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PHOTO: The Three Top Men and Pin Winners with the EFSA HQ Shore Festival Officer. (Picture courtesy of Northfishing.net.) (L to R) Haydn Cole, Ken Gainfort, Mick Quinn.
Welsh anglers make a clean sweep
Welsh anglers swept virtually everything before them in the European Federation of Sea Anglers 2010 European Shore Championships, organised by the Welsh Section, winning Individual Gold and Silver as well as Team Gold. Only Irish angler Mick Quinn, winning the individual bronze, and Dutch angler Mart Brouwers, the individual leader after two days, with a perfect score up till then, in fourth, prevented Wales from cleaning up completely.
Strong Pembrokeshire connection
The event was a repeat of the very successful 2007 championships, in which Wales A had finished runners up, fished on the same beaches around Pwllheli over three days. Wales A team captain, and new 2010 EFSA European Shore Champion, Ken Gainfort, lead the rest of the team, comprising individual runner up Haydn Cole, individual 5th and former EFSA European Shore Champion Alan Cheswick, team manager Philip Lustig and John O’Connor, to become the 2010 EFSA European Shore Champions.
Though Wales had individual success in the intervening period, this was the first time in 11 years that they had captured the team title and it was richly deserved. They led narrowly after day one and increased that lead on successive days throughout the competition, with every angler contributing to what in the end was a big winning margin of 12 points.
Gwynedd here we come!
It all started on the evening of Wednesday 3rd November when 50 competitors from 7 countries across Europe returned to Caernarfon to the Celtic Royal Hotel to attend registration for the event. Once again Gwynedd County Council and their representatives had helped enormously in the staging of the championships, both in preparation of the brochure, helping the Welsh section with sponsorship and for making many arrangements on the ground. So it was fitting that some prizes were presented and competitors addressed by the Chairman, Tudor Owen, accompanied by his wife Brenda, at the Gala Dinner, medal & trophy presentation ceremony on the final night, with the event being opened by another local dignitary, the Mayor of Caernarfon, Councillor Huw Edwards.
Mixed weather but good catches nonetheless
This time the weather was not balmy as it had been in 2007 but the first day and night’s weather was horrendous with South Westerly gales gusting to 60 mph and lashing rain. However, despite this, it is due to the legwork put in by Ken and Alan on the Wednesday that we had somewhere to fish the Thursday’s session, fished from daylight into dark and that was Llandudno foreshore, where at least the inclement weather came off our left shoulders. Friday was probably the best session, fished on Pwllheli beach itself, with an abundance of fish, whilst the final session was fished on the Saturday and entirely in the daylight, so that everything was done and dusted before the Gala Dinner, Presentation and Closing Ceremony that same evening.
Welsh winners
So, with the fishing over it was time to compute the results and to award the prizes followed by that all important presentation of those coveted pins. Winner of the Gold Pin and EFSA European Shore Champion for 2010, as previously stated was Welshman Ken Gainfort with two zone wins and a third over the three days, by one point from fellow Welshman Haydn Cole, who took the Silver Pin with one zone win and two thirds. Third and winner of the Bronze Pin, was popular Irishman Mick Quinn with zone win, a second and a third.
The Senior event was won by the another popular angler Englishman Reg Clough, the Ladies by Dutchwoman Miranda Koop and the Life Members by Bronze medallist Mick. In the International Team event, in which the worst score is discarded each day, the Welsh A team played a blinder. They led by two points after day one and three points after day two but blitzed the opposition on the final day to win by a massive 12 points. Second was the Dutch B team, with the Dutch A team in third.
Finally, the longest flatfish was caught from the very first cast on the very first day by Welsh Lady Tina Lustig, a 34cm Flounder; but the longest round fish, also 34cm, was a 4 way tie with 3 Whiting, Haydn Cole, Sjaak Nuijt & Frank Van Der Zande and a Bass caught by Irishman Warren Doyle on the last day.
Perfect end to competition
To round off the championships the Gala Dinner & Presentation went very well with thanks to the staff of the Celtic Royal Hotel for putting it on and managing to feed and cater to the needs of all the hungry anglers. Thanks are also due to them for the way they looked after everybody during the 4 night stay at the Hotel, a credit to the hospitality of the Welsh and especially those in North Wales. Well done and thank you.
Thank yous galore
Our main Sponsors were Daiwa, Ammo and Gwynedd County Council, together with other sponsors:- Pure Fishing, Swift Tackle, Gemini Tackle, Shamrock Tackle, Ron Thompson Fishing, Kamasan Hooks, Penderyn (Welsh) Whisky, Rembrandts Jewellers of Tenby, Lloyds Jewellers of Pembroke Dock, the Lustig family, Haydn Cole, Ken Gainfort and Steve Rees. Main thanks for the organisation must go to Shore Festival Officer for both EFSA HQ and EFSA Wales Philip Lustig, who did a mountain of work running around and liaising with all sorts of people, both before and during the event, to make these championships the success they were. He was ably backed up by his family, behind the scenes leading up to the event, as all organisers have to be. Thanks are also due to Barry Davies, Alun Williams & others of Gwynedd Council for their groundwork in the north prior to the event, to Matt Lustig, Steve Rees, Wayne Prior, Steve Lewis & David Davies for pegging the beaches, Steve Lewis for also helping with bait distribution, John O’Connor for collating and computing the results, Ken Gainfort for making & organising the pegs, the Pwllheli Harbourmaster and his staff for help with bait storage etc. Without the input and effort of all these people it would have been impossible to run the championships and we thank them all.
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