Ben Miller and Steven Forteith travelled with their waszps by car to France to compete in the 140-stong fleet racing on Quiberon Bay. This was part of the European Slalom and European Championship trophies between July 18 and July 22.
The bay is renowned for its flat water and perfect foiling conditions, with the first
day’s racing marked for the slalom competition as 140 boats traversed a reaching/gybing course in flights of 20.
The top ten finishers in each fleet qualified for the next round until there were only 20 boats left.
Ben sailed well, but had a tough draw for round one and was eliminated in the early stages. Meanwhile, Steven won his opening heat and eventually made the European Slalom final qualifying with a sixth place finish in the semi-final.
The final 20 waszps were set for a three-race final, with Steven struggling to match
the speed of the full-time sailors. He eventually finished 19th overall, but said he was happy to have made it that far after a fantastic result amidst the fleet.
This was really good progress from his performance in last year’s World Championships when he was eliminated in the second round.
Ben decided to gain experience at the event and moved to a coached racing fleet to help advance his foiling skills.
After a successful four days, he won this fleet overall. This was a superb achievement showing Ben’s promise in waszp racing for the future.
Steven also had a solid two days in the main qualifying fleet and just missed out
on the Gold Fleet following a couple of race retirals because of gear failure.
He had several excellent results in the top 30, but competed in the Silver Fleet and ended the week fighting for overall silver fleet honours.
Going into the final day, Steven had a seven-point lead in this fleet, but with
marginal foiling conditions, he struggled to find the consistency seen in his earlier regatta performances.
He eventually finished seventh overall in the Silver Fleet where the podium line up
included the 2012 French 470 Olympian, the waszp boat designer and a waszp sail
GP winner.
Ben and Steven are now looking forward to the Scottish Waszp Championships at
Loch Lomond Sailing Club, with Steven looking to defend his Scottish Waszp Champion title.
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