In 2004, Malmo was the venue for one of the best organised and the friendliest European Championships that I have attended in 25 years of J/24 Sailing. Next year, the Swedish Class Association steps up to the challenge of hosting the World Championships as they make an overdue return to Sweden (the first time since 1983). With qualification a requirement for entry and two domestic events remaining this year, it’s time for me to fire up Excel (or at any rate, make the interminable wait for it to load) and look at the contenders for the British team. With eight places available and two events left, I’ll stick to those contenders who have already posted results in at least two previous qualifying events.

Clear leader in the qualification stakes is Duncan McCarthy, who has notched up two Open Meeting wins and a fourth in the Nationals, giving him a score of 97, from 100 possible points. With the fantastic consistency that the Madeleine team manage to achieve, Duncan will surely be safely qualified by the end of the Autumn Cup – ready to begin married life by honeymooning while the rest of us attend the year’s final qualifier in Weymouth – always assuming that pre-nuptual celebrations don’t ruin his performance in Falmouth!

Next to look at are three helms whose boats will be making the long journey to Crete for the Europeans – the final qualifier of the series. Gavin Watson, Ian Southworth and Nathan Bachelor make up this group. All of them will no doubt plan to make the task of qualifying easier for everyone else by winning the Europeans and an automatic place in Sweden. Southworth has the track record for this, but Watson and Bachelor also have realistic hopes for Souda Bay. All three should be sure of their places before the Europeans.

Also going to Crete (borrowing a Greek boat), and with a genuine chance of another European Crown, is Stuart Jardine. Now, I have it on good authority that Stuart is considering a pop at the Worlds in 2010. And there’s good evidence to support this – his crew for the Europeans are Swedes and Danes who sail in Malmo; an amalgam of the two crews who took Watson and Jardine to first and second at our 2008 Nationals. So there’s no room for complacency – 2010 is a new decade, incentive enough for the Maestro to give it another shot – don’t assume that he’ll give up his place!

In the next group are Paul Toms, Thijs Knapper and David Cooper, who have already done enough to need only solid performances in the last two events to secure their places. Toms and Knapper attended the Worlds in Sardinia, whilst David Cooper is looking to qualify for the first time. Provided all the above helms complete four events without any disasters, then that is the likely eight for Sweden.

Of course, the story doesn’t end there. Most obviously, Bob Turner qualifies as International Chairman, so Nathan Bachelor looks like Bob’s pick for that place. With a strong team challenging for the Europeans and with Stuart having to go back on his previous decision not so sail any more World Championships, there could be three more places up for grabs! With good scores already posted, Stig McDonald, Roger Morris and Jim Anderson look set to fight for any additional spots. Outside these three, Nick McDonald could scrape in despite only scoring in three events – if he can find two performances to match his Nationals result. Brian Downing could also make it, if he can achieve two results to match or better his performance in Poole.

Outside these eleven, there are five helms – Cooke, Taylor, Clark, Lewers and Beckley – who will only post three finishes (assuming they don’t make a late decision to go to Crete!). This leaves them needing others to drop out of the two remaining qualifiers to have a chance of making the team. Happily, this keeps the pressure on the others to make the trips to Falmouth and Weymouth for the close of the season. Things should be a lot clearer in two weeks time – see you in Falmouth!

2009	8 Places for Sweden			Events Sailed	Pts	Fowey Cup (win=30)		Worlds Annapolis (win=40)		Southerns Poole (win=30)		Nationals Plymouth (win=40)
Pos	Helm	Sail No	Boat Name			Pos	Points	Pos	Points	Pos	Points	Pos	Points
1	Duncan McCarthy	4245	Madeleine	3	97	1	30		0	1	30	4	37
2	Stuart Jardine	4215	Stouche	3	93	2	29		0	5	26	3	38
3	Gavin Watson	4265	Reloaded	3	92	7	24		0	3	28	1	40
4	Thijs Knapper	4222	Phoenix	3	81	6	25		0	4	27	12	29
5	David Cooper	4497	St James	3	80	3	28		0	12	19	8	33
6	Nathan Batchelor	4247	Serco Defence	2	68		0		0	2	29	2	39
7	Paul Toms	4213	Joya	2	60	5	26		0		0	7	34
8	Ian Southworth	4177	Writing Instruments	2	57		0	19	22		0	6	35
9	Stig McDonald	4206	Jam Too	2	56		0		0	6	25	10	31
10	Roger Morris	4270	Jolly Roger	2	53		0		0	8	23	11	30
11	Jim Anderson	4232	Boomerang	2	52		0		0	7	24	13	28
12	Sue Proudfoot	4254	Ju Ju	2	49	4	27		0	9	22		0
13	James Beckley	4035	Jiffi	2	44	12	19		0		0	16	25
14	Brian Downing	4252	Jumanji	2	44		0		0	10	21	18	23
15	Andrew Taylor	4242	HitchHikers'..	2	42		0		0	11	20	19	22
16	Pat Cooke	4173	Jive	2	41	8	23		0	13	18		0
17	Lewers / Partridge	4147	Hi Jack	2	38	14	17		0		0	20	21
18	Nick McDonald	4064	Legal Alien	2	36		0	71	0		0	5	36
19	Rob Clark	4254	Ju Ju	1	32		0		0		0	9	32
20	William Pollock	4067	Y-Jewellers	1	27		0		0		0	14	27
21	John Gorman	4251	Italian Job	1	26		0		0		0	15	26
22	Steve Wassell	4026	Just the Tonic	1	24		0		0		0	17	24
23	John Hicks	4269	Jitterbug	1	22	9	22		0		0		0
24	Andrew Gent	4234	Shere Khan	1	21	10	21		0		0		0
25	Craig Brown	4027	Jiggy With It	1	20	11	20		0		0		0
26	John Herbert	4250	Joker	1	18	13	18		0		0		0
27	Dan Reeve	6482	Suspicion	1	17		0		0	14	17		0
28	Simon Heap	4083	Jammy Dodger	1	16	15	16		0		0		0
29	Richard Fruehman	4044	Clewless	1	15		0		0	16	15		0