First Nationals of the season in atrocious weather conditions

thieuster

Active Member
First of the four weekends here in Holland. The United 4 Sailing Competition. The first two races are in the Spring, the two others in September and October. Normally, the weather is fair/good in May. Not this time... We had snow on the way to the regatta this morning and during the races, big hailstorms battered the fleets. Especially the Optimist sailors had a tough time. The Radials and the Standard sailors with a 'lot of mileage under the boats' stayed out and did two races before the weather really turned bad with wind gusts up to 42 knots.

One happy sailor at home... All Orange/Grey-wearing boys and girls are ranked #1 - 10.

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Just before wind and hail hit the fleet...

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Tomorrow's forecast is better than today's!
 
What's the location?

We had our season start today, too: temperature 3 degrees C, and a big snow flurry :D The wind stayed mostly on the light side though. Tomorrow should see some more hiking action but it won't be much warmer...

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Near an old fortress-island: Pampus. With the wind coming from the NNW, it's easy to understand that the waves were pretty high in that 'pocket' of the lake...
Although it is called the National Competition, it's open for sailors from other countries as well. First, 100% of the Belgian sailors are always attending the United4's. But over the last few years, more and more sailors from other countries are participating (and are very welcome!) I spotted Opti's and a Lasers from Finland, a few from Ireland and a bunch of British sailors as well. Then there are always 'single' boats from Poland, Sweden etc. We love to see al those kids from other countries sailing on Dutch water. The more the merrier. We have a lot of expats living in The Netherlands and a lot of kids sail. They can opt for sailing under their own flag, or sail with NED in their sail.
 
1. Where do they launch from; Muiden?
2. Was this a youth regatta, or can I participate as well (grumpy old guy)?
3. Unrelated: Have the Dutch decided who will represent the country for the Olympics (Laser Men). I think that Mariet B was selected to sail the Radial in Japan.
 
1. They launch from Almere Poort (or to be more precise: the stretch of beach just north of Almere Poort.
2. I would say that 80% of the Radial and Standard sailors are younger than 21. Same goes for the RS 500 sailors. The remaining 20% are Masters and most welcome in the fleet. With the WC Masters in September here in Holland, I am under the impression that the Master-part of the fleet yesterday was a little bigger than before. As said, you're most welcome even when there are no other Masters. All sailors speak English, so does the Racing Committee. There's no language barrier. It's low key when it comes to checking equipment. As long there's no cheating, no-one will mind that (e.g.) the land code on your sail isn't at the right spot.
3. It's undecided yet. As far as I know, none of the men has reached the level wanted by the Dutch Olympic Committee. So there's a chance that none of the male Laser sailors is going Japan next year.

United4Sailing website in English
Sailcenter website (English) for boat charter
United4's Facebook page for more pics and info

Next event is in the North: Workum 18 & 19 May, September in Workum (again) and in Medemblik.

I hope to meet you!

Menno
 

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