25. European Championship 1980
Helsinki, Finland, June 10 - 18,
37 entries from 23 countries.

As the last dress rehearsal for the Olympic Games to be held shortly in Tallinn, the 1980 European Championship was sailed in Helsinki in very similar conditions. Because of the early Gold Cup in New Zealand, there was also a second extraordinary AGM of the IFA on that occasion. Chris Law tried a Vanguard and found it easier to sail and faster than his standard Taylor. He already had a big points lead when he started the 6th race in light winds. Chris finished 12th and was the sure winner. In the last race Bertrand decided the battle for the runner-up in his favour against Balashov.


26. European Championship 1981
Athens, Greece, May 23 - June 1,
46 entries from 22 countries.

Five races were sailed in southerly winds with force 3-4 and two with a north wind up to force 7. Everybody was satisfied with the organisation. The only grumbling was heard after the third race when the jury disqualified 11 boats for pumping and rocking. All of a sudden, an up to now mediocre former Laser sailor from Denmark shocked the established skippers by winning each and every race. Lasse Hjortnas managed for the first and most likely last time to win the European Championship with a score of 0.0.

27. European Championship 1982
Masnou, Spain, September 25 - October 3,
67 entries from 23 countries.

There was lots of wind but also a strong current and on the first day an ugly oil pollution on the water. In the third race the jury disqualified six prominent skippers because of pumping. The selection was not so much based on serious observations but rather exemplary and included Lasse Hjortnas. After he had won the Gold Cup by a safe margin, Lasse took this European Championship with three times line honour and twice runner-up, discarding that annoying DSQ. After the magic black-top mast Lasse had used in his fabulous 1981 season had been stolen, he made the red-top presentable at court, by winning with 10% of the final score of the runner-up Mark Neeleman.

28. European Championship 1983
Neusiedlersee, Austria, June 3 - 11,
63 entries from 24 countries.

Lasse Hjortnas came to Austria determined to defend his title as the ruling European Champion of 1981/82. There were five races with a strong shifty force 4-7 wind on three days. There would have been enough for a sixth race on the afternoon of the third day, but the race committee took pity on the worn out second half of the fleet.

Lasse caught a DSQ in the second race but for the rest of them he was not content with less than the runner-up in the heavy-air races. However finally there was very little reliable wind and Hjortnas collected 59 points, which he had to count since he had to discard his DSQ. Another second place in the last race was not enough to save him. So Jochen Schumann from the DDR won the title without ever winning a race, scoring 2/3/4/8/9/10.

30. European Championship 1985
Athens, Greece, September 7 - 15,
43 entries from 17 countries.

Lasse Hjortnas, usually training in cold to freezing water, obviously liked the warm Mediterranean Sea. Ever since he came into the Finn Class, whenever the Europeans are in that water, he can't be stopped.