Tuesday 16 September 2008

Neugodnikov Wins the European Match Racing Championship YAVA Trophy 2008


The finals: Eugeniy Neugodnikov (Russia) versus Manuel Weiller (Spain). Image copyright YAVA Trophy.

by Yana Dobzhitskaya

The finals of EuroSAF European Match Racing Championship, the YAVA Trophy 2008, appeared to be short, dynamic and interesting.

Nick Cherry (Great Britain) won two races against last year's YAVA Trophy winner, Staffan Lindberg (Finland), in the petit-finals and took third place in the Championship.

Tough competition for the title of European Champion was expected, but Eugeniy Neugodnikov (Russia) beat Manuel Weiller (Spain) leaving him no chance to win. Neugodnikov won the main trophy of the Championship, the “Piraterne Trophy”.

Right after the finals the fleet race was held. The best 8 skippers with their crews and VIP guests participated in this race. By that time Peter Wibroe's crew members had already gone home, but the Race Committee suggested to the skipper a wonderful idea - to race with a female crew.

Wibroe's crew consisted of the Race Committee members - two race officers from the starting boat, Natalia Fedorova and Nina Musikhina, the race officer on the boat changing, Elena Morozova, and the chief secretary of the event, Yana Dobzhitskaya. Despite their 8th place finish, this team was the most popular and was supported by all the spectators of the race.

The crew of Alvaro Marinho (Portugal) was the leader of the fleet race, but he didn’t read the Sailing Instructions and tried to finish one round early. It was too late to correct the errror when he realized that his competitors were far ahead.

The fleet race winner was Tomislav Basic (Croatia). Evgeny Neugodnikov took second place, with Jelle Roos (the Netherlands) in third position.

There were said many kind words and congratulations on the prize giving ceremony. The medals and cups were awarded. The banquet, the festive concert and dancing followed the official part of the ceremony.

The final results of the EuroSAF European Match Racing Championship YAVA TROPHY 2008 are:

1 Eugeniy NEUGODNIKOV, Russia
2 Manuel WEILLER, Spain
3 Nick CHERRY, Great Britain
4 Staffan LINDBERG, Finland
5 Alvaro MARINHO, Portugal
6 Francesco BRUNI, Italy
7 Peter WIBROE, Denmark
8 Tomislav BASIC, Croatia
9 Eric MONNIN, Switzerland
10 Carsten KEMMLING, Germany
11 Andrew ARBUZOV, Russia
12 Pierre-Antoine MORVAN, France
13 John BAECK, Sweden
14 Marek STANCZYK, Poland
15 Jelle ROOS, Netherlands
16 Jon BRECELJ, Slovenia

YAVA Trophy 2008

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