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Braassemermeer Easter Regatta 2002Every Easter the Dutch
Optimist Association organises an international open meeting near Amsterdam.
The event is invitational and each country is allocated a certain number
of places. We are fortunate in that
we are allocated a total of 45 places which enables most of the National and
Intermediate squad an opportunity to race at international level having just
completed their winter training. It
is also an ideal preparation for the selection trials.
This year’s event took place from the 29th March to the 1st
April We have allocated
additional funding (IOCA and the RYA) to enable four days of training to precede
the event. This year we were very
fortunate to have glorious weather as well as a moderate breeze. On Friday 229 sailors from
13 countries including the USA, Poland, Portugal and the Nordic countries were
split into 6 flights, with a round robin on the first two days and a Gold Fleet
(1-90), Silver Fleet (91-180) and Bronze Fleet (the rest) on the Monday.
The round robin was 5 races and a further two races to be sailed on the
final day. There was only one
discard which kicked in with race 5. Friday was a beautiful day for sailing, with a lot of sun and
some wind. The practice race was supposed to start at 14:00 hrs but was delayed
due to several general recalls. The last two starts were with the black flag
which gave about 80 sailors a DSQ. Saturday started with grey skies and a very light breeze,
which disappeared in the early morning. All the sailors went out for the first
race which was planned at 10:00hrs, but the wind died so there was no
possibility at all to get a race started. At
11:00hrs the race committee decided to send the competitors back to shore to
wait there for any wind to come. In the afternoon the wind picked up a little so
finally at 14:40hrs we had the first start of the first race. Light and shifting winds made it difficult for all.
First places in the three groups were for Mandy Mulder (Ned), Tim Saxton
and Chris Taylor (USA). Josh
Metcalfe posted a 3rd, Thomas Mallindine
a 4th and Sean Evans a 5th.
A second race started just after five o'clock because wind forecasts for
the rest of the weekend were not very promising. This race was shortened for
every group so all the tired sailors were ashore again at about 19:00hrs.
Winners of the second race were Metcalfe,
Alex Bunt (USA) and again Mulder. The British team where starting to come to terms with the
shifty winds with the following successes James Murdock 3rd, Ben
Saxton 3rd,Philip White 4th, Claire Lasko and
Tim Saxton 5th. Sunday started with not too promising weather. Very light
winds from South Easterly directions (5 knots and less) and weather forecasts
did not bring much better. The first race of the day (race 3) started in time at
10:00hrs and lasted just over an hour. Three Dutchmen leaded the different
groups at the finish line; Steven
Le Fevre, Lars Bekker and Axel van Bladel. Metcalfe kept in contention posting a
5th along with Murdock. Hannah
Mills scored a 4th in her start.
The second race of the day started shortly after finishing the first,
while winds were picking up to about 8 knots and shifting more to the South. The
Dutch Le Fevre and Bekker were in the lead again, joined by Julien Thijs (BEL)
in the other group. Richard
Mason and Murdock both scored 2nd with Lasko finishing 3rd
in her flight. After a short lunch
break the third race started just after 15:00hrs with still increasing winds
(12-16 knots) shifting to SW. The first two groups completed the full course and
the last group had their race shortened after the second upwind leg. Winners of
this race were the Americans Alan Campbell and Bunt and Fredrik Skoglund from
Sweden. Mason finished 2nd
again with Metcalfe 4th and Mills 5th. Monday started with a little breeze and grey skies. Two final
races were scheduled to be sailed, the first one to start at 10:00hrs. After the
5 fleet races of Saturday and Sunday, the fleet was divided in Gold, Silver and
Bronze. The British had 19 of their
helms in the Gold Fleet and 21 in the Silver Fleet. The first race in the Gold fleet looked very promising as the
foreign coaches gasped as the British fleet approached the windward mark.
7 of the top ten boats were British and they were spread equally across
the course. 2 to the left, 3 up the
middle and 2 to the right. We
rounded 1 –3 , 5 – 6 and 9-10. Unfortunately
we could not hold on to these placings at the end of the race.
The finishing order was Metcalfe , Le Fevre , Bekker and Lasko
in 4th. Murdock finished
9th. After a short lunch break the other final race was scheduled
but due to light and shifty winds the start of this race had to be postponed.
The Silver and Bronze fleet could not start anymore because of the time limit but the Gold fleet had their race.
Difficult conditions resulted in great changes in the leader board.
Steven Le Fevre (winner of the Easter Regatta in 2000) sailed his discard race
and still managed to finish first overall. It was a great weekend of sailing
with nice weather, very light winds and fierce but fair competition. The prize giving culminates with the presentation of the team
prize, won by the Netherlands with GBR runner up.
Glass eggs are the coveted prizes of this event. Final placings GOLD FLEET 1
NED
Steven Le Fevre
(15 pts) 2
NED
Lars Bekker
(18 pts) 3
GBR
Joshua Metcalfe
(20 pts) 4
USA
Alan Campbell
(24 pts) 5
GBR
Richard Mason
(46 pts) 6
SWE
Oscar Taurell
(46 pts) 7
SWE
Rebecca Harding
(47 pts)
1st Girl 8
NED
Mandy Mulder
(50 pts)
2nd Girl 9
NED
Peter v Aacken
(50 pts) 10
NED
Marieke Jongens
(50 pts)
3rd Girl 11 GBR
Claire Lasko
(51 pts) 12
GBR
Tim Saxton
(59 pts) 13
GBR
James Murdock
(61 pts) 14
NED
Alex v. Bladel
(62 pts) 15
GBR
Thomas Mallindine
(65 pts) 16
GBR
Philip While
(71pts) SILVER FLEET 1
BEL
Cleeren Koen
(127 pts) 2
IRL
Martin McGonagle
(128 pts) 3
GBR
Cloe Martin
(128 pts) 6
GBR
Andrew Hibberd
(137 pts) BRONZE FLEET 1
SWE
Mgnus Castefors
(219 pts) 2
NED
Rik v Loo
(221 pts) 3
DEN
Peter Reiwald
(222 pts) |
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