LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT It is still difficult for me to understand that we have been voted out of the Olympic family. The IECU Council has spent a lot of time and ideas to create a good future for our class. The next step is that the Council will meet during the Easter holidays and produce a paper stating ideas for the future. This paper will be sent to all IECU members. I expect there will be a discussion in each country. Every nation should,  then in a written answer, tell the IECU Council in which direction they want the IECU to work. Later on the answers will be discussed with IECU members at a meeting in Helsingfors during the Europeans and again at the Worlds in Rizhao. The Worlds 2005 will as planned take place in China. I hope to meet a lot of you at that event. I expect it will be something very special. It will be the first time our Worlds will be held in Asia. Best regards. Jan Abrahamsen, IECU President

FROM FRANCE  For us, the beginning of the new season was quite quite. It started by 4 usual inter-regional races all over the country in early October. These races, as ever, were not very interesting due to their shortness (2 days) but it was a good start for the new season. After that, all those who were near Paris had to go to the ”Salon Nautique”, a great meeting concerning every floating machines held in November, where our national association had, as it has every year, a space where there was a wonderful wood-made Cristalli Europe. For everybody, this event is the occasion to meat other Europe sailors (older as well as youngest). Then,  some of us went in the South of our superb country between Christmas day and New Year’s Eve to sail in Toulon for our traditional Christmas Race. This year, Toulon had decided to welcome us back. The last time we had been there was in 1996. This year, the weather was nearly the same as last time, there was a lot of different weather conditions. The first day, there was a medium wind for the 3 races. The second day, the wind went up to around 30 knots so that we had only the time to do one race before the wind got too strong. Next day, the wind had increased a lot more and we kept our feet on earth, near the club, where the organisation Committee was very kind to us. Next day, was not at all the same. We sailed 2 races in tiny wind conditions but even the two races were not the same type. It was quite difficult and you had to be very careful about the way the wind evolved and not stay at the centre of the race area. For the last day, we had a lot of sun but not enough wind to sail. So everybody had the time to pack his boat waiting for the final decision to be taken. This year we were very happy to welcome many foreigners. They came from Denmark, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland and Italy. This has been a very good race with a very good organisation committee (each time we were coming back ashore we had hot chocolate waiting for us which was not a bad idea when you think that temperatures were near 4 degrees the second day. We want to thank all of those who came and made this International Christmas Race even better. We are expecting you this year from December 26th to 30th in Toulon ! As we have seen that foreigners liked to come to France, we want to tell you that our spring national cup will be held in La Rochelle (West of France) from April 17th to 21st. All of you are kindly invited. If you are interested, stay tuned to our website http://asso.ffv.fr/europe/ a very good one), the notice of race will be available soon. This race will probably be as good as it was in 2002 when Min Dezillie and Carolijn Brouwer came. For more information on our races in France, mail me antoine@preveaux.fr.st or mail our secretary, Séverine Blondet secretaire@europeclass.fr.st Finally, about the fact the Europe is not Olympic anymore, we have not much time to know what the consequences will be but what we can say to-day is that it has not yet affected a lot. We have 8 girls who left (4 in Laser, 4 in 470) but one of the most important point was that Europe was one of the dinghies for our young championships is still OK. This point concerns as well the girls and the boys. The good news is that the Europe will stay at our young championships at least in 2005 and 2006. See you soon in France or in Finland... Antoine (FRA 5579)

