Racing for the 2019 Lightning Class World Masters and European Championships concluded today in Espoo Finland as Ched Proctor (USA) and Javier Conte (Argentina) won titles in their respective divisions in advance of this coming week’s ILCA 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 World Masters Championship, 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.

Thursday is a gap day and racing for the ILCA World Championship begins on Friday and continues through Monday.