#1720 - In a star studded cast in Baltimore, West Cork the 1720 European Championships finished on Saturday with National Champions Mark Mansfield and Terry English retaining their Euro title but only in the last race of the championship.
The result means Mansfield/English have won the last two Europeans and last two Nationals since they bought their current boat at the start of 2011.
The class is experiencing a resurgence of interest with inexpensive boats, one design racing and a good social aspect to the events (including finishing regattas on Saturdays to ensure a good final prizegiving night) credited as key points in the rebirth of the class over the last three years.
The Euro event was sponsored by Corona beer and sailed from Thursday to Saturday. 1720s came from Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales to compete with an 18 boat fleet sailing under race officer David O'Brien.
Two races were sailed on last Thursday's first day of racing in 7 to 8 knots and both were won by London Olympian Peter O'Leary who took a four point lead into day 2 over Mansfield/English.
Day two was sailed in 12/13 knots and a 1, 1, 3 in the three races put Peter's brother Nicholas O' Leary (a triple winner of the All Ireland sailing championships) into a one point lead over Peter with Mansfield/English a further 3 points back.
The final day was sailed in perfect sunny 18/20 knot conditions with 3 races. Mansfield/English took a 1st and a 3rd in the first two races to close the gap on the two O'Leary boats going into the last race.
In the end Mansfield emerged two points clear with Nicholas (who had Sydney Olympian Maria Coleman as a crew member) had to be content with second overall. Third place went to Olympic Star rep, Peter in Wet 'n'Ready.
Full results downloadable below as a jpeg file.
The Irish 1720 class has added a further two boats to its fleet number this season. The next port of call for the class is Royal Cork's CH Marine sponsored October league.