FROM AUSTRIA Some of my girls switched to 470. These are the lucky ones who found a partner. Others are starting to fight in the Laser Radial. But I think that for most of them there are no realistic chances overthere. But at the moment it is not as bad as it seems to be. We also have some new members and a lot of young and light weighted girls who will stay in Europe Class. To summarise: a handful sailors left the class, some sold their boats to be “at the safe side”, but these are already not sure if they will buy a Laser or a new Europe. They watch the scene and will decide during the season. What is left: a motivated group of 30 up to 40 members who will stay in Europe Dinghy, participate at some Austrian regattas as well as at some nearby regattas abroad. We will keep our regattas, our trainings, even the Austrian Sailing Federation forces our ”National Championship and National Youth Championship” for 2 more years. What the Austrian Europe Class Association would like to do, is to intensify the communication  to our neighboured countries (esp. Czech Republic, Slovenia, Germany). In each of these countries we fixed a regatta for our national ranking list and hope in advance that the others follow this example. Our national regattas for the ranking list 2005 are: date club lake name ranking 05-06.05 YCBb Neusiedl Training Training 07-08.05 YCBb Neusiedl Blue Sky Racing Days 1,0 14-16.05 UYCNs Neusiedl Spring Cup 1,0 26-27.05 SCT Traunsee Training Training 28-29.05 SCT Traunsee Buddelschiff 1,0 04-05.06 UYCWg Wolfgangsee Spängler Cup 1,0 30-03.07 Austr. Sailing Fed. Neusiedl National Championship 1,0 16-17.07 UYCAs Attersee   1,0 14-15.08 SCM Mattsee Summer Games 1,0 23-28.08 BYC Neusiedl National Youth Championship 1,1 17-18.09 SCTWV Achensee Tirolean Championship 1,0 For detailed information look at our homepage www.europeclass.at or send an e-mail to one of the members of the board. We will try to help in any case. Best wishes for the season 2005. Alice Fritsch Austrian Europe Class Association

FROM RUSSIA Sergey Kuzovov who is Moscow ‘s sailing school coach for Tornado (multi European medalist) wrote about the Europe in Russia, here are his comments:   “We have to say that Europe female sailors with a regret have known about changes in Olympic program. Some of them just bought a new boat and sails. And they need to collect money for Laser. I expect that we will have several local regattas and National Championship in Europe Class, because there are some boats. Perhaps these boats will be used by boys, we had 2 championships between boys (men) during the last years. It became possible, when the dates of Russian Open were split, Russian Open in Olympic Classes and a week earlier Russian Open in National and International Classes. At the moment Top Europe sailors start training in Laser-Radial, two females come to 470, one girl may be in Ingling.” Sergey Kuzovov Russian Tornado Team

FROM ITALY  The expulsion of the Europe Class from the Olympic classes has not produced a special agitation in Italy. This is a moment  a bit sad for the Europe Class and we are convinced that the next four years  will be useful and well used up by the Europe Class authority to get back to the Olympic qualification. The athletics, technical and training qualities of the Europe are unquestionable, however we are astonished of the so little co-operation shown by the NA’s  assumed as favourable. It has not been sufficient to bet on the exceptional quality of our dinghy. As usual, in such a case, politics prevailed over the evidence of the matter and has been conclusive over the selection and votes. In Italy, we have not yet quantify the Europe’s helmsmen exodus towards the Laser or other classes. We will know about it at the end of the season when it will be possible to check it and to take the corresponding necessary steps, mostly in favour of the youngest, towards whom it is advisable to draw all our attention, as now we are not kept on to the external and internal commitments of the Olympic area. Shortly will start the 2005 sailing season and the qualification regattas. The first one will be held in Napoli end of February, the others will take place until May to complete the six scheduled regattas. These regattas will include various training meetings with as well foreign coaches. These trainings  will have to be serious enough to obtain results to be able to hold the youngest attention demonstrating the validity and importance of the class for their formation. In such a context the ISAF Youth World Regattas will be appropriate as were the IYRU regattas in the past. Claudio Morana ASSEUROPA President

FROM AUSTRALIA The Olympic decision is unfortunate for the Australian Europe Class. Our fleet is very small, but being an Olympic class it attracted very good sailors and coaches. With the loss of attention and assistance, the sailors who remain will do so because of their love of the boat, not the desire to compete against Olympic aspirants. However I am sure these sailors will receive support at club level to race on the weekends in combined fleets. And there are some very nice boats for sale now at cheap prices, for new sailors to the class. As the Australian Europe Class web-site is up for renewal and I am embarking on studies, without a new volunteer being available, I have decided no to renew the web-site for the moment. I wish all the Europe Dinghy sailors the best in their sailing. Tony Walsh Secretary, Australian International Europe Class Association.

