With only one race possible on Monday at the SSL Gold Cup Brasil 2026 European Qualifiers, Tuesday was going to be intense for the teams, with a full schedule of racing to try and bring the schedule back on track.
Thankfully the conditions in the morning and the forecast for the afternoon were far better, so the signs were good for an action-packed day.
Group E Race 1
Finally the Belgian Sea Devils, Lithuanian Ambers, Norwegian Norsteam and Serbian Eagles got out on the race course.
In a similar way to Group D on Monday, the whole fleet crossed the line 6 seconds late with Serbia winning the pin and getting the best start, while Belgium were just above Lithuania with Norway on their hip, forced to tack away first.
Lithuania managed to hold their line beneath Belgium, while Serbia powered off the left. Norway tacked back onto starboard with a huge lift on the right, and it wasn’t long before the race committee abandoned the race since the teams were going to make the windward mark in one tack.
The fleet sailed back downwind for the second attempt, where once again they were very late across the line. With a left shift in the final minute before the gun, Lithuania managed to cross the fleet on port before winning the committee boat end and were the first team to start, albeit 11 seconds late.
The Lithuanian Ambers, Belgian Sea Devils and Norwegian Norstream teams were tightly packed heading to the right upwind, while the Serbian Eagles took a more central path. The fleet made for an awesome sight with the teams fully hiking. Lithuania were forced into a dip on starboard and then duck on port behind Belgium and Norway at the windward mark when they misjudged the layline by the finest of margins.
Downwind the racing was just as intense, with Norway holding Belgium from gybing on the layline, allowing Lithuania right back into the battle, and the teams splitting at the leeward gate: Norstream and the Eagles took the left buoy while the Ambers and Sea Devils went right.
The fleet split upwind based on their gate rounding choice, with Lithuania and Belgium on the left hand side, while Norway and Serbia went right. The teams all locked in on port on a left wind shift, hiking to the max to try and make the slightest gain.
The left shift propelled Lithuania into the lead at the final windward mark, while Belgium had to duck Norway with Serbia on their tail.
Rokas Milevičius and the Ambers consolidated their advantage, powering downwind at 15 knots to the finish line ahead of Eivind Melleby and the Norstream, while Emma Plasschaert’s Sea Devils and Tihomir Zakic’s Eagles had an almighty battle for third, with Belgium coming out on top at the final gybe.
On this evidence, Group E is going to be fought tooth and nail with all four teams capable of winning.
Lithuanian helm Raimondas Šiugždinis reflected on their excellent start, and how the team felt: “It may have looked calm, but it was hard work! At the first mark there was trouble for us, but later we went better and better, and the finish was good. It was painful to duck two teams, but we can’t take risks, so we decided to tack and I think it was a good decision.”
Group E Race 2
Lithuania won the committee boat end, while Belgium came out best at the pin, with both teams bang on the line this time.
The margins between the teams on the first upwind leg were tiny with the lead changing constantly. The Ambers tacked right on the Sea Devils bow, prompting Emma Plasschaert to wave the protest flag, but the umpires deemed the tack to be clean. The Belgian team used a high mode to climb out of the Lithuanian’s dirty air, as the two teams battled at the top, while Norway and Serbia engaged in their own tight battle 30 seconds adrift at the windward mark.
The Ambers controlled their position beautifully on the downwind leg, taking the right buoy option at the leeward gate, while the Sea Devils went left. Norway, who had pulled themselves right back into the battle, had a disastrous spinnaker drop, collecting a few fish in the kite and taking them right out of contention.
Meanwhile at the front, Lithuania were forced to duck Belgium on the first cross, with the Sea Devils helm Yannick Lefebvre settling right into the groove of the SSL47 yachts. The Ambers move to the right proved to be the correct one, as on the next cross helm Raimondas Šiugždinis had powered the Lithuanians back into the lead.
The private battle between the Ambers and Sea Devils allowed the Serbian Eagles to sail their own race, and coming into the final windward mark they forced the Ambers to duck and moved into the lead.
Belgium encountered a problem with their spinnaker hoist leaving Serbia and Lithuania to battle it out for the win, with the Ambers managing to sail a slightly deeper line and regain the lead, choosing their gybe position and collecting their second race victory.
Meanwhile, Belgium had recovered from their poor spinnaker hoist and caught Serbia as the Eagles gybed with their spinnaker hitting the Sea Devils rigging. The Umpire’s flag was raised, so Serbia had to complete a penalty turn before finishing, allowing Norway to come through to finish third after their earlier spinnaker problems, relegating the Serbian Eagles from first to last in the final leg.
