Valerian Lebrun, from France, has taken the early lead at the 2025 Open Finn Europeans in Naples, Italy, after two challenging races in a very unstable breeze. Italy’s Arkadii Kistanov and Estonia’s Deniss Karpak took a win each and sit in second and third. 111 boats from 20 nations are taking part.
The northerly offshore wind produced a minefield of a race course with big holes, big shifts, gusts, lines and patches all over the Gulf of Naples, that left many sailors pointing all directions while trying to head in one direction. While the wind was slightly more stable in the first race, in the second it ranged from 5 to 12 knots. However, many of the same names featured at the top mark in better condition than others.
Race 1 started after one recall and a short delay to reset the line, with the wind up to 12-15 knots. Kistanov started well and played the right to lead round the top from Portugal’s Filipe Silva and the defending champion, Alessandro Marega from Italy. Marega eventually pulled through to second with Lebrun having a fast final downwind to cross third.
The second race started first time in a reduced breeze than fluctuated all over the course and produced some big comebacks and drops. This time Karpak, starting at the boat, rounded first from Kistanov and Australia’s Rob McMillan, and led all the way. At the gate he tacked into some approaching new breeze and built a substantial lead. Behind him, Lebrun emerged to cross second with Laurent Hay in third.
Both Kistanov and Karpak are sailing their first major Finn regatta for many years.
Kistanov, “Today it was very, very tricky very, very gusty, very, very shifty. I reckon at some point we had 40 degree shifts. It was also very patchy. I think sometimes we were around 5 knots while gusts were around 12 to 15 knots. So, it was very, very difficult but also very interesting.
“I’m quite happy with my results today. I won the first race, the first upwind was quite tricky, I started on the right side crossed to the left and then I was just in control of the race, trying to avoid doing stupid things, while in the second race, I rounded the first mark in second position behind Deniss, but then I got a yellow flag during the first downwind.
“The second upwind was complete madness, I just tried to survive and I finished in sixth position. I think this was a great start to the regatta.
“This is my first championship after a while and before the first race I really didn’t know what to expect and how it was going to go. Also, the racing has changed compared to what we were used to, but I’m just really happy with how it went. I really could not expect a better first day.”
Karpak, “That was a good comeback for me. One race was so-so and I won the second race so pretty happy with that.
“It was quite tough. We had 5 knots in one part and full hiking in another area, plus quite big shifts, up to 40 degrees. Imagine that. Very unstable, but we have to adjust ourselves and manage with what we have.”
Second race, “The first upwind was quite tricky. I decided not to go to the left corner as it was already taken so I played my game with tacking and the shifts and I was first at the top mark and fast downwind, so then it was easy.
“In the first one I was quite nervous as it windy so I should be faster, than in the light winds, but today it was opposite.”
Racing is scheduled to continue at 12.00 on Wednesday and concludes on Saturday.
Results after two races
1 FRA 111 Valerian Lebrun 5
2 ITA 51 Arkadii Kistanov 6
3 EST 2 Deniss Karpak 7
4 FRA 75 Laurent Hay 8
5 GER 323 Jonas Jung 9
6 ITA 1103 Alessandro Marega 17
7 HUN 808 Kristóf Kaiser 18
8 HUN 50 Akos Lukats 22
9 SUI 7 Christoph Burger 22
10 GBR 74 Lawrence Crispin 22
Full results here: https://www.racingrulesofsailing.org/documents/10052/event
Gallery of photos here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/finnclassphotos/albums/72177720324981069
The event website is here: https://www.2025finneuropeans.org/ with media updates and more information also published on the Finn Class page here: https://finnclass.org/event-page/2025-open-europeans
By Robert Deaves
@InternationalFinnClass
#finnclass
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