FROM DENMARK 2004 was a very good year for the Danish Europe Class. First of all, Bronze at the Olympics to Signe Livbjerg. Further on the Europe Class is a very fastly growing class in Denmark. We are seeing a lot of young sailors coming from the Optimist or the Zoom class resulting in the biggest Europe fleet for many years. The Europe Class is out of the Olympics for 2008, but we do see a lot of possibilities in getting our complete “sovereignty” back as for example – arranging a lot of new events where we have men/women & boys/girls in the same races – technical development of the dinghy and the gear. We are very confident that the Europe will maintain as the most numerous sailed dinghy in Denmark due to its broad potential for sailors of different size and due to all the technical possibilities. We urge the Board of IECU to be very active and visible in order to develop the Class in the new situation. At the moment we are planning all the events for 2005 – our 4 qualifying races – the national championship – our courses for newcomers and skilled sailors and a lot of other events – also our cooperation with the judges in Denmark will be further exploited, in order to get more knowledge of the racing rules out to all the sailors and in order to get the sailing inside rule 42 and still obtaining maximum speed. 2005 will be a great Europe year ! By the way, we will be more than happy to welcome sailors from all nations at our races, if you are interested see the calendar at our website www.europeclass.dk and don’t hesitate to contact us. The winter has been rather mild allowing sailing the whole period, we have more or less every weekend seen large numbers of Europe sailors taking the opportunity of training on the water in the heavy cold wind. Especially in Skovshoved and in Kalovig there are large fleets. Best regards.  Amanda Kallenbach DEN 1567 and Povl Friis

COMPETITION GOES ON  The new status of the International Europe Class will change our regattas’ habitudes, but the competition will go on everywhere in the world. Many of the big events organisers contacted the Class Union to offer them continuity because ”the Europe is a great class and we want to have them in our regatta !”. Mallorca’s Princess Sofia Trophy, for example, will see more than 100 Europes this year and they have the intention to continue inviting us to participate there. Please remember that it’s an ”Olympic Classes Event” and only the majestic Dragon Class and the Europe Class are invited to join them. Garda Lake will also host a big concentration in Easter. Kiel Week will also have Europes on their schedule. Dates are 18 – 21 June.. www.kieler-woche.de Many other national and international regattas will be organised this year. The 3 Major Events from IECU will be the: European Championship + Open Week in Helsinki, FI N (nice place, don’t you think ???) From June 29th to July 11th. See  www.njk.fi/ecec2005 Youth European Championship in Toensberg, NOR  (don’t miss that one neither) from 8 – 14 August. See www.tonsbergseilforening.no And finally the World Championship + Open Week in Rizhao, CHN from August 26th to Sept 9th. Will you skip the opportunity to visit a Millenary Culture and sail your boat there ? You can find pictures and full details at  www.rzsport.gov.cn Some changes about the number of entries per Nation have been decided for 2005. This year there will be much more entries per Nation. Please contact your National Class Association to know more about your National Quota this year, but I can advance that the Youth Event will allow up to 3 more entries per Nation and that the Worlds in China has NO quota at all. Everybody can participate there. Just get the approval from your National Class Association or Federation and you are in ! We hope to see you all soon. Have a great sailing. Paul Depoorter  IECU VP Racing

TAKE NOTE Please go to the following websites where you will find all the information on three of our greatest 2005 events: HELSINKI – 2005 EUROPEANS www.njk.fi/ecec200 RIZHAO – CHINA – 2005 WORLDS www.rzsport.gov.cn YOUTH EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP - TOENSBERG - NORWAY - The NOR is now available at: http://www.tonsbergseilforening.no 8 Aug.  Registration & measurement 9  Registration 17:00  Tune up 20:00  Opening Ceremony 10  Races 11  Races 12  Race 18:00  Social Program 13  Races 14  Races 20:00  Prize Giving Ceremony

Race report from Japan   There were 7 entries to the 2004 National Championship in Japan from December 5 -6, 2004 - 5 ladies and 2 guys entered.  It was held together with 29er classNationals, and two guys sailed Europe between their qualification round.    First day (Saturday), the wind was steady 12kt from the south with big waves.  Few capsizes and good surfing down wind, but really hard work upwind.  From the weather forecast, gale wind was expected on Sunday, so that the Race Committee decided as many races as possible on Saturday.  6 races were sailed.   First time, 5 Europes carried handy GPS to record the GPS data, and after the regatta, it was uploaded to the GPS Racing programme (made in Japan) to see the whole race with names of each boat, boat speed, etc etc.  All the competitors received CD afterwards.    Maiko SATO won the 2004 title with all 1sts.  2nd was Izumi SHINCHI, and 3rd was Miki WATANABE.  We are organizing the Nationals every year until we get much older, so I will let you know the date of 2005 Nationals when we fix it.   (report from Aiko SAITO)