Ed Wright claimed sailing silver for Great Britain at the Finn European Championship on Sunday (16 May) after a testing week of light wind racing in Split, Croatia, with Lucy Macgregor, Annie Lush and Ally Martin also returning with silver from the Women’s European Match Racing Championships in Hard, Austria.

At the Finn Europeans, the 32-year-old Wright was in second place heading into Sunday’s final 10-boat medal race, where a third place from that race was enough to keep hold of the silver medal, with victory going to local hero and defending European champion Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic.

Poor wind conditions dogged the six-day event for the Olympic heavyweight dinghy class, with just two of the intended six races having been possible by the halfway stage of the regatta.

But some late racing on Friday, with the sailors returning to shore in almost darkness, helped get the championship – and Wright’s medal assault – back on track.

Skandia Team GBR’s 2006 European Champion Wright had seen an indifferent start to the week in the light wind conditions, with 10,11,10 from his opening three races before fighting his way back through the fleet, making the most of the improved breeze for Saturday’s two races to start Sunday’s double-points scoring medal showdown just two points behind Spain’s Rafael Trujillo.

Trujillo suffered in the 10-boat final, finishing seventh in the race and outside of the overall medal positions in fourth, while Kljakovic Gaspic took second to Wright’s third in the medal race to finish equal on points with the British sailor, but with his better placing in the final race handing him the European title.

“Having won the Europeans in 2006 I really wanted to get gold again here, but with the conditions we’ve had this week and considering where I was at the beginning of the week, I’m happy with silver,” Wright explained. 

“The medal race was a tricky race, just as it’s been all week,” he continued.

“The wind was off the land so we had very shifty and gusty conditions.  I got a pretty good start but I couldn't really tack because there were a lot of boats on my hip.  The Croatian, Mate, managed to tack and cross and he was away for the race.

“On the first run [Mate and Ivan] just got away really and we were just trying to catch them the rest of the race.”

Fellow Skandia Team GBR sailor Giles Scott also featured in the final medal race, finishing his regatta in seventh, with teammates Mark Andrews and Andrew Mills ending their Europeans campaigns in 14^th and 17^th places respectively.

“It’s certainly been a week for smart sailors,” surmised Skandia Team GBR Finn coach Matt Howard.

“It’s incredibly tiring and mentally draining on the sailors being on standby for so many hours each day, and then having to raise your game to start racing at 6 or 7 o’clock in the evening.

“It’s great for Ed that he’s managed to come away with silver after such a testing event, and he still remains the most consistent performer in the class this year.”