by Roland Gaebler
Behind us are difficult months and it is a really great feeling to sail such a constant series in various winds on Lake Constance at the Tornado European Championship. With the single places of 1-1-3-1-1-3-2-2 we could beat the favorites from Greece, who finished overall second and third. Also the renewed victory in the Mixed ranking makes us very happy. A total of 31 teams from 8 countries took part in the European Championships of the Tornado Class.
The winds blew light to strong. Off and onshore. From all directions. Various tactical options we experience on the race course close to the delta of the Rhine. It was not easy to find the right way with all the wind shifts and gusts. We had 4 different wind directions during one day! The sailing near the northern Alps are often very tricky.
Also we felt to be in a trible race with the Greek top sailors, who had an intensive preparation for this event. In this situation it was not easy for us to catch better tactical option to escape and overtake them and same way to handle the risk of a fatal wind shift. A 3rd place was our discard after 8 races! And with 4 single race wins, it’s one of our best series ever in sail racing.
In 2010, we beat the Greek Team at the World Championships. In the last two years they often overtook us in the final just by some points. Sometimes we felt a bit unlucky. This time we took the title three points ahead Jordanis Paschalides & Kostas Trigonis.
Since 2009 we sail together as a mixed team. It was our first win of an Open European Championship title in the Tornado for both of us. The Mixed Championship title we have now won four in a row. For Roland it was the 8th Open European Title in the Tornado Class since 1991.
For full results, click here
Team Gaebler
