South East U17

Grevelingen - waiting for the wind

The North Sea Cup is held in the four countries bordering the North Sea: Holland, Belgium, the UK and France. However, this does not mean that only people from these countries can race. It is open to all, and this year in particular saw many competitors travelling from all over the world. The Thai and Indonesian Olympic squads were particularly strong, training for the Raceboard Worlds in Japan.

The British Team also did very well this year, with nearly everyone consistently finishing in the top twenty, which, in a field that once (in Belgium) numbered over eighty people just in the Aloha fleet, is quite an achievement, and says a lot for the determination of the Team, especially the smaller guys and girls, who had to cope with a Force 6 wind in Belgium on the first day.

So, without further ado I shall commence my report on the long and arduous series, which began in Grevelingen Meer, Holland.

Situated just behind the main "dykes" of Holland Grevelingen is, statistically, one of the windiest places in Europe. However, the statistics seemed to desert us on this particular weekend, as only one race was completed over the whole two day period. Saturday, the first day, dawned bright and clear, but with only about 2 knots of wind out on the water. After rigging up and registering, we went to check out the weather forecast. Force 6 winds for tomorrow? Cool! Nothing much was happening today though, so I went back to the car to take some water on. The N.S.C. has a wind minimum of 6 knots for a period of 4 minutes before the start, so it looked like no racing at all, or a MAJOR pumping day.

Top French sailor Alexis Masson emerging from the mist

After waiting several hours they finally sent us out at 2:30 for what looked like it might be the only race of the day. With only a very little amount of wind it was time for some punishing pumping around the "M" course, but the British final positions were good with both Catherine Potter and Chris Moorhouse finishing in the top ten in their respective groups, while I was fifteenth. Of the other sailors, it was noticeable that the Poles did particularly well in these conditions.

Sunday was a very frustrating day. With only one more race needed to make the event count, everyone was desperate to get another in. However, we and the race organisers were constantly frustrated by the sea mist, which came in thick and fast as soon as the wind filled in even the smallest amount.

Finally a race was started, but as we reached the first windward mark the mist rolled in again, and we couldn't see a thing, but we carried on anyway. Catherine, Chris and I were following each other in about 8th position, and found the next buoy successfully. Then we heard three shots from the committee boat, and the race was abandoned. It was very difficult to get back as we only had a vague idea of where the land was (the wind had shifted as well). You can imagine my sense of "deja vu" when exactly the same thing happened at Weymouth a week later!

The competition was called off, and the disgruntled competitors packed up and made their way home.

Aloha sailors Sam Bromley and Chris Moorhouse speed past a Flemish yacht at Oostende - force 5!

Oostende, Belgium was in a way the complete opposite to the disaster that had been Holland. The beach was a marvel in its own right. Not only was the sand as white and fine grained as you see in travel brochures for the Fiji islands, but it also had the amazing ability to get inside and jam every single piece of equipment you dared to use. And stayed there for weeks afterwards. The water was very clean, and the tide went out for over half a mile. Not good for carrying the Aloha, which weighs over fifteen kilos!

Guy Solven sailed brilliantly in the gnarly conditions at Oostende to come third. He went on to win at Pevensey

Anyway, enough of my moaning, because the first day looked promising with a slightly gusty cross shore Force 4, which rapidly became more consistent, making for some great spectator racing, as the Olympic (box) course was set, with the windward mark within a couple of hundred metres of the beach. As there was a tide running with the wind, the competitors came right in to the surf, with some people actually grounding, in an effort to make the windward mark while avoiding the tide (the tide gets slowed by the shallower water, meaning less ground to windward is lost the longer you stay close to the shore).

By the time we actually started racing, which was about 2 o'clock, the wind had built to a good Force 5, which swamped many of the Aloha sailors and causing the rescue boats some problems. Out of 77, 25 were rescued, and things were getting worse. As I rounded the last mark the wind was strengthening, and my Aloha started to fly. Eddie Short was 100 metres ahead, and I thought I could catch him, but he held on and got to the finish before me. Great sailing!

After this race the postponement flag went up, because the wind had just kicked in another notch, and the tide had turned against the wind, increasing the size of the swell dramatically. With a strong Force 6 now on the course, the race officers had to make a decision. The 'high wind specialists' were clamouring for another race, while the lighter weights were trying to keep them quiet.

Peter Miles before he broke his toe	Eddie Short did well in the high winds at Oostende	Russell Edwards was fourth at Oostende and Pevensey

In the end the Aloha's did not race, which I think was the right decision. If 25 people had to be rescued in a Force 5 with a two foot swell, how could the rescue boats cope with what would happen in a Force 6 with 3-4 foot swell? However, the IMCO's raced, and Jon Gould won! Strike two for Britain (he won the first one, too).

Fortunately the second day was more mundane, with the exception of the 7 KNOT tide running with the wind in one of the races. Also, the second race was marred by several (foreign) competitors getting away with missing out two legs (!) in the poor visibility. Mark successfully protested three of them, but the others still got away with it (This is a known problem with the box course and the inside loop).

Despite this the Brits did very well in the overall placings, with four top ten finishes (Guy Solven third, Russ Edwards fourth, Mark Roberts fifth, and Jason Rae ninth), and everyone was inside the top thirty, which is pretty impressive out of a field of seventy seven. Your humble author was twenty first (9th Brit).

In the Juniors, Catherine Potter was third (first girl) and Daniel Ince fourth, and in the IMCO fleet Jon Gould held on to win.

Pevensey, on the South Coast (The British Event!) did not look promising as we arrived. The wind was veering all over the place, so the organisers had a job even setting the course.

