The 2023 Finn European Masters in Campione del Garda opened Tuesday with two races on Lake Garda in a patchy and shifty southerly that provided tough challenges through the 92-boat fleet from 25 nations. Udo Murek, from Germany leads the event with Britain’s Martin Hughes in second after a 3,5 and Bas de Waal from The Netherlands in third with a 4,4. 
 
Allen Burrell, from Britain, won the opening race after making a big comeback from a poor start. Then Murek made the best of the second race for a comfortable win. The conditions started grey and 12-13 knots, but by race time had dropped to 6-9 knots, sunny skies, and high temperatures. Many of the favourites struggled in both races to get near the front.

Highlights from Day 1 - https://youtu.be/p_u9lByr_SQ

The day dawned with a colder southerly already in place and cloudy skies. The fleet set out in 12-13 knots of breeze but after one general recall, the skies had cleared and the wind had dropped to 6-9 knots. It was all about the cliffs on the east side today, with significantly less wind on the left side of the course. In the first race, Simon Bovay, from Switzerland, led round the top from Hughes, and Britain’s Jonathon Pyke. After a very mediocre start, Burrell headed right as well, but stayed out of trouble as the wind briefly died near the cliffs and then rounded the top mark in the chasing pack. He chose the best downwind route as well to round the gate behind Bovay, Hungary’s Tibor Pallay and Hughes, but then took the lead on the second upwind and extended on the right to take a comfortable lead down to the finish.

Race two was much the same with now most of the fleet heading to the cliffs. Murek rounded first from Peter Peet, from The Netherland’s and Britain’s Richard Sharp. Murek and Peet were neck and neck at the gate, but the German extended on the second upwind to round the top with a nice lead but no change in the top three. They finished in that order.
 

Murek was seventh, leaving him on equal points with Hughes who was elated after perhaps his day of sailing in a Finn.
 
Hughes said, “Today was a really interesting day. I started at the committee boat both races and was very lucky, managed to find a nice little hole to squeeze out, got all the way to the cliffs, and it was very lucky. Downwind, I lost a couple of places in both races, but hung on to fifth in the second race. But what a great sail, and what a great bit of water to be on. It was challenging today, definitely, the waves the wind, but it was just a great sail.”
 
Burrell commented, “I had a very lucky race, I had an awful start and went straight into the cliffs and there was a bit more pressure over that side, but I didn’t go in too close and kept in the pressure and that seemed to pay really nicely. Down the first run I also went towards the cliffs a little bit and there was more pressure again.” He finished 21st in the second race and is in ninth overall.

 
Racing continues Wednesday at 13.00 and concludes on Friday. Up to six more races are scheduled
 
Results after 2 races
1 GER 909 Udo Murek 8
2 GBR 567 Martin Hughes 8
3 NED 29 Bas De waal 8
4 HUN 5 Tibor Pallay 16
5 SUI 59 Simon Bovay 17
6 GBR 90 Richard Sharp 19
7 GBR 5 John Greenwood 19
8 NED 148 Peter Peet 21
9 GBR 2 Allen Burrell 22
10 POR 21 Filipe Silva 25
 
Results here: https://www.campioneunivela.it/regate/2023/campionato-europeo-finn-master/finn/
 
Gallery from Tuesday here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/finnclassphotos/albums/72177720310946070

The preparation is over and the 2023 Finn European Masters gets underway on Tuesday with 92 boats from 25 nations represented at Campione del Garda, in Italy. 

Two days of registration and measurement was followed by a flag ceremony at Univela Sailing on Monday evening after a textbook day of Lake Garda with the Ora filling in after lunch to 12-15 knots in 28-30 degrees for about 50 boats doing some last minute training.

At the Opening Ceremony on the club lawn, with spectacular views over Lake Garda, Tristano Vacondia from Univela Sailing welcomed the sailors to the club and was followed by the Finn Masters President, Andy Denison, who reinforced the welcome and spoke of the community of Finn sailors coming together for another great championship. The championship already has a great community atmosphere with most of the competitors staying at the club or close nearby and enjoying the fabulous hospitality of the club every evening.

Apart from one day the water, Lake Garda has been kind with nice winds and temperatures in the high 20s, and while the wind is predicted to reduce slightly, the forecast for the week is looking good.

Racing is scheduled to begin at 13.00 on Tuesday with an eight-race series through until Friday.

Gallery from Monday here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/finnclassphotos/albums/72177720310946070

The 2023 Finn European Masters takes place next week at Campione del Garda, Italy. There are 98 entries from 23 nations on the entry list. It’s the last major championship of the year and has attracted a diverse fleet including a number of non-Europeans.
 
The host club, Univela Sailing, is located at the northern end of Campione del Garda, a small village on the western side of Lake Garda. The club is a self-contained facility that was used as an Italian training base. It occupies a magnificent location with beautiful views across the lake.
 
With 98 entries it will the largest Finn European Masters ever held and an indication that Finn sailing continues to develop, and that the fleet remains as deep as ever.
 
World No 1. Laurent Hay, from France, is perhaps considered a favourite. He is still looking for a first major win, following runner up placings at all three major events so far this year – Finn Gold Cup, Europeans and World Masters, which cemented his position at the top of the World Rankings. Last year's champion, Giacomo Giovanelli, from Italy, is not defending his title this year.
 
However, competition on Garda will be tough with a number of other top ranked and former class champions taking part. Valerian Lebrun, also from France, won the Finn World Masters in 2021. World No. 4 Filipe Silva from Portugal won the Finn World Masters earlier this year in Kavala and is the only competitor taking part to have won the European Masters before, back in 2019. 
 
From The Netherlands, Peter Peet was third at the World Masters in 2022 and fifth in Kavala, while Bas de Waal was runner up at the 2021 European Masters. France’s Florian Faucheux finished third in Spain last year while Spain’s David Terol, Britain’s World No. 7, Lawrence Crispin, and two-time World Masters champion, John Greenwood, Denmark’s Otto Strandvig, Slovakia's World no. 8, Peter Mosny, third at the 2023 World Masters and Australia’s Paul Mckenzie will be sure to be challenging the front of the fleet.
 
Garda is always a favourite for the Finn class and with much of northern Europe seemingly heading into an early Autumn, many are looking forward to a week of typical Garda weather with temperatures in the high 20s and reliable winds.
 
Registration and equipment inspection begins on Sunday 3 September, with a series of eight races from 5-8 September.