Racing for the 2019 Lightning Class World Masters and Open European Championships concluded Wednesday in Espoo Finland.
Ched Proctor (USA) and Javier Conte (Argentina) won titles in their respective divisions in advance of this coming week’s ILCA 2019 World Championship.
In the Open European division, Conte and his team of Nacho Giammona and María Paula Salerno worked their way up the scoreboard after scoring a UFD in race three.
The Argentine duo, who are also the reigning ILCA World Champions, won three of the six races in the series to take a close win over Todd Wake and team. Team Mauk (Rafael Melendez, Alberto Gonzalez), after leading most of the series, struggled in the last race but held onto third place for the regatta.
Meanwhile, in the Masters divisions, teams consisting of skippers age 55 or over and a combined crew age of 130 years.
Ched Proctor, who won the same championship in 2017 in Ecuador, defended his title by scoring seven points in five races. Ched was helped around the course by teammates Bill Faude and Meredith Killion.
Only one point back, Tom Allen and his sister Jane and daughter Shelby, who had led after the first day of racing, maintained pressure on Proctor and closed out the series in second place.
Canadian Larry Macdonald enlisted the team of Ian Jones and Jody Starck, with whom he had won a world championship, and secured third place.
The ILCA 2019 Lightning World Championship begins on Friday 14 June and continues through Monday.
Lightning Class Open European Championships
1st ARG 15597 Javier CONTE – – 15 pts
2nd USA 15390 Todd WAKE – – 17 pts
3rd USA 14866 Bill MAUK – – 21 pts
4th USA 15611 David STARCK – – 21 pts
5th USA 15507 Charles PROCTOR – – 22 pts
6th CAN 15499 Larry MACDONALD – – 22 pts
7th CHI 14794 Felipe ROBLES – – 23 pts
8th USA 9 Tom ALLEN – – 28 pts
9th USA 15496 Marvin BECKMANN – – 51 pts
10th USA 15590 Steven DAVIS – – 53 pts
Lightning Class Masters World Championships
1st USA 15507 Charles PROCTOR – – 7 pts
2nd USA 9 Tom ALLEN – – 8 pts
3rd CAN 15499 Larry MACDONALD – – 14 pts
4th USA 15590 Steven DAVIS – – 18 pts
5th USA 15595 Joshua GOLDMAN – – 27 pts
6th USA 15457 Robert RUHLMAN – – 31 pts
7th COL 15519 Gustavo TAMAYO – – 32 pts
8th SUI 13790 Urs WYLER – – 39 pts
9th USA 15546 Philip LANGE – – 42 pts
10th USA 15370 Scott FINKBONER – – 43 pts