Helsingor 2022 report

European Boat Championship 2022

The 2022 European Boat Championship was held at Helsingor, Denmark from 6th to 12th August. Fishing was over four days from Monday 8th. There were 63 anglers from 9 countries competing. The fishing grounds were in the Oresund overlooked by the impressive Kronberg Castle.

Sunday was a practice day followed by registration and the welcome reception. A chance to catch up with old friends and make some anew.

Day One
Three boats with each side being treated as a separate boat, in effect six boats, set off in breezy conditions. Supplied bait was king ragworm which was excellent. The boats mostly fished the same areas, initially for Herring and Mackerel followed by a move for mini species, mainly Goldsinney Wrasse with the occasional Corkwing and Goby.  The boats then had several moves hunting for Codling, Whiting, Plaice and Dabs. Midway through the day the heavens opened and heavy cold rain, almost hail, soaked everyone.

Day Two
Had similar fishing to Day One. Other species caught were Coalfish, Ling, Gurnards and Garfish. Most of the top ten places were occupied by Scandinavian anglers, as was to be expected.

Day Three
Again, the fishing was like the previous days and Danish anglers continued in the top spots.

Day Four
More of the same but with less fish around. Vernon Allen from England had a significant boat win boat preventing Denmark’s Cees Vadar from getting his fourth boat win, which would have assured him of the gold pin.

Martin Hubert of Denmark was the gold pin winner with 396.12%. Cees Vadar of Denmark was second with 395.81% and in third place was Michael Lorenzen also of Denmark with 392.11%.

The awards ceremony took place at championship headquarters, The Marienlyst Hotel.

Denmark ‘A’ won the National Team event with Denmark ‘B’ second and England third to take the bronze medals.

Best Lady was Torunn Handeland from Norway.

Top Senior (65+) was Charles Carreras from Gibraltar.

The Gala Dinner at championship HQ was well attended later in the evening. EFSA President Marcus Wuest took the opportunity to relieve some those in attendance of some Euros towards the new EFSA ‘400 club’ fundraising initiative.

He followed with a farewell wish that everyone would have a safe journey home & that he looked forward to seeing many of them in Ireland in 2023.