F18 Europeans 2018 @Costa Brava: Preview

Photo: Arg Scorpion + boomless Mischa DS. Brand new Nacra Infusion MKIII. – Plenty of top crews and candidates are present at Costa Brava for this 2018 Europeans. 70 boats lineup at Ballena Alegre camping resort. We are receiving pics & good comments from the place, which looks like a perfect venue.

Measurement today, practice race on Saturday and Sunday already 1st official race.

Candidates
Van dijk & de Waard (Infusion MK3/ Performance DS) , Brett Burvill & Max Puttman (Edge/Nextgen DS) , Simon Northrop & Josh O’Brien (Edge / Northtrop DS) , Patrick Demesmaeker & Gilles Tas (C2 / Goodall Design DS) , Danny Paschalidis & Kostas Trigonis (Scorpion / 1D DS) and Mitch & Ruben Booth (Scorpion / 1D DS) are the top candidates.

Also from Italy Vettori-Stella (C2/Goodall) Bianchini-Rigatti (Scorpion/1D) are crews to follow along Martin-Gaté from France. On our fellow countrymen from Argentina they will be launching brand new sails or boats, Volker-Mehl will race a new Scorpion with new Mischa DS sails design, and Smith-Heuser will also launch for the first time the new Infusion MKIII equipped with a 1D DS , so we hope they can adapt and trim quickly enough to compete 1 to 1 to the candidates above. They are certainly two of our best crews.

The Infusion MK3 features epoxy hulls, which design remains unscathed. Dagger case has been moved forward, following the trend established by Martin Fischer on the Wildcat / Phantom, that I followed too on the Scorpion. The MK3 is also equipped with convertible daggercase.

2017 World Champs Mischa Heemskerk & Sptephan Dekker will not attend, as A-Class Euros are too tight schedule next week, but Mischa is looking forward to attend Sarasota Worlds.

In terms of equipment, this will be a key historical event for the F18 Class development box rule. After Mischa & Stephan Title past year, sail devel has exploded again and this will be the first event with almost all designs and brands using DS sails, as seen above around 10 top competitive crews sailing different combinations of equipment, establishing an scenario for the first real tests on latest loft devels , along the new Epoxy hulls.
An historical event for the F18:  New looks , added performance and gladly a path looking forward to a long term survival of the class.

With a more open mind and common sense the Class voted yes for Epoxy & Convertible platform, also allowed DS and now analyze each new devel weighting pros and cons as it always should, like latest aero snuffer devels.
Burvill tried to pass his aero snuffer at measurement without success, check latest voting from the IF18CA on the matter : here

Check entry list here
Official F18 Europeans web ballena-alegre.com/en/events/f18-european-championship/

Europeans 2018 Schedule:
– Thursday 28th June 09.30-18.30h Registration and measurement
– Friday 29th June 09.30-18.30h Registration and measurement
– Saturday 30th June 09.30-18.30h 15.00h 19.00h Registration and measurement , Warning signal for practice race. Opening Ceremony and reception
– Sunday 1st July 14.00h 19.30h , 1st warning signal of the day.
– Monday 2nd July 12.00h 1st warning signal of the day.
– Tuesday 3rd July 12.00h 1st warning signal of the day. – Mid week party, dinner and music
– Wednesday 4th July 12.00h 1st warning signal of the day.
– Thursday 5th July 12.00h 1st warning signal of the day. Prize giving ceremony and reception
– Friday 6th July Official departure day
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