Rydge and Scarr lead FD European Championship

by Sail-World on 5 Jun 2008
Australia's Norman Rydge and Richard Scarr lead after the first race of the Flying Dutchman European Championship in Croatia. A remarkable performance considering the problems they have had in getting their boat to the venue and then keeping it in one piece. But when the racing started the problems were put behind them . . . with the rest of the 85 boat fleet.

After 35 hrs of travel from Australia they arrived at a small airport two hours drive from the Croatian venue. At customs they had a issue with the sails as they were boxed up, but with a little bit of paper work (any paper work seems to work) they were let go. Then there was the problem of the boat. This finally turned up after many 'customs' issues - There were a few people who had to fully unload their boats to get through the border.

With just a couple of days to go they were measured and finally hit the water in a nice 8-12 knots breeze. However they had just rolled out their genoa when six minutes later . . . their brand new CST High Modulus mast broke whilst sailing up wind. Having just spent four weeks testing the mast in all conditions on Sydney Harbor, then shipping it to Croatia, it was a bitter blow. This mast was a new development made 20% stiffer and 1.5kg lighter.

However one and a half hours later they had finished rigging a second mast, the one used in Lake Balaton, Hungry at the 2006 World Championships. It was measured then stepped and they were ready to go sailing again - and the rest is history . . .

Behind Norman Rydge and Richard Scarr were Hideo Tayama and Sven la Graauw of New Zealand in second place in the first race, with the German pair, Christian Zbil and Bichler Paul in third place.

Flying Dutchman - Positions after 1 race (85 entries)

1 Norman Rydge & Richard Scarr RPEYC 1 1pts
2 Hideo Tayama & Sven la Graauw KBC 2 2
3 Christian Zbil & Bichler Paul BSCF 3 3
4 Dirk Bogumil & Michael Lisken SR1926 4 4
5 Antal Kardos & Csaba Polgar SVE 5 5
6 M. Luisa de Michele & Luigi Bellotti VSTB 6 6
7 Bas van der Pol & Marc van der Pol WZVT 7 7
8 Jorgen Bojsen-Moller & Jacob Bojsen-Moller HS 8 8
9 Ralph Jambor & Jens Scheiber TSG1898 9 9
10 Szabolcs Majthenyi & Andras Domokos SVEB 10 10
11 Bernd Schreiber & Detlev Schmidt VSAW 11 11
12 Jorn Borowski & Andreas Berlin ROYC 12 12
13 Mauele Gregori & Matteo Mariotti AVB 13 13
14 Kilian Koning & Johannes Brack SCE 14 14
15 Alexander Schmid-Siege & Wolfgang Skoda UYCSW 15 15
16 Frank Tobias & Frank Simone SH 16 16
17 Francesco Vespasiani & Francesco Gerunzi 17 17
18 Dolores Sanchez Herr & Javier Higuera Argue CNA 18 18
19 Paggy Bahr & Torsten Bahr YCBG/SLRV 19 19
20 Christoph Holzingen & Stefan Schmitz UYCT 20 20
21 Nicola Vespasiani & Carlo Carincola 21 21
22 Roberto Cipriani & Stefano A. Morelli FVP/CVT 22 22
23 Christoph Aichholzer & Philipp Zingerle SCTWV 23 23
24 Helmut Lother & Michael Klawitter SCAI 24 24
25 Janos Ziegler & Gabor Hajto SVE 25 25
26 Gines Romero & Alvaro Moreno CNA 26 26
27 Enno Kramer & Ard Geelkerken WSVN 27 27
28 Shmuel Markoff & Mircea Carp AHYC 28 28
29 Frea Schaaf & Lasper Schaaf WVK 29 29
30 Andras Suli & David Papp SVEB 30 30
31 Keller Bernd & Fischer Bernd SKF 31 31
32 Spartaco Francesconi & Franco Tognocchi CVMP 32 32
33 Harold Wijgers & Niels Kamphuis WZWT 33 33
34 Luka Tomori & Urban Jan JKJ 34 34
35 Fred Zorn & Erich Schober YCZ 35 35
36 Pavel Fiala & Roman Houdek LTFD 36 36
37 Laszlo Damokos & Reti Zsolt Dr. TYCSE 37 37
38 Carlos Beltri & Juan Pablo de Dieg FVRM 38 38
39 Rolf Albert & Lutz Albert SSVEP 39 39
40 Andreas Kunze & Josef Seebauer MYC 40 40
41 Rosie Pye & Neil Pye BVSC 41 41
42 Wolfgang Dietrich & Jens Fuchs SCHP 42 42
43 Luigi Silvestrini & Francesco Ciuccarelli GVLNI 43 43
44 Kai Schafers & Martin Romberg YCWA 44 44
45 Stefan Beichl & Roland Kirst HSC 45 45
46 Francesco Ravasini & Giovanni Borrini CUSP 46 46
47 Ernst Gretten & Detlev Kruger HYC 47 47
48 Marco Lieberth & Mario Gotz SSGEP 48 48
49 Toos Zandstra & Durk Zandstra KZL 49 49
50 Jan Lechler & Jens Salow YCBG 50 50
51 Johan van Werkhov & Pieter Staal AEGIR 51 51
52 Jorg Witte & Stefan Madicke TSG, SYC 52 52
53 John Williams & Alex Rogers RSC/PSC 53 53
54 Walter Moser & Wolfgang Sitzwohl YCO 54 54
55 Uwe Kelderbacher & Christoph Zingerle SCTWV 55 55
56 Hugo Maarleveld & Pieter Zandstra YCR 56 56
57 Karsten Keil & Frank Descher SSVEP 57 57
58 Bjorn Athaus & Matthias Krukenbaum YCWA 58 58
59 Gerhard Ulrich & Rainer Ulrich SCK 59 59
60 Edwin Neue & Marco Steinem DUYC 60 60
61 Alberto Barenghi & Giorgio Allaria SCL 61 61
62 Frank Kanigi & Steffen Ulemann SCF 1891 62 62
63 Peter Doran & Richard Phillips OSC 63 63
64 Mark Brouwer & Paul van der Pol WSVNB 64 64
65 Peter Stoka & Andrej Borstnar JKJ 65 65
66 Erika Geelkerken & Harald Berning R&ZVG 66 66
67 Hans A. Koning & Jorn Kulb VSAW 67 67
68 Mihai Butucaru & Nikola Kelis YCB 68 68
69 Paul de Schipper & Cor Huisman WSVB 69 69
70 John Berry & James Whitaker WGCSC 70 70
71 Frank Nooijen & Ronald Huijsmans ZCK KPH 71 71
72 Gian Luca Vignazia & Alessandra Coloccini CVP 72 72
73 Petet Gaal & Balazs Kail MTDSC 73 73
74 Leopoldo Biasi & Francesco Biasi 74 74
75 Tony Lyall & Colin Burns WGCSC 75 75
76 Jurgen Grolle & Caroline Rudorff SKU 76 76
77 Rulf Vogel & Heike Wild SCS 77 77
78 Helmut Gotz & Roland Huber KYC 78 78
79 Pawel Swiderski & Marcin Zawistowski SW 79 79
80 Miha Stanovnik & Tomaz Pogacnik JKJ 80 80
81 Kurt Muller & Ralph Aicher SCSTS 81 81
82 Paul Hemker & Pavel Ruzicka BLSA 82 82
83 Herrman Jorg & Oliver Hyzyk YCBG, SCF 86\DNF 86T
83 Kurt Prenzler & Heinz Bollweg HYC 86\DNF 86T
83 Tin Matulja & Robin Matulja FSC 86\DNF 86T