Action-packed from beginning to end, this was SSL Gold Cup racing at its very best.
For Serbia’s Captain Tihomir Zakic it was a bitter pill to swallow, going from first to last in one leg: “We can see that we have all we need: we have speed, we have good tacks and gybes, we have everything, but we didn’t have luck today.”
Group D Race 2
With one boat needing a quick repair, the Race Committee switched groups, since D has only three teams in it. The teams lined up with Estonia and Lithuania powering across the line perfectly, while Austria were a fraction late at the Committee Boat end.
The wind had slightly eased, and this race felt like a pause for breath after the frantic place-changing in Group E’s first two races. Estonia sailed beautifully and cleanly, cruising to a 100 metre lead over the first lap, while Slovenia comfortably held a 50 metre lead over Austria.
Even a poor hoist by Slovenia on the final downwind leg wasn’t enough for Austria to do any more than close the gap a little, and the Estonian Icebreakers picked up their second race win, with Slovenia and Austria now tied on 3 points.
Group D Race 3
With the breeze down slightly at between 8 and 12 knots, and with a right shift, the three yachts had to tack onto port to start. Estonia again made the best start, leading the fleet away on the big left shift, with Slovenia on their hip and Austria to leeward.
The race was looking processional again, with the Estonian Icebreakers leading the Slovenian Krpani 1860 team and the Austrian Eagles trailing, until Austria spotted a left shift on the second upwind leg which tightened things up significantly.
While Estonia and Slovenia battled it out on the right, the Austrians powered through on the left and into the lead.
Rounding the final windward mark, Slovenia had an issue with the spinnaker drop line, allowing Estonia to pull away. The Austrian Eagles soared to their first win, Estonia took second, while Slovenia had to settle for third.
Austrian Captain Thomas Zajac was happy to find the shift which propelled them to the win: “We knew we needed a bullet to stay in touch, and we decided to go for the harder manoeuvre at the gate, and we were actually quite confident to go to the left. In Austria we don’t have any sea, we are born on lakes with mountains around, so usually we really enjoy the shifty stuff.”
Estonia continue to lead on 8 points, with Austria closing the gap on 6 and Slovenia on 4 points.
Estonian helm Mati Sepp, was happy to finish the day at the top of the Group D leaderboard: “It was a strong breeze, and if you make mistakes other teams jump past. The final race was quite dangerous with our two opponents on opposite sides, so you can’t be in both places at once.”
Group E Race 3
It was again a cautious start by the fleet, with Belgium having to peel away at the pin end, misjudging their approach, and Norway getting their nose ahead of Lithuania and Serbia as they powered away on port tack. Belgium were left nearly 200 metres behind.
The Belgian Sea Devils, knowing they had to try something different, went hard left upwind and closed the gap on the leaders at the first windward mark.
The Lithuanian team had a rare boathandling error on the spinnaker hoist, with a huge twist proving tricky to remove. This let both Serbia and Belgium close the gap while Norway charged ahead, but you can never count the Ambers out; they closed to within just 14 seconds at the leeward gate.
Upwind the Norwegian Norstream team kept a close eye on the Lithuanian Ambers, protecting their position, while the Belgian Sea Devils closed in on the Serbian Eagles. Yet another frantic Group E race was unfolding.
The final downwind leg saw the Norwegian team looking over their shoulder at the Lithuanians, with Eivind Melleby trying to stay calm as they approached the finish with their lead reducing by the second. The yachts converged neck and neck, with Lithuania putting in a late gybe and being pipped to the win by just two seconds. Belgium couldn’t quite close the gap on Serbia, having to settle for fourth.
Norwegian tactician Helene Næss “It was good fun! We had some decent breeze, planing on the downwind legs, which was cool. It was quite difficult, especially when we didn’t come off the line that well and didn’t have the first choice as to which way to go. Going right paid off most of the time, but it was quite hard coming back as it kept going. Finding the right moment was crucial, especially in the first race.”
This leaves Lithuania leading on 11 points, with Norway just 2 points back, then Belgium on 6 points with Serbia on 4.
Lithuanian helm Raimondas Šiugždinis says the comprehensive broadcast is going to be very useful in the team’s debrief, especially in finding the high mode upwind which teams like Belgium have discovered: “We will look at the video and see what they’re doing. We couldn’t go so high, but we are fast.”
Wednesday’s forecast is mixed, but as we’re learning, anything can happen on the lake, and probably will!
We will be bring you all the action live on www.youtube.com/@Starsailors
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