A magnificent eight Irish teams competed on the beautiful waters of Lake Garda last weekend. After last years inaugural Europeans at the DL Regatta, this year the Dun Laoghaire Hyland trophy headed to Lake Garda where 25 teams competed for the title. As well as the Irish, teams came from USA, GBR, SUI, AUS, CAN, POR, NED and ITA. With 9 nations sailing and some international stars stepping into the boats, this years event was notable for the very high standard of racing throughout the fleet.

Lake Garda, seen as a bucket list sailing venue by many did not disappoint, "Sailing Heaven" was a phrase often heard from a few of the travelling Irish. Day 1 saw the teams racing on the Southern part of the Lake with a gentle Ora breeze of from 8-12 knots allowing competitors to ease themselves into contention. The much documented cliff affect was in full force with the extraordinary site of almost the entire fleet short tacking along the right hand side of the course as close to the cliffs as possible. A highlight of the day was an Irish win in Race 3 after a pillar to post victory.

Wary of difficult conditions in the afternoon of Day 2, the Race team set the start for 8am with a firm Peler wind expected from the North. Day 2 saw the windiest races of the regatta with a firm 18 knots at the start of the day delivering extremely exciting conditions. The visual of 25 Melges 15s blasting down between the high cliffs at 16 knots plus was a sight to behold. After 3 more races in a declining breeze, the GBR team of Simon and Katie Horsefield led overnight. Off the water by 11:30 the sailors enjoyed the sites of the beautiful town of Riva Del Garda with many flavours of Gelato to be tasted.

Day 3 saw a return to afternoon racing with an Ora Breeze of 15 knots. This day was a rollercoaster of emotion for many, highlighting the standard at this years Euros. The seemingly impregnable overnight leaders tumbled to 13 and 9 to finish second overall, and the top US team, Midwinter Champions Toby Sullivan and Graham Ness who had been third overnight picked up a 15 and 21 to finish 6th overall. Meanwhile the triple Etchells World Champion Ben Lamb and skipper Zoe Dransfield picked up two bullets to move to 7th and the top Swiss j70 sailor Muller Emanuel bagged two seconds to move up to 4th overall.

Oliver Gray and Adler Johnson of Lake Geneva Yacht club from the USA ended as very worthy champions. The pair of 18 year olds somehow kept every race result inside the top 6, showing that winning races is not everything in such a sharp fleet. For sure, growing up Lake Sailing must have helped their strategy. The Irish team ended up with the top Master prize (Andrew Fowler, Cian Lynch) and also the retained the top Family prize (John and Katie Sheehy). For everyone the highlight of the event was perhaps the sail in on Sunday, 20 minutes downwind in increasing breeze as the teams raced between the cliffs for the glory to be first home.

Overall it was a truly spectaular trip. The sailing conditions on the water being matched by the stunning scenery and unending suppy of gelato, aperol spritz and quality pasta ashore. Next years Europeans in the Netherlands are already booked for many of the teams!

Next up on the Irish Calendar is the National Championships on August 22/23 at the Royal Irish Yacht Club

Irish M15 sailors Revel in Riva at the Melges Europeans