2021 Waszp Slalom and U20 European Champion, Charlie Cullen of the Royal St. George Yacht Club finished eighth overall at the 2022 Europeans held on the lagoon of Mar Menor in Spain.
The competition was tight with nine of the top 10 from last year’s Europeans racing once again, all with a chance of taking the title.
Day one of the regatta saw light winds. causing most boats to fall off their foils but after a tough start Cullen finished the day placing sixth.
Day two saw an earlier start with a strong breeze and with 5 races scheduled, a shift in the leaderboard was expected. Winds up to 25 knots blew down the Mar Menor lagoon making for some exciting racing. A capsize in the first race saw the Royal St George sailor drop back to 8th but he recovered well with a 2, 6, 2 in the following races ending the day in 4th position.
Charlie Cullen finished eighth overall at the 2022 Europeans
Light winds saw racing abandoned for Day three but Day four saw Cullen in second place after eight races. With little margin for error and a few unfortunate mistakes, he went into the final day in 6th position overall. There was a spread of only 10 points between the first six sailors and only five points separating sailors from 2nd to 6th position, with one point between each sailor, which made for a nail-biting event.
But after a scintillating battle between Italy’s Francesco Bertone and GB’s Ross Banham, the Italian came on top finishing one point behind the Brit. For Cullen, a podium finish wasn’t meant to be after two tricky races. He said, “ I want to say huge congrats to Francesco, Ross and Jann. They sailed a great event. For me, it was a tough finish but I learned a lot which will stand to me going into the Worlds in Lake Garda this summer”.
Cullen finished eighth overall tied on points with last year’s 2021 champion Matt Beck who took seventh on countback. It is a great result for the young sailor improving on his 10th overall finish in last year’s European event, making it Ireland’s best-ever performance at the Waszp Europeans. Next up is the World Championships in Lake Garda this summer.
Results here
