From July 18th to 22nd the European Championship in the boat class Tornado took place at the picturesque Achensee in Tyrol, Austria. A total of 25 sailors from 8 different nations, including a team from Australia, came to compete for the title of European Champion in the categories “Open” and “Mixed Team”.
The sailors were confronted with extremely tricky and complicated wind conditions during the regatta days. Wind shifts, light winds, strong winds and numerous thunderstorm cells presented the participants with a real challenge to adapt to the changing weather conditions.
The team FRA-2, Yoann Trécul and Thomas Ferrand from La Rochelle could convince with an impressive performance and secured the gold medal with a large margin. Second place was secured by the Swiss father/son team Marcel and Ben Steiner from Altenrhein with equally outstanding performances.
The bronze medal went to the red-white-red duo Angelika Kohlendorfer and Calvin Claus from Vienna/Austria. They proved an absolute international competitiveness despite their young age.
The exciting races, the perfect organization as well as the challenging wind conditions at the Achensee provided a top-class sailing event, of which the participants were very enthusiastic.
After the conclusion of the European Championship, Manfred Leixner, the president of the sailing club (SCTWV Achensee), drew an extremely positive balance. He was enthusiastic about the variety of conditions, which made the competition even more exciting.
Jürgen Jentsch, the president of the International Tornado Class Association (ITA), also reviewed the 2023 European Championship at Lake Achensee. He praised the SCTWV Achensee and its responsible persons, especially the president Manfred Leixner and captain of the Tornado fleet Achensee Norbert Sailer, for the perfect organization in one of the top destinations of Tyrol and Austria. Jentsch highlighted the warm Tyrolean hospitality and the impressive fringe events, which will remain in the memories of the sailors for a long time. Particularly noteworthy was the professional support of the Tornado EM by the association Achensee Tourismus with its media team, which provided reports and drone videos on social media for the highest national and international media response with 3 million clicks.
Markus Betz, the first chairman of the German Tornado Class Association, also took stock and was extremely happy that the European Championship 2023 took place at Lake Achensee. The different wind and weather conditions were an enormous challenge for the participants and demanded a high level of concentration on all race days.
The European Tornado Championship at Lake Achen will undoubtedly be remembered as an eventful and challenging event. The success of the event was due not least to the perfect organization of the SCTWV Achensee and the warm hospitality of Tyrol.