🥇Congratulations to Cam Owen & Suz Ghent from the Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club/Nedlands Yacht Club from Australia with 64 points after 16 races.
🥈The second place went to the Danish team of Nicklas Heide & Josephine P. Frederiksen (Aarhus Sejlklub/Hellerup Sejlklub) with 88,00 points.
🥉And third place went to Jens Goritz & Kerstin Wichardt (Föhrer Katamaran Klub Ev./Hohwachter Yacht-Club Hoyc) from Germany with 114,00 points.
Also representing the Aussies, Peter & Juliet Bates finished in second during the qualifying series, whilst Lachlan MacFarlane & Bella Wilson finished in 19th, both qualifying comfortably for gold fleet. Both QLD teams sailed admirably on Lake Garda in range of tricky conditions, with Pete & Jules finishing up in 17th overall, whilst Lachy & Bella placed 31st in the 50 boat gold fleet.
During these final series, we have seen various wind conditions with the northern breeze in the morning called Péler which would blow early in the morning until late morning. This allowed the sailors to have a lunch break before the Race Committee would send them out in the afternoon with the South breeze called Ora.
Overall, the notorious Australians, CamO & Suz, have dominated these Europeans by scoring consistent results, always at the pointy end of the fleet, no matter the wind conditions.
Here’s what Suz had to say on behalf of the team:
What a week in Lake Garda at Univela.org Campione for the Hobie European Championships! Loads of fun with Hobie friends, challenging racing, an amazing venue and very cool matched gold fleet Hobie sails.
Stoked to have a win in the Hobie 16 Open Series and be crowned European Championship winners 2024. There were 82 teams from many countries in the Open event. Well done everyone, great racing. Nice to be on the podium with our good friends from Denmark and Germany.
We kicked off the regatta with a second place in the Masters Series placing behind the 2023 European Open Champions, good racing guys.
CamO and I thank Vaikobi for dressing us in awesome sailing and shore gear. Our charter boat from Andy at Dinsdale Watersports and Stickl Sportcamp -Wassersport am Gardasee and our Clubs at home Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club and Nedlands Yacht Club.
Awesome to see so many sailors competing across the Hobie 16, Hobie 16 spinnaker, Hobie 14 and Dragoon classes. Juniors, youth, older and even a bit older with a balance of guys and girls as always with our Hobie fleet.
Great event European Hobie Class Association and thank you for the hard work put in to run such a fun championship with the Univela Campione team. Loved it!
We also had some special prizes in several categories:
Oldie but Goodie – Jens Goritz (GER)
Youngest Team – Lilia Hrynkiewicz/Natalia Ko Odziejska (POL)
Best Women ‘s Team – Camille Siguret/Norah Dal Fabbro (FRA)
Best Mixed Team – Cam Owen/Suz Ghent (AUS)
Furthers travelled Team – Lachlan Macfarlane/Isabella Wilson (AUS)
MVP of the Event – Tristano Vacondio (Univela Sailing Club) (ITA)
Congratulations to all participants of the 50th Hobie Cat 16 Europeans 2024 in Univela Campione, Lake Garda, Italy.
We look forward to seeing you all at next year’s Hobie MultiEuropeans 13-23rd August 2025 in Ustka, Poland ⛵
Results, photos and videos:
