The 2022 European Boat Championship was held at Elsinore, Denmark from 6th August to 12th August. Fishing was over four days from Monday 8th. There were 63 anglers from 9 countries competing of which 12 were English.
We arrived on Saturday afternoon to a breezy Elsinore, unfortunately Billy Cann and Vernon Allen’s rods didn’t make it from Gatwick to Copenhagen. They borrowed rods for the practice day and were promised rods for the match by Cees Vadar of Denmark. Sunday was a practice day followed by registration and welcome reception; a chance to catch up with old friends and make some new ones. The practice saw us catching most of the expected species including some monster Ballan Wrasse. It was not without its problems, as we were sharing the boat with a number of casual anglers. I just managed to stop one of them, who had no English, from grabbing hold of a Greater Weever.
Day One
Three boats with each side being treated as a separate boat, in effect six boats, set off in breezy conditions. The boats mostly fished the same areas, initially for Herring and Mackerel followed by a move which saw us fishing for small stuff mainly Goldsinney Wrasse with the occasional Corkwing and Goby. The more knowledgeable locals also fished for Flounder. We then had several moves looking for Codling, Whiting, Plaice and Dabs. Midway through the day the heavens opened and heavy cold rain, almost hail, soaked everyone for 15 minutes. Top Englishman on the day was Gary Galbraith who won his boat followed by Cliff Newbold in 9th place. The only other non-Danish angler to win a boat was a South African.
Day Two
Was similar fishing to Day One, with most of us improving our scores. Other fish caught were Coalfish, Ling and a few Gurnards and Garfish. Cliff Newbold had a boat win which put him in 4th place overall. England ‘A’ team were lying 3rd in the National Team competition. Most of the top ten places were occupied by Scandinavians, as was to be expected.
Day Three
Again, the fishing was similar to the previous days and the Danes continued to take the top spots. Only Charlie Carreras of Gibraltar managed a boat win. Mark Smith was top English angler on the day with a creditable 91.91%.
Day Four
More of the same but there seemed to be less fish around. It was Vernon Allen who was the English star of the day. He won his boat and prevented Cees Vadar from getting his fourth boat win of the competition, which would have assured him of a gold pin. Cees came second for the silver pin. This was rather ironic as Vernon was fishing with one of Cees rods.
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%.
Denmark ‘A’ won the National Team event with Denmark ‘B’ second and England third to take the bronze medals.
Vernon Allen was third in the Seniors category he also took the prize for the longest Ling, a fish of 70cm.
England Placings
13th Mark Smith
14th Gary Galbraith
15th Cliff Newbold
24th Vernon Allen
31st Matt Osbourne
34th Billy Cann
35th Mike Smith
38th Paul Hart
41st Barrie Senior
45th Richard Russell
50th Andy Smith
55th Ken Smith
Results
Barrie Senior
Gallery
