Soling European Championship: Norwegian Nergaard new Soling European champion
15 Soling crews from nine nations sailed eight races on four days of regattas for the Soling European Championship. The title decision was made today, on the last day of racing. In the Starboot Eastern Hemisphere Championship, Piet Eckert (Switzerland) continues to lead ahead of Marin Misura (Croatia) and Max Kohlhoff (Germany).
The new Soling European champions are Kristian Nergaard, Johan Barne and Tomas Mathisen and come from Norway. The eleven-time world champion in the 5.5 class Nergaard started the regatta as one of the big favorites. The decision was made today after the first of two races, which Nergaard won, putting him unassailably at the top of the ranking ahead of the Hungarian crew Sandor Varjas, Laszlo Kovacsi and Gabor Meretei.
The second-placed Sandor Varjas continues his series and is vice European champion in Soling for the third time in a row. After crossing the finish line in the first run, the two teams decided not to start in the second day's race because it would no longer have had any influence on the final result.
On the last day, Peter Hall improved by one place and finished the European Championship in third place. In addition to many other titles in Soling and other classes, the Canadian also holds three world championship titles (2011, 2012 and 2014) in Soling. The previous third, Rudy den Outer from Holland, the 2021 Soling European Champion, slipped to fourth place.
The Soling field under spinnaker, led by Canadian Peter Hall, who won the third race of the day. Photo: Pepe Hartmann
Michael Dietzel, president of the German Soling Class Association and helmsman of the only German crew in the field of 15 Solinge, came ninth. Dietzel was disappointed by the German fleet's participation: "It's a shame that even the Berliners didn't make the short journey to Warnemünde," said the Bavarian. “The Dutch, on the other hand, were there with four boats, and the Norwegian participation was also very good with three teams.” This already makes us excited for the Solinge World Championships next year in Hankø in Norway, said Dietzel. Dietzel had only words of praise for the regatta: “Everything went well and the weather and the wind gave us great pleasure. It was everything you want Warnemünde to be like.”
In total, the Solingen were able to complete their entire racing schedule of eight races, although they were unable to sail on their first day of regatta last Wednesday due to too much wind. On Thursday three races were sailed in good conditions, and on Friday there were also three, despite strong and very light winds. Today, with its three races, contrary to the weather forecast, it was a perfect ending with dream conditions for the European Championship.
Peter Ramcke, sports director Warnemünder Woche commented: “The Soling European Championships had everything on offer in terms of weather: from light wind to medium wind to great weather today. More is not possible!"
