The 2023 Open and U23 Finn Europeans has been officially opened at the Procelero Sport Club on the shore of Lake Balaton in Csopak, Hungary. Racing for the 70 Finn sailors from 21 nations begins Sunday after the practice race and opening ceremony on Saturday.
Around 50 Finns set out for the practice race Saturday afternoon in a quite shifty light wind that averaged around 6-8 knots. Laurent Hay from France won the pin and rounded the top in second behind Csaba Gaal from Hungary. Hay took the lead downwind and extended on the next two legs before pulling out at the gate to let Zdeněk Gebhart from Czech Republic take the win from Poland’s Bartosz Szydlowski and Hungary’s Svastits Attila.
In the evening the opening ceremony was held with 2020 Olympic silver medalist and club manager Zsombor Berecz leading the proceedings.
He said, “Thank you for coming to visit our beautiful country and our beautiful lake. I would like to thank all the sponsors and volunteers that make this event possible.”
He welcomed the race committee and jury before handing over to Finn class Executive committee member, Tim Tavinor.
He remarked, “It is an honour to be back on Balaton again, the fifth major championship here in the last 20 years, which highlights the history and prestige of the class here. The organisation so far has been impeccable, and quality of the communication and management has been wonderful. Looking at the forecast we are in for a challenging week. There is going to be a real mixture, something for everyone and the champion at the end of the week will be a worthy champion.”
Tibor Ambrus, the mayor of Csopak, responded by thanking the organising committee the volunteers and the class for bringing the event to Hungary and hoped it would be a great championship.
The President of the club László Hozmann then opened the championship to the raising of the Hungarian flag on the peninsula in front of the club.
Racing is schedule to begin Sunday at 10.00
