North Sea Regatta: The Vuurschepen Race experience

North Sea Regatta - The Vuurschepen Race © North Sea Regatta

After a beautiful start of the Vuurschepen Race in Scheveningen (NL), all boats arrived safely in Harwich (UK). In the UK teams spent the day to rest up, enjoyed lunch at the Butt & Oyster followed by the award ceremony at the Royal Harwich Yacht Club and to prepare for their journey back with the North Sea Race hosted by the RORC.

On Board of the Flyer

The Vuurschepen Race is only the second race since the Flyer was restored to its original former glory. The goal of the race was clear; getting to know the boat in preparation for the Fastnet Race in August. A somewhat hesitant start meant we were the 45th boat in the fleet. Sailing close to the wind for the first few hours of the race allowed us to catch up with several boats in the fleet. However, a lull in the wind for most of the night allowed the lighter boats in the fleet to gain some distance. Early in the morning, south of the windfarm the wind picked up again, and so did our speed. We were slashing our way through the field and managed to finish 19th in line honours. Overall, a great race sailed in high spirits.

On Board of the Boudragon

Following an intensive period of preparation in the past few months, the young talents of team Bolsius Bouscholte appeared in unmissable orange team outfits at the starting line of the Vuurschepen Race. Accompanied by a field of 63 yachts we sailed away into the sunset. Following a fierce battle between us, Rotterdam Offshore Sailing Team (Ker 46 Van Uden) and Baraka GP, we were the first to round the upwind mark.

After having passed the entire fleet, we were faced with difficult tactical decisions due to light air and wind shifting from north to south while dropping in speed at the same time.

Once the wind picked up again, a pretty sweet reaching leg towards the west followed. Halfway this reach, we faced an exclusion zone which we passed north, while our two opponents passed on the south side. When we met again, it became clear that the Rotterdam Offshore Sailing Team had gained an advantage of 2nm, while we were still 1 mile ahead of Baraka GP. During the final approach to Harwich and the finish, we made the bow team break a sweat with the needed sail changes, while closing in on Rotterdam Offshore Sailing Team. After sailing for a good 16 hours, we finished in second place for the line honours in Harwich.

Congrats to all Winners!

For the students of Rotterdam Offshore Sailing Team it was an exciting race with many tactical decisions and sail changes, every sail on board has been used. After a long close battle with Boudragon and Baraka the hard work paid off and they were the first to cross the finish line and place first in the ORC 1 division.

Results:

ORC1
#1 Rotterdam Offshore Sailing Team; van Uden
#2 OlympIX; OlympIX
#3 Team Moana; Moana

ORC 2
#1 Rutger Krijger; Jack Rabbit
#2 Leon Boerop; Jai Alai
#3 Arjen de Zeeuw; Decatur

ORC 3
#1 Anita Bakker; Gast Vrij
#2 Pieter Hoog; Off Course
#3 Wolfgang Doczyck; Dicke Bank

Double Handed
#1 John van der Starre; Ajeto
#2 Erik van Wuhren; W36 Hubo
#3 Wim van Slooten; Firestorm

SW Class
#1 Erico; Erico
#2 Windfall Experience
#3 Team Fingold; Fingold