thieuster
Active Member
Last Friday, Saturday and Sunday were the days of the Dutch version of the Europa Cup*). One year in Ostend (Belgium) the other year in Hoorn (20 miles north of Amsterdam). The last few days we've been hit by bad and uncommon weather: afternoon supercells and local tornadoes have hit our country. Very uncommon. Friday's wind was around 25 knots and a massive burst of bad weather around 7 PM when everybody was safely ashore.
Saturday is even more uncommon, weather-wise: a storm with a steady 35 knots from the south, with gales up to 50 knots in the afternoon hit the courses. As you can understand, all races were off for Saturday.
That didn't stop the girls from the Dutch National Squad, TeamNL, to rig up their Radials for a 90 min session on lake IJsselmeer. Supported by their female coach on a RIB (3x Olympian, 2x medal winner, 2x World champion and 2x European champion) and two other men on two RIBs accompanied the super-Team. The anemometer on the RIB hit 35 knots steady wind, gusts up to 47 knots. That was later verified by the weather report.
After 90 mins, the ladies returned. Safe and sound. With no damage to the material. It was impossible to jibe normally, only to perform what we call -translated into English- 'chicken jibes'. Returned ashore, their mood was great! Especially because of the boys: they'd stayed ashore, slowly walking off to the 90 mins gym-session...
I would not advocate going out in those conditions. But at least we've seen that it's possible!
Menno
*)I won't go into details about how this event was organized... I am too ashamed to admit that my fellow countrymen didn't reach the level of other Europa Cups we've attended.
Saturday is even more uncommon, weather-wise: a storm with a steady 35 knots from the south, with gales up to 50 knots in the afternoon hit the courses. As you can understand, all races were off for Saturday.
That didn't stop the girls from the Dutch National Squad, TeamNL, to rig up their Radials for a 90 min session on lake IJsselmeer. Supported by their female coach on a RIB (3x Olympian, 2x medal winner, 2x World champion and 2x European champion) and two other men on two RIBs accompanied the super-Team. The anemometer on the RIB hit 35 knots steady wind, gusts up to 47 knots. That was later verified by the weather report.
After 90 mins, the ladies returned. Safe and sound. With no damage to the material. It was impossible to jibe normally, only to perform what we call -translated into English- 'chicken jibes'. Returned ashore, their mood was great! Especially because of the boys: they'd stayed ashore, slowly walking off to the 90 mins gym-session...
I would not advocate going out in those conditions. But at least we've seen that it's possible!
Menno
*)I won't go into details about how this event was organized... I am too ashamed to admit that my fellow countrymen didn't reach the level of other Europa Cups we've attended.