Menorcans Jordi Triay and Lluís Mas are crowned Snipe European Champions

The sailors from Club Marítimo de Mahón began the day far from the podium, but two third-place finishes in the final two races crowned them as the new champions.

Jordi Triay is Snipe European Champion. Once again. And that makes three. The sailor from Alaior claimed victory in Portugal after an impressive comeback on the final day, in which he and his crew, Lluís Mas, started far from the podium. Two third-place finishes in the closing races, combined with the 14 points scored by their direct rival in the last heat, lifted the Club Marítimo de Mahón team to the top with 65 points.

Triay and Mas did not have an easy European Championship, facing unfavorable conditions that left them far from contention in the opening days. It wasn’t until the fifth race of the seven contested that they managed to climb closer to the top positions. The pair won the fifth race and finished third in the sixth.

Thus, going into the final race, they had 101 points compared to the 92 of Leonardo Armas and Miguel Bethencourt of Real Club Náutico Arrecife. And in that decisive heat, the miracle happened: the Menorcan duo secured another third place, while their rivals finished 14th. The final tally placed Triay and Mas at the top of the podium with 104 points (65 after discards), compared to 106 for the runners-up (71 after discards). They also surpassed the third-place finishers, Roberto Bermúdez and José Ramón Pardo of Club Náutico Mariña Coruña, who ended with 72 points (120 before discards).

In addition, Alex Tinoco, coach of the club and racing as crew for Belgian Manu Hens, finished fifth overall and second in the master category, with 77 points.

The Club Nàutic Ciutadella duo, Toni Pons and Sasha Pons, placed eighth with 104 points, while Lolo Beltrán and Fernando Velarde finished 11th with 117 points.

Meanwhile, Enric Noguera and Cristian Vidal secured a spot in the top 20 with 131 points, Peter Saura and Borja Llopis finished with 197 points, and Marta Torner with Enrique Mir ended with 202 points. Damián Borrás and Sara Franceschi ran into problems and were unable to complete the competition.