Luke and Emma retain the RS800 European Championship crowns

by Phil Walker on 16 May 2017 18 RS 800’s made their way to sunny Medemblik last week for the 2017 European Championships. The Brits had a strong contingent of 13 boats, but in order to avoid a “Brits on Tour” feeling that would eventually turn into a stag do, many brought their wives and girlfriends as cover!

We were welcomed on day one with rain for rigging, followed by a briefing from the race officer to assure us the rain had stopped for the day and then we went racing in rain. Some say rain stops play, but that wasn’t the case for Ella and James Moorland who got off to a flying start and led round the whole track……until of course Luke and Emma spotted a beautiful gust on the final downwind and pipped them to the post. Race two Luke and Emma got off to a flying start and pretty much lead all the way round, followed by Phil and John, followed by Ella and James.

After two races we were done and the fleet headed home for a group dinner at the sailing club. This was followed by “a few pints” in a local bar which turned into a massive night involving live bands, dancing, singing, debating the outcome of Brexit, more break dancing. It turns out that this may have been a race to the bottom between James and Ella, Andy and Maddy, Phil and John, Andy and Allison, Feibush and a whole host of others. Anyway a great night.

Day two dawned with, I think a bit of rain (can’t say I can really remember), but the fleet launched promptly for a long sail out to the course in 8kts of breeze. The race officer kindly delayed the start by a few mins to allow most of the stragglers to get down to the starting area. Some however, were still reminiscing on last nights antics and didn’t actually make the start. No guesses for who that was!

Luke and Emma fired straight out of the blocks with a bullet with Martin and Ian putting in a great race to come second, followed by Paul and Colin in third. The second race of the day was pretty spooky with the wind shutting off on different sides of the course and big shifts. However, the French team of Gilles and Matteo had managed to work it out to claim first, followed by Andy and Allison in second and Andy and Maddy in third.

Race three was again a bit of an interesting one with Team France leading all the way round, only to find they were OCS! Luke and Emma sailed a solid race to upgrade their second to a first following the French getting the chop, with Daniel and Debbie claiming second and John and Debbi Booth getting third. Race four saw Daniel and Debbie build on their recent second place to take the win, followed by Phil and John then Paul and Colin.

There was no group dinner on night two, but teams did their own thing and then met in a bar in town. There was much excitement about the forecast for day three and over the course of the evening the predictions went from a nice 8-12 knt forecast, to 12-15, to 15-18, to 18 knots plus and no rain! On that note, everyone rushed off to bed to prepare themselves for a big day, and boy did Medemblik deliver! We launched in 8-10kts, sunshine and building breeze to have three fantastic races.

Race one, Daniel and Debbie read the course just right and came flying out of the left hand corner to take a convincing win, followed by Team France, followed by Phil and John.

In race two, the wind had built a little bit and started to pull right. Team France saw this and went rushing off that way to round the windward mark first. However, over the two lap racecourse, Luke and Emma’s immense pace reeled them in, with Phil and John taking another third.

The final race had arrived and after the right looking to deliver on the first beat, it was a pure trick, left paid! Luke and Emma sailed a pretty conservative race to play the shifts to round the first windward mark in a solid position and then continued to climb forward to take another win. On the first run / second beat, that right hand shift that had been tantalising some on the first beat came in hard. A 40 degree shift made for a relaxing second beat, but meant the final rag to the finish downwind was a massive gybe set, followed by a flat out on the edge blast to get not quite to the gate!

All in all, a great event, a very friendly club and a friendly town. Thanks to Medembik for hosting and we hope to see as many of you as possible at the UK nationals in Stokes Bay later this year. Or, come over to Hayling Island Sailing Club for the May bank holiday three day Whitsun Regatta – why not?!

No	Zeilno	Naame		Punten	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
1	GBR 1220	Luke McEwen	Emma McEwen	10,0	1	1	1	-5	1	4	-7	1	1
2	FRA 1218	Gilles Peeters	Lavauzelle Mateo	25,0	5	7	-13	1	(ocs)	6	2	2	2
3	GBR 1178	Phil Walker	John Mather	27,0	3	2	9	-12	5	2	3	3	-10
4	GBR 1216	Ella Morland	James Morland	30,0	2	3	5	-6	-7	5	6	6	3
5	GBR 1228	Andy Jeffries	Allyson Jeffries	32,0	4	-13	4	2	8	-13	4	5	5
6	GBR 1188	Daniel Goodman	Debbie Robertshaw	36,0	-9	9	7	9	2	1	1	-11	7
7	GBR 1204	Martin Orton	Ian Brooks	42,0	-11	4	2	4	6	7	11	-13	8
8	GBR 1195	Paul Jenkins	Colin Hutton	45,0	6	6	3	11	-12	3	9	7	(ocs)
9	GBR 1202	Andrew Blundell	Maddie Fenner	50,0	8	-11	10	3	4	10	-14	9	6
10	GBR 1186	Chris Feibusch	Nick Jerkins	53,0	10	5	6	7	-11	11	-12	10	4
11	GBR 1145	John Booth	Debbi Booth	60,0	12	12	11	8	3	-14	5	-17	9
12	GBR 842	Pete Bromley	Chris Doe	69,0	7	10	8	-17	(ocs)	9	16	8	11
13	GBR 1211	Philip Gladman	Tasha Gladman	78,0	-16	8	-15	14	10	15	13	4	14
14	GBR 855	Graham Williamson	Jeremy Williamson	87,0	-15	(dnf)	12	15	9	12	15	12	12
15	NED 1068	Pieter Nijsse	Matthew Morgan	96,0	(dnc)	(dns)	dns	10	13	8	17	16	13
16	GER 960	Jan Busch	Riada Meyer zu Uptrup	97,0	13	15	14	16	(dns)	(dns)	10	14	15
17	NED 106	Michiel Geerling van Susante	Hilde Geerling van Susante	99,0	14	14	(dns)	13	(dns)	dns	8	15	16
18	GER 903	Lars Lambrecht	Lena Vogelpohl	115,0	17	16	16	-18	14	16	18	18	(dns)