
Stan Heltzel, regatta chief of the Dutch J/24 class organization, was very pleased with the facilities and the organization: "We have eighteen Dutch teams sailing and that is a strong participation for our fleet. The J/22 has strict one-design class rules, is a very affordable boat and, therefore, is particularly suitable for student teams."
After
eleven races, Holger Neuhaus from Dortmund, Germany and his team on
BANANA JAMA (Daniel Scheer and Jörg Friedlein) were crowned 2013
European Champions after a cliff-hanging tie-breaker with a
1-7-5-2-1-1-4-1-1-5 record for 28 pts net. Starting in first after the
initial day of racing, they never looked back and sailed a beautiful
series to take their first big J/22 win. Team BIGLIFT / JAM SESSION of
TU Delft, led by Rikst Dijkstra was second with an equal number of
points with a scorecard of 4-2-2-8-5-3-1-3-6-1 for 28 pts net, but lost
the tie-breaker based on number of first places. Finishing third was
Frenchman Charles Nichaux sailing JAZZY with a 8-4-14-10-2-5-16-2-2-8
for 57 net pts.Rounding out the top five were two more Dutch boats, fourth was Peter van Doornmalen's GAP with 63 pts net and fifth was Misja Adamczyk's XJE Sailing Team with 73 pts net. Sailing photo credits- Anusjka Martens - Objectivo.nl For more J/22 Europeans sailing information
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