Night time sailing at Holland Regatta

by Rob Kothe + RYA quotation on 25 May 2006 A frustrating opening day for the 700 sailors at the the ISAF Grade 1 regatta, the 23rd Holland Regatta, as strong winds prevented racing in four of the eleven contested classes in Medemblik.

Rain-squalls with gusts to 30 knot winds swept the course for most of the day,
The 49ers, Ynglings and Stars had their day's racing cancelled by mid-afternoon.

When the commencement of racing was signalled for 1930hrs, most classes dutifully set out for their race courses.

However the Tornado sailors, refused to comply, there was a general strike and they stood en masse in the boat park, very unhappy with race committee plans.

Britains Leigh McMillan explained: 'The general feeling in the Tornado fleet was that they were trying to start us too late - especially when lots of fleets have got to be on the water again at nine o'clock in the morning.

'I think it comes down to an expectation of what conditions you race in, and I think in this case the sailors feel the organisation have made the error here and not the sailors who are not going sailing. It was very late in the day, the wind was still up and down, there were still some dark clouds around and generally the feeling was that we were not too happy about going out racing having been on hold for 12 hours of the day.'

'It's a class decision,' McMillan continued. 'It's not my decision, but we stand together as a class and if that's the general feeling within the class then that's the way it is.

'The sailors know what the limitations are on the boat - not the people who are running the race who are sitting in their cosy boat. If the sailors feel it's not right to go racing in certain conditions then that's the way it should be, because we're the ones who have actually got to go out and do it.'

On the water, the Skandia Team GBR sailors had a good start to the event, with Hyères regatta gold medallist Ed Wright in the Finn and European Champion Paul Goodison in the Laser both posting wins in their opening races.

Laser Radial sailor Alison Young - bronze medallist at the 2005 Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championships - had an impressive start to her Holland campaign, finishing second in the first race. Young was second at the windward mark, and led at the leeward mark before being overtaken by China's 2005 Youth Worlds silver medallist, Xu Lijia, on the final run.

The British windsurfers started well - Bryony Shaw is currently second in the women's RS:X fleet, with Lucy Horwood in eighth and Christine Johnstone in eleventh, while Olympic bronze medallist Nick Dempsey lies in equal fifth place
in the RS:X men's event, with a third from his first race of the regatta

In the 470 Women's class, Christina Bassadone and Saskia Clark crossed in fourth with Pippa Wilson and Sheena Craig in seventh, while development squad sailors Jonny McGovern and Tom Mapplebeck - Skandia Team GBR's sole entry in the 470 men's class - posted a 15th in their race to finish the day equal 29th.

The Australian’s are continuing as they left off at the World Sailing Games, In the Laser Class with Tom Slingsby won his first race to be level with Goodison, with Brendan Casey second in his race. In the Mens 470’s Nathan Wilmot and Malcolm Page won their evening race as well. In the Laser Radials, Krystal Weir took a sixth and 2006 Neuseidl bronze medallist Sarah Blanck seventh.

Thursday could be another tough day for sailors and race committee alike, with more strong winds and rain forecast.

For more news and information from the 2006 Holland Regatta, visit hollandregatta.org/2006