Here at Sailgroove, the regatta schedule has been in a bit of a lull in preparation for the craziness of late July-September: Opti Nationals will be broadcast LIVE next week, July 19-24, then comes US SAILING Youth Champs, Inland Lake Yachting Association's Championships, US SAILING's Sears, Bemis and Smythe Champs, I14 Nationals and the Finn Gold Cup (the class' world championship) LIVE from San Francisco. Crazy.
But across the pond from my home in Boston, Europe is or has been hosting a slew of big-time events for many of the top dinghy classes. Here is a breakdown, in case you haven't kept track of it all:
49er Europeans - July 5-10, Gdynia, Poland
GBR's Chris Draper and Peter Greenhalgh took home the European Championship, one of this summer's most competitive 49er events. USA's Erik Storck and Trevor Moore had a tough regatta, Moore plagued by bronchitis that caused them to skip the final day of racing. More at 49ereuropeans.org and storckmooresailing.com
Radial Worlds - July 10-14, Largs, Scotland
Scotland has delivered a range of conditions from dead air to gusty blasts, as well as a lot of rain and cold, for the 2010 Men's and Women's World Championships. After sitting in 0 knots for 5 hours on the final day, the regatta was finally called without a medal race.
FIN's Sari Multala took home the Women's Championship. USA's Paige Railey finished 3rd and Anna Tunnicliffe took a break from match racing to place 7th. Sarah Lihan grabbed a 21st. POL's Marcin Rudawski won the Men's Champs with only 6 points. USA's Mitchell Kiss finished 3rd and teammates Chase Shaw and Dodge Rees finished 20-21, respectively. Results, etc. at laserworlds2010.co.uk/radial
Disabled Sailing Worlds - July 9-14, Medemblik, The Netherlands
USA's Scott Whitman and Julia Dorset finished 2nd in the Skud18 class, 2 points behind GBR's Alexandra Rickham and Niki Birrell. Rick Doerr, Hugh Freund and Bryan Tabler finished 12th in the Sonars and Mark LeBlanc finished 15 in the 2.4m's. ifdsworlds2010.com
ISAF Youth Worlds - July 11-17, Istanbul, Turkey
The event isn't over for a few more days, but at press USA's Antoine Screve and James Moody narrowly lead the 29er class. Erika Reineke is in 6th in the Radial Girls division. Video on Sailgroove. Info at isafyouthworlds.com.
470 Worlds - July 12-18, The Hague, The Netherlands
On the Men's side, AUS's Matthew Belcher and Malcolm Page are dominating with a 1-1-1-5-(15) so far. USA's Stu McNay and Graham Biehl are in 16th. On the Women's side, NZL's Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie lead. USA's Erin Maxwell and Isabel Kinsolving are in 3rd with Amanda Clark and Sarah Chin in 12th.
Check out the video on the bottom of the page and don't miss live coverage of the medal race on Sunday at 470worlds2010.com
In domestic sailing news, Genny Tulloch won her 2nd US Women's Match Race title in a row last week in Chicago: Press Release
Next up is Sail for Gold in Weymouth, England, site of the 2012 Olympics. Look for all the world's best to be there.
To keep up with these events and more, visit sailgroove.org/results frequently.