While we were waiting, we were entertained by Robbie Swift duck gybing his 8.7m sail on a borrowed AHD 310 board! Robbie was entered as Formula 42, against the likes of Nick Wigston, also from the South East. The other entertainment was provided by Peter Miles who was on crutches having broken his toe (on his bike) and couldn't sail. It was very noble of him to turn up at all.

Jason Rae was eighth at Pevensey and fifth overall

We were finally called onto the water at two with about 4 knots of wind, but the wind kept shifting, so the race was postponed for half an hour, but finally we started successfully. The second race was postponed (we got to see far too much of the red and white striped flag!) for an hour while the F42's went round their third lap.

Just as we come in from the second race, tired and hungry from all the pumping, they immediately called a third race so no one had anything to eat! This race started in good wind, but it promptly died leading to some major wallowing (and pumping!). It only took me an hour and twenty minutes to get back in... It was now half-past eight, and most of us hadn't had a meal since breakfast, hence we all made the Grim Reaper look alive. B-A-D spells BAD.

Bad luck with the tide at Pevensey didn't stop Daniel Ince coming third Junior overall

Good old Ian McCaskell promised us a 'Cyclonic Variable' for the Sunday, which is the very centre of a low pressure system, normally prompting light and shifty winds. Fortunately however the result was very different, with some good wind coming through for the two races of the day.

The first one went well, but the second was a series of disasters. Ed Short's sail was trashed (no names mentioned Guy Solven), several people including Daniel Ince were pushed over the line by the tide, and I was barged and knocked in on the line by some fool of a Frenchman, who I couldn't even protest because I beat him (well, I could have protested him, but it would have gained me nothing). Ian Jamieson got a DNC (did not compete) even though there seemed to be someone VERY similar to him in that same race. He was reinstated successfully.

However, there were no problems in the top. A strange lack of international competitors (maybe they couldn't get out of bed!) enabled seven Brits into the top ten, doing us no harm in the overall series. Guy Solven won, closely followed by Mark Roberts. Russ Edwards was fourth, Sam Bromley was seventh, Jason Rae eighth, Chris Moorhouse ninth and Oli Woodcock tenth. All the British Team were comfortably inside the top twenty, with your scribe, not finding the conditions to his liking (or at least, that's his excuse) coming fourteenth (9th Brit again).

In the Juniors, Catherine Potter, Mike Wand-Tetley, Claire Gaskell and Daniel Ince made a clean sweep of 2nd to 5th places. And in the Formula 42 series, Robbie Swift came second behind Nick Wigston.

The Poles rig up on the Promenade at Wimereux note the "different" sails

Wimereux was the last event. About half an hour from Calais, this was easily the simplest of the foreign locations to get to, with a superb front and beach. We arrived on the Friday night with half the squad frantically leafing through their French phrase books in an attempt to chat up the local girls. And, for the record, there were no bangers let off. At all. (A good night!)

I make the long trek to the sea at Wimereux

Saturday dawned with no wind (I get the feeling this is sounding a little repetitive) and the two races of the day were held in about three knots of wind, with two knots of tide running with the wind! The last windward mark rounding was interesting. Knackered totally from the psycho pumping we had to do to keep position, it took a couple of attempts even to round it!

The Brits did not do very well today, as the full Polish squad turned up, and their work rate in light winds was phenomenal. Some of them were simply inhuman! A special mention must go to Mark Roberts here, who was pretty much the only non-Pole to do well.

Mike Wand-Tetley after an ace result at Wimereux

Sunday. Oh dear, major rain, minor wind. We amused ourselves by examining the Polish sails, made under licence in the East. Were they different? Did they give an advantage in light winds? Brian Cambell-Bottoms said if we wanted to beat the Poles in these conditions we would just have to work harder!

After a couple of hours a gentle North-Easterly blew up, and a race was started. The Brits fared better in this one, with Jessica Ash very well placed in seventh,(it's her light weight, or that's what I tell myself), and your scribe bagging fifteenth against some very good people. The last two races were punishing. Long and back to back (one immediately following the other), the competition was fierce.

The tide was taking no prisoners at the windward mark, and most of us were lucky to get through it all without blowing several blood vessels with all that pumping. The crepes were good though. As we de-rigged, we kept seeing curiously attired cyclists, runners and swimmers from the Triathlon going on at the same time as the sailing. The swimmers were actually started while the Aloha's were coming in!

RYA briefing with Isy and Dave

The results at Wimereux were the reverse of Pevensey, with five Poles in the top ten, but they were all beaten by Mark Roberts who showed his usual form to come third. The next two Brits were Oli Woodcock and Jason Rae, and I was pleased to come in as seventh British Youth. The juniors did well, with four in the top ten, and Catherine Potter and Claire Gaskell first and second junior girls.

Mark Roberts sailed like a demon throughout the events, eventually doing magnificently well to win the overall series!

Jessica Ash was first Youth Girl. Add to that Catherine Potter's first Junior Girl title, and you have a superb performance. Barrie Edgington described it as our best ever performance in the North Sea Cup. See below for more detailed results, including the amazing IMCO positions!

Lastly, a large vote of thanks from all the Team must go to Isy Hutchinson, Dave Thompson and Brian Cambell-Bottoms, the RYA squad trainers, who journeyed a long way with their boats to offer us a great deal of support both off and on the water.

Nick Morwood, the author, is 15 1/2, and has been sailing for 4 years. This is his first full season of racing. Nick is sponsored by the UK Sailing Academy, a superlatively equipped training centre on the Isle of Wight, which sponsors promising young sailors every year. Nick has found the help provided by the Academy invaluable in meeting the expenses of these international events.

North Sea Cup Results
Jessica Ash First Girl Youth	Mark Roberts won the Aloha Trophy	Catherine Potter First Girl Junior