One of Hampshire’s premier sailing venues, Hayling Island Sailing Club in Chichester Harbour, will host the 1999 Europe European Championships between the 18-23 July 1999. The event is anticipated to bring together over 120 of Europe’s top Olympic Class helmswomen, with up to 80 helmsmen contesting the men’s division.

Hayling will also host the Europe National Championships and Open Week in the preceding week, when up to 20 British sailors will be competing for the national title. It will also be the last opportunity for sailors of all nationalities to qualify for a European Championship slot, with the top ten non qualified boats from the Open week all claiming a berth for the Europeans.

The event has been awarded funding from Sport England’s World Class Events Programme as part of the RYA’s drive to bring one World or European Olympic Class Championship to the UK each year.

For a number of competing nations, Great Britain included, the Europeans will be part of their Olympic selection process; a fact which will no doubt raise the intensity of selection throughout the fleet.

Internationally, the class is currently dominated by European sailors, with the Gold and Silver Medallist at the 1992 (Barcelona) and 1996 (Savannah) Olympic Games and a majority of the world champions since the class was granted Olympic status 1989 all being European based.

As such, the European championships promise to be a spectacular showcase of the level of competition expected at the Sydney Olympic Games in September 2000. At least 24 nations will be represented with entries from as far a field as Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Canada, Brazil and the USA.

On behalf of the RYA, Olympic Manager John Derbyshire said: “The European Championships represent a great opportunity for our young sailors to experience Olympic level competition in the UK. Events of this nature are essential to our future medal winning potential as they increase the number of sailors racing in these classes”.

Barry Blaydes, Rear Commodore of Hayling Island Sailing Club and Event Director, said: “We are proud that the International Europe Class has selected our club as the venue for this major event and we are pleased to be organising it in association with the class association and the RYA”.

All the information on the championships, ranging from entry details and notice of race to daily reports and results during the regatta cane be found on the event website at http://www.intersail.co.ukeurope1999