PHOTO ALBUMS: Day One (Registration and Practice Race) / Day Two / Day Three / More Day Three / Day Five / Final Day / Closing Pics

It has been a week of hard racing and mental prowess at the Crocodiles de L'Elorn Club in Brest. Near 300 competitors altogether had gathered up here hoping to bring the European title home.

This was no easy feat for any of the champions as the level of all the fleets were very high and most of the windsurfers have had to give it their whole until the finish of the last race. The weather conditions kept them on their toes as the wind was shifty and there was no room for mistake. Everyone was on edge ashore to find out who would come out first in the event's ranking and in the European championship itself.

RS:X Youth Boys
In the 2013 Open Youth European Windsurfing Championship, Argentinian Bautista Saubidet-Brikner who's won 5 races out of 14 over the week logically wins the competition. Poland's Radoslaw Furmanski takes silver only one point ahead of Bronze medallist, Chun Ting Lee from Hong-Kong.
Artion Javadav from Belarus wins the U17 Class Champion title.

RS:X Youth Girls
The 2013 Open Youth European Windsurfing Championship has been closely fought by the girls with two races within the race. Gold and silver medals were one point apart when the day started and it is Israel's Hadar Heller who takes gold home with Britain's Noelle Finch taking silver. Saskia Sills and her sister Imogen Sills were also one point apart this morning so there was no sisterly love on the water for bronze. Saskia won two of the three medal races thus getting on the podium.
Shahar Tibi from Israel wins the U17 Class Champion title.

A sunny exciting day in Brest for the RS:X Europeans

For the 4th day of racing, the dream combination of sunshine and wind delighted the competitors. With 10 to 12 knots, the race committee treated the fleets with three races.

The competitors sailed under the watchful eye of Jean-Pierre Champion, President of the French Federation of Sailing and strong advocate for the RS:X class as an Olympic class, who declared: "It is important to celebrate the return and sustainability of windsurfing in the Olympic world. Windsurf is essential to sailing as a sport. Now, we must find the right racing formula for competitors and audiences alike. Visually, the class is very attractive but the events have to be understood by a large audience. I hope that this very symbolic championship, held in legendary Brest and organised by the local sailing club, les Crocodiles de l'Elorn is the very first step to the French windsurfing come back."

RS:X Youth Boys
Same podium two days running, will tomorrow bring change? Argentina's Bautista Saudibet-Birkner consolidates his lead with 40 points when second-placed Poland's Radoslaw Furmanski counts 52 and Chun Ting Lee 61. Artion Avadav from Bielorussia, France's Clement Bourgeois and Adrien Mestre, all competing for the Under 17 also make it to medal race day showing a Youth class filled with enthusiasm and drive.

RS:X Youth Girls
It's a very fierce battle that the girls are fighting as first and second are only 2 points apart and third and fourth are 1 point apart. Britain's Noelle Finch is holding tight to keep Israel's Hadar Heller at bay. British sisters Saskia and Imogen Sills will be keen to prove to each other who's the boss when local sailor Lucie Belbeoch also qualifies for tomorrow's races.

Long day at RS:X Europeans

It was the first of the two finals' races day today in Brest, France and morale had to be strong to manage the time spent waiting for the wind. But as the sky cleared up and the wind shyly tried to build up, the announcements on the race village kept the same song as no steady wind entered the Bay of Brest today.

The Gold Fleets of the RS:X class got lucky as the wind came in and the decision to go ahead with the regattas was taken at 6:30pm with a signal for the Youth fleet 30 minutes later. The Youth Boys RS:X races didn't bring any change in the top four. However, fantastic jump in the ranking for Evgeny Ayvazyan from Russia who finished 2^nd of the first race and won the second one and went from 19^th in the overall provisional ranking to 6^th! The performance for Frenchman Clement Bourgeois was slightly smaller but still to be noticed as he gained 4 places and now lies in 5^th after a podium in the second race. The top four still belongs, in that order to Argentina's Bautista Saudibet-Brikner, Poland's Radoslaw Furmanski, Hong Kong's Chun Ting Lee and Britain's Kieran Martin.

