Mean Machine smashes North Sea Race record

by Diana Bogaards on 22 May 2007 On Friday evening May 18 2007, the VO 70 Mean Machine of skipper and CEO Peter de Ridder smashed the record of the North Sea Race, organized by the Royal Ocean Racing Club and part of the ABN AMRO North Sea Regatta.

In last year’s edition, the Formidable (a Lutra 56) of skipper Piet Vroon set the fastest time so far, but De Ridder’s 70-footer broke it by more than eight hours. The beast needed 11 hours, 3 minutes and 50 seconds to complete the 185 nautical miles between Harwich (UK) and Scheveningen (Netherlands).

It never happened before that the winner of the line honours started and finished on the same day. Due to a strong southwester of 16 up to 32 knots, 6 out of 76 competitors could break the former record of 19 hours, 14 minutes and 38 seconds. The rough conditions caused 14 retirements, because of damage to the equipment, but there were no personal accidents.

'Dennis Goethals put it into the right words, as he called the crossing a quick Volvo Ocean Race tour', said De Ridder. 'In 11 hours we have experienced many of the different aspects of the race, such as the importance of teamwork and boat development.'

After the starting gun on Friday morning in Harwich, the VO 70 run off immediately with about 20 knots boat speed. The way she left the fleet behind, was impressive to watch. Only the Formidable could keep up at least a little bit. De Ridder: 'She is a beast, but fun to tame down. It seems worse than it is, because she is easy to helm. Sometimes when you race it’s like being a classically trained dancer…the moves are soft and elegant, like with the TP52, but racing like this is different. It’s pure ‘rock and roll’, for sure! I have deep respect for the sailors who circumnavigated the world onboard of these 70-footers. We were with sixteen crew members, but they only had ten persons for the heavy handling.'

Team Mean Machine includes the experienced VO 70 sailorsDirk de Ridder, Simeon Tienpont, Jules Salter and Jono Swain, who competed in the Volvo Ocean Race 2005-06. They are already on the Mean Machine racing team for the next edition.

According to De Ridder, the North Sea Race can be sailed faster:

'In case the ABN AMRO One would have joined us, they would have crossed the line 30 or 45 minutes ahead of us. She has the best performance in the conditions we had. I think it must be possible to finish the North Sea Race within 10 hours. You do need some luck on the last leg towards Scheveningen, as the wind should veer a little bit on that track.'

In addition to his line honours, overall IRC victory and new record, De Ridder also celebrated his 61st birthday. 'It was my longest birthday ever, since we had to sail out at 02.30 hours am local time. Otherwise the water would have been too shallow for us.'

Chinese gybe

Namesake Peter de Ridder of the Checkmate, a new Swan 45, celebrated his anniversary on the same day as well. He and his crew finished fourth in the IRC 0 and first in the ORC 1, followed by Phoenix of Mark Eriks. De Ridder about his latest yacht:

'We have to get used to her. She is not a sliding boat, since she is 4 ton heavier than our former Bashford. For us, it was a bit too windy during the North Sea Race, because we haven’t sailed enough hours onboard our Swan yet. That is why we did not take too many risks and hoisted our tour sails.'

But close to Smith Knoll it did go wrong:

'We made a beautiful Chinese gibe, where after we dropped the spinnaker.' Just before the crossing towards the Netherlands, they also reefed the main. De Ridder: 'At night, the wind came more from aft. In fact, we should have hoisted the spinnaker. We did take out the reef, but Roark, Eclectic and Holmatro were faster of course. That is how we lost the competition with them in the IRC 0 class.' Roark with skipper Kees Kaan on the helm, already gybed halfway the lap towards Smith Knoll, which paid off. They took the lead and won the IRC 0.

JimJams – Small and fast

The smallest yacht of the fleet, a 9,2 meters long J 92 of Paul van der Pol (NED), gathered most awards at the prize giving on Sunday. The six crew members won the IRC 3, ORC 3 and ORC overall. Niels Jannichsen of JimJams: 'It was the first time we had to do the same course as the bigger boats. Under spinnaker we often reached a speed of 18-19 knots. We are dinghy sailors and that experience was pretty handy out there. It was definitely fun to sail with the kite up, which was exciting at night. You don’t see that much in the dark, so it is tricky to surf the waves with 14-15 knots speed.'

In the IRC 1, it was again the smallest boat, the Dutch Mumm 30 of team van Uden – TU Delft – Van Oord, that beat her competitors. Since the students have only been sailing together for half a year, the victory was a surprise. Skipper Michiel van der Meulen: 'At this stage, I did not expect us to be able to handle the Mumm so well in 30 knots wind. It has been great, particularly under spinnaker.'

Double handed

This year, the duo-handed class was added to the North Sea Race. Four duo-handed crews started in Harwich. Only two finished the wild crossing, among which Maurits Homan and Bart Keymolen with the cAp, a First 31.7. Homan: 'Despite the rough conditions, we have done everything that fully crewed teams did. We hoisted the spinnaker and reached a top speed of 18.4 knots. We broached once, which caused some damage.' Although they only had 1,5 hour sleep each, Homan says he wants to participate double-handed again. 'Hopefully with more competition.' Fandango of Dutchman De Walle grabbed the victory..

Inshores start next week

On Friday May 25, the ABN AMRO North Sea Regatta will continue with the inshores off the Scheveningen coast and the sailors’ party in the harbour. The party tent is almost ready and the musicians are warming up. The fleet of about 500 competitors consists of dinghies, beach catamarans, olympic- and one-design classes, modern and classic yachts. They are divided over 21 classes and 5 courses.

On Friday May 25 at 17.00 hours local time, Bouwe Bekking, former skipper of the Spanish Movistar in the Volvo Ocean Race 2005-06, will christen the No Limits in the Scheveningen harbour. This new Swan 45 with an alternative teak deck, developed and made by Bolidt Topsynthetics, will line up for the inshores. Bekking will reinforce the team.

For the complete results, please surf to http://www.nsr.nl/ and go to ‘results 2007’.