RS Feva World Championship 2011 – Great practice day

by Golly Tucker on 24 Jul 2011 RS Feva World Championship 2011 is being held in Bruinisse, Netherlands between 22nd and 29th July.

The day was characterised by low key intensity. No bother, no hassle, just everyone calmly getting on with it. Final 50 boats registered with the queue never longer than five at its peak flow, first briefings held for the full safety teams and coaches, sailors doing final checks (before doing the compulsory ‘hanging’), race committee laying the practice course and the first warning gun firing to the second at the right time. The weather played fairly odd with a rainsquall coming through and the wind then dropping to a very easy 10-12kts or so. Then it suddenly built and swung 60 degrees right the wind instantly hitting 24kts and then built over 15 minutes to a weighty 25 with the committee recording 32kts.

With the new practice day format this worked exceptionally well. The essence was the committee laid the course and then at timed points ran through the full starting sequence for the three starts. They then repeated it twice more at half hour intervals. Sailors could participate or not. The GBR squad did all three starts and then completed most of the course after the final start. No pressure but great practice as all boats could do exactly as desired.

The final action of the day was the opening ceremony where the traditional Dutch Admirals sail past was canned due to the inclement weather. Instead the Oompah band played until the due time and then there were two very short speeches lasting less than four minutes total but thanking the key people. Then before the flags of the nations came on stage a minutes silence was impeccably observed in respect of the lost in the Norwegian tragedy the evening before. Every nation’s flag was then handed over to a sailor rep from each country and led out of the marquee to the flag poles to be hoisted. The Norwegian flag had the honour of being raised first followed by all the other nations together. Hanging around wasn’t going to be popular! The final flag was then hoisted by the Lord Mayor and he declared the event open.

So that is precisely what will happen tomorrow with three qualifying races expected if the weather is less than the predicted monster. The local fisherman reckons it will be fine. But then his son is a hefty RS Feva sailor! Just hope the Loveridge’s make it from Switzerland in time after their regatta there finished at 4pm today! That’ll be the last registration then! RS Feva World Championship website