A shortened course played into the hands of local pairing Matthias Hellstern and Cathal Donovan, who became Mirror European champions in light winds yesterday off Kinsale but only after closing the gap on England's McGovern brothers on the last tack in the last leg of the last race to clinch the International Mirror crown for Ireland.
German-born Hellstern and Donovan, who lost their overall lead on Tuesday in spite of a string of consistent results, were one of six pairs who could have won the 100-boat championship that ended only after shifting winds forced four aborted starts, two postponements and three general recalls.
Fourteen boats were black flagged for premature starts, but Hellstern's consistency in recording one, two, three, four, four, and six in the course of the seven-race regatta paid off, and even back in fifth place midway through yesterday's race he was able to keep in touch at the back of the lead bunch. The familiarity of home waters gave him the confidence to split tacks after a 90-degree wind shift and take a hitch out to the right hand size of the course, a move that brought him the lead and the European title.
In Athens David Burrows continued to challenge the leaders at the Finn Gold Cup and yesterday, in 12 knot breezes, posted fifth, his third top-10 result of the series, to place him 13th on the leader board with one race left to sail. Irish Atlanta representative John Driscoll improved on earlier results and scored an 18th to move up to 35th overall, 10 places ahead of clubmate Colin Chapman of Ballyholme YC in 45th place.
