Belgium 420 Open Championships

by Jo Grindley on 21 Sep 2000 Paul Campbell-James and Matt Gill convincingly won the Belgian 420 Open
over last weekend. This was their first victory since Campbell-James’ return to
the sport in late August having broken his leg last May. A good confidence
building result, Campbell-James and Gill were delighted with their
achievement, particularly when at one stage they feared the petrol crisis in the
UK and Europe might mean they couldn't attend.

Racing was at Nieuwpoort in Belgium on Saturday and Sunday and just under
25 boats were entered. The gale force winds and huge seas on Saturday
meant there was no racing on the first day but fortunately it moderated on the
Sunday. The sea still had plenty of chop but the breeze had dropped to a
force 4 for the first race. It continued to drop all day with only marginal
trapezing conditions for the final race. Good boat speed was important to drive
the boat through the lumpy sea in the lighter conditions.

In race 1 Campbell-James and Gill had to fight hard throughout. Sailing an
inner loop trapezoid course they reached the first mark 2nd but a good run
took them just into the lead for the second beat. The fleet split on the next run
and a Belgian just pipped them to the bottom mark however the British pair
sailed a superb final reach and regained the lead and went on to win the first
race.

In race 2 and race 3 Campbell-James and Gill lead from the start to the finish,
by now the wind had eased somewhat. In race 2 they had pulled out a
comfortable gap by the windward mark and by the finish they were ahead by
almost 3 minutes from the second boat. It had been a short 35 minute race. In
race 3 Campbell-James/Gill won it off the start, with a good port end start they
tacked over to be in front of the fleet and never looked back, again winning by
similar margin to the first race. The wind had dropped a lot more for this race
so it lasted for almost an hour and a half.

Having already won the championships Campbell-James and Gill ended up
4th in the final race. After a mediocre start they then had problems with a
fitting pulling off the spinnaker pole. However, with three first places and one
discard they had won by 5 points from Steve Moulaert and Tom Mares from
Belgium.

Also sailing from Great Britain were Ian Martin and Sam Richmond who
finished 7th overall.

Results:
1 GBR 50180 Paul Cambell-James - Matt Gill 3 points
2 BEL 50020 Steven Moulaert - Tom Mares 8 points
3 BEL 50039 Hans De Bie - Bert De Bie 8 points
4 BEL 49117 Bastien Meur - Pierre-Paul Barbier 9 points
5 NED 50093 Bart Peeters - Olivier Bakker 11 points
6 BEL 49823 Ruben Hamerlynch - Jasper Hamerlynch 18 points
7 GBR 50200 Ian Martin - Sam Richmond 18 points
8 BEL 48960 Sophie Van Noten - Evy Trouillard - 20 points
9 NED 50026 Barend Hitterman - Mauk Tilanus 23 points
10 BEL 50196 Vincent De Smet - Didier Wakker 26 points
11 NED 47551 Robert-Jan de Kort - Joost Mertens 29 points
12 BEL 49493 Koen Depreitere - Bart Verwerft 34 points
13 BEL 4691 Xavier Ginste de Van - Alexandre Ginste de Van 35 points
14 BEL 48827 Dwino Aerts - Bram Van Der Biest 38 points
15 SUI 47302 Jonas Tschudi - Claude Gebistorf 43 points
16 BEL 48911 Griet Verwerft - Charlotte Van Noten 43 points
17 BEL 48711 Stephane Florio - Adrien Huvelle 53 points
18 NED 48397 Sanne Kramer - Judith Kramer 55 points
19 BEL 47797 Dieter Goemare - Pieter Philips 57 points
20 NED 48372 Karlien Asscherickx - Parci Peeters 61 points
21 BEL 48909 J-F Zinque - Florence Thomas 61 points
22 BEL 48307 Aurore Van Koninckxloo - Laure Nuttin 65 points