31. European Championship 1986
Hyeres, France, April 29 - May 7,
45 entries from 21 countries.

Held immediately after the pre-Olympic week in Hyeres, the Finns stayed on for another week. In the first race, the force 1-2 allowed John Hofland line honours, but caused 8 boats to be disqualified for violating rule 54. Johan Hedberg took the early lead and lead up to race 6, but a 30th in that race dropped him to second. Oleg Khoperski who performed with outstanding harmony between man and nature won races 3, 4 and 5 came 3rd in the 6th and covered Hedberg in the final race to take the Championship by 23.0 points.

After the 4th race there were some scandals because of the 20 kg weight limit on wet clothing and the attempt of some sailors to secretly get rid of some of their equipment on the way home, but only one helm was disqualified.

32. European Championship 1987
Rungsted, Denmark, August 3-12,
48 entries.

The event was sailed from the Royal Danish YC just north of Copenhagen in a mixture of conditions. After the usual measurement problems, Peter Vilby won the first two races in force 2-3. In race one the initial winner was disqualified for too carrying much weight. Stuart Childerley led race 3 in less wind until the last mark, when an incident with Jose Luis Doreste let him through and he had to settle for second. Lawrence Crispin won race 4 after leading the whole way, sometimes by a whole leg. After Otto Strandvig won race 5 and Michael Fisher won race 6, any of 7 helms could have won going into the last race. Arnoud Hummel won the final race but an 8th for Childerley was enough to win the series without winning a race. His lowest race was 15th in this high scoring series.

33. European Championship 1988
Medemblik, Holland, June 5-10,
50 entries from 22 countries.

The event was sailed in wet conditions with a Force 2-4 wind. Most sailors had very inconsistent results throughout the week. Second placed Mergenthaler won the first and fifth race but apart from that never scored above tenth. John Cutler, Mark Neeleman, Armando Ortolano and Henryk Blaszka all won races but were not consistent enough to capitalise. Only one sailor managed a good string of results. Doreste counted a 2-6-4-4- 7 and dropped his 26th in race 5 to win the Europeans, just prior to his Olympic victory in Pusan later that summer.

34. European Championship 1989
Helsinki, Finland, July 2-11,
54 entries from 20 countries.

Helsinki was where it had all started in 1952, and the Finns again went back in 1989. A change in the quota rule allowed the same entries as for a Gold Cup. The event belonged to Hans Spitzauer from the start after he won the first two races. Othmar Muller von Blumencron won the light weather third race and Lauri Rechardt won the fourth, with Spitzauer maintaining his points in second. The fifth race was won by Finnish Jali Makila followed by Rechardt and Mats Caap. Oleg Khoperski had worked out a good lead in the final race, but with thunderstorms around, a massive shift made a nonsense of the final beat and the race committee cancelled the race. This left Spitzauer the overall winner. On the spare day a series of match races were held. Spitzauer and Larry Lemieux reached the final tied and after one win each, no wind and rain stopped play.

35. European Championship 1990
Hayling Island, England, June 1-9,
58 entries from 21 countries.

The rather windy conditions seemed to suit two sailors, Stig Westergaard and Hans Spitzauer, and early on the feeling was that one of these two would win the Europeans. Westergaard was superior upwind while Spitzauer was in a class of his own on the reaches; having to catch up 100 m was just a minor problem. Second overall Spitzauer won the first race, final winner Westergaard won races 4 and 5. 3rd place overall went to Othmar Muller von Blumencron who won the 3rd race and the last one, and closed the gap on Spitzauer over the last few races.

All boats had undergone thorough measurement checking by Peter Mohilla and as usual the padding manufacturers were clapping their hands! But at least all the boats ended up the same.

36. European Championship 1991
Anzio, Italy, June 10-18,
68 entries from 24 countries.

The wind did not often get above 10 knots all week and only in the last race was there the wind and big waves associated with Anzio. Despite being a 'legend' Larry Lemieux had yet to win a major title - and he had been trying for 15 years. Apart from a 23rd in race 3, he never scored below 8th place, but also never won a race. Jose Maria van der Ploeg was leading after three races. Going into the last race, these two were tied on points and even had the same discard. Lemieux lead round the top mark and kept van der Ploeg in his sights during the race to finish third with van der Ploeg in fourth, but it was enough for Lemieux to win his first major Finn title.