New Zealand Champion wins Womens Division in Int. Europe class

by Andy Greager on 28 Aug 2011
Despite light winds on the man-made Nove Mlyny, International Europe Class New Zealand Champion Antje Muller wrestled the Europ Class Veteran World Cup trophy from her Czech competitors.

Fresh from the World Championships in Italy, the New Zealand team consisting of Andy Greager and Antje Muller arrived at the venue of the 2011 Veteran World Cup for the International Europe Dinghy Class on Wednesday.

Early Thursday morning, they received their boats, which Belgian/French sailor Pieter van Laer from dingy retailer and outfitter Van Laer Yachting kindly supplied to them free of charge. Two members of the German team had brought the sailing gear and sails with the New Zealand numbers from Italy, which made this a truly international effort. At 11am, the Veteran World Cup 2011 was declared open by a trumpet fanfare in bright sunshine accompanied by a fresh breeze. As Commodore of the Bay of Islands Yacht Club, Andy presented the host Club with the burgee, and also invited the European sailors to support the Global Veteran Cup 2012 in the Bay of Islands.

By the time the sailors hit the water, the wind had eased a lot and was swinging through an arc of about 15 degrees. This made it difficult for the organisers to set a course, and also for the sailors to pick the right side. It was clear that local knowledge was an advantage, as the Czech team supplied 9 of the top 10 finishers. Andy had brilliant starts and was in front around the top mark but got handed backwards in the fleet on the downwind courses. Antje came in as 11th, happy to have the matching mast for her sail, which seemed to be working a lot better in the lighter wind than the setup she used in Italy.

In the second race, it became clear there was no catching the tope Czech sailor Marek Smesny in the light winds. At the start, there were about 14 knots and Antje had a solid lead around the first triangle, but as soon as the breeze eased, Marek, the three Czech ladies as well as Krejza zoomed past her.

Much to the dismay of the older competitors like Helmut (82) and Heike from Germany, there was a third race. The wind had lightened even more so it took the fleet about an hour to get around the course. Andy thoroughly enjoyed himself, having some good close battles with Ton from the Netherlands who also gets his Europe Dinghy only out about once a year for the Veteran Cup.

In the evening, the Club treated the whole fleet to an excellent dinner at the local hotel in the nearby village of Pavlov. Here Andy found out what a real Pavlova is and had to investigate more closely. With traditional music and food as well as prizes for achievements like the best capsize and the first lady in a fully wooden boat completed the celebrations.

Due to lack of wind on Friday morning, the start was delayed until 11am. A very light air let the fleet drift out to the start line, but there was not enough to race by, so everyone came back to shore for lunch – and a Czech beer to cool down, as the temperatures creeped up to over 30 degrees. In the afternoon, the wind settled in from the East this time. By now, there were a few more countries represented in the top ten, but Antje was still lying third woman behind two Czech competitors Daniela and Sarka. Lucky for her though, both of them had a very bad first race while Antje managed to climb back to 11th after a rather average first beat.

In the fifth race, the Q flag was raised to allow pumping downwind, which means the wind speed was measured at over 12 knots. Antje got around the first mark in the top ten and over the next two laps fought herself up to fourth place. The course was shortened and on the last beat she even collected Krejza finishing third. So before the last day of racing, there were only two points between Antje and the second and third woman.

Saturday dawned bright and clear, with no a breath of air stirring. The Committee tried three times to start a race, but the wind kept shifting too much within the starting sequence to allow for a fair race. While waiting for better conditions, everyone drifted around in pairs or groups, catching up with friends from near and far. By lunchtime, the race officer gave up and got the fleet towed back to shore to wait for more breeze.

Everyone enjoyed the brilliant day on shore, and by 4pm racing was abandoned. Quickly everything was packed up and most sailors finished that in time for the stew (goulash) dinner.

The prize giving was a great setup with two Europe dinghies as backdrop and one of them acting as the screen for the projector that gave a slideshow of the placed competitors. The trumpeter called the third, second and first of each division to their places. It was a fabulous celebration of our sport, culminating in the handover of the Europe Class flag with all the names of previous hosting clubs being passed on to Andy Greager for the event on the other side of the planet.

As with many senior regattas in New Zealand, the event was organised by participating sailors Jana Bezuskova and Marek Smesny. As an added extra, Czech representatives at the World Championships who were too young to compete were active helpers.

For more details on the international Europe Class Veteran Community, please have a look at http://europeveteransailors.wordpress.com/. The Notice of Race for the 2012 Global Veteran Cup is published on the website of the Bay of Islands Yacht Club www.boiyachtclub.co.nz.