In the Youth Girls RS:X competition, Hadar Heller from Israel finished 3^rd and 4^th which opened the way for Britain's Noelle Finch and Imogen Sills. Though they all stay on the podium, the order is now Noelle Finch in the lead followed by Imogen Sills in second place and Hadar Heller third.

Full Results:

The second day of the 2013 RS:X European Windsurfing Championships, the RS:X Open Youth European Windsurfing Championships and the RS:One European Championships has left many 249 sailors from 38 countries feeling dazed and confused.

The Women and Girls were out first, starting where they ended yesterday - rigging up in the rain and gusty conditions. As they reached their respective race courses the rain had eased but the next challenge for the sailors was some incredibly challenging winds - going from 8 to 18 knots and swinging back and forth with no real consistency.

Over on the Youth's course all of the top three girls from yesterday were racking up some big scores. Heller Hadar (ISR) was most in tune with the conditions to post an impressive 1,1,3 score line and rocket her way up the leaderboard into sixth overall, discarding her OCS from yesterday. However it was another Israeli who jumped into the overall lead, Sahar Tibi overhauling the Brits of Saskia Sills and Noelle Finch and developing a five point lead.

Saskia Sills - "I just struggled to get into a rhythm. In the second race the top ten girls were all trying to sail without the daggerboard but it just didn't work out for us. We went around the top mark pretty down the pack and we had to work hard to keep our results sensible - it was definitely my discard."

In the afternoon when the Men and Boys came out the conditions were very much the same – tough going. In the Youth Men's fleet the Europeans still aren't getting it all their own way with Baustista Saudibet (ARG) and Chun Ting Lee (HKG) holding first and third. Splitting the two is Pole, Radoslw Furmanski. All of the top three took a race win today with only Furmanski having a better set of results and not posting a discard. Just a point off the top three Kieran Martin (GBR) also had a solid day posting 2,5,4 and these four have a clear lead over the chasing pack of French and Israeli sailors.

Thursday is a rest day for all fleets with many sailors looking to take in some of the beautiful sights of Brest and the surrounding areas before refocusing the mind ready for Round 2 and then the medal races. The Youth Men will now split into gold and silver fleets as well ; the Youth Women remain in a single Group.

It's a bit like Weymouth It's a bit like Weymouth

The 2013 RS:X European Windsurfing Championships, the RS:X Open Youth European Windsurfing Championships and the RS:One European Championships kicked off day one in superb sailing conditions of 15-17 knots, but less than ideal weather with rain sweeping across the race course at times during the day. The conditions invited the comment of, "It's just like Weymouth", home of the 2012 Olympic Sailing Competition and Olympic sailors for the past four years from coaches and sailors alike.

The schedule was split with the men taking to the water in the morning in both the RS:X senior and youth competition before the RS:X women and youth taking to Brest harbour in the afternoon. The Race committees set up quickly and efficiently and racing commenced at 1105 as advertised.

The Youth Boys results represent the world wide interest in the championships with Kerian Martin (GBR) leading the Europeans in second place being held off the lead by Bausista Saudibet of Argentina and being chased hard by Chun Ting Lee of Hong Kong on equal points just behind. Saudibet had a perfect scoreline of three race wins from his group with Martin and Lee also picking up a race win each. Local sailor Avel Danycan is holding local hopes high in fourth place just two points off second.

The Youth Girls event is looking to be a warm up for the upcoming ISAF Youth World Championships in Cyprus in a couple of week's time. Leading the form book is Saskia Sills (GBR), reigning ISAF Youth World Champion, and an ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Nominee from 2012. Saskia scored two race wins followed by a fourth to hold six points, but has compatriot Noelle Finch chasing hard just one point behind in second place. Sahar Tibi from Israel rounds out the top three after taking the race win in the third race of the day.

Rain again in the morning before the clouds are forecast to clear for the men in the afternoon. Tomorrow racing wise is important as it is the final day of qualification before the Men, Women and Youth Men get split into Gold and Silver fleets following the reserve day on Thursday.