First miles for WINSOME on the North Sea

May 19, 2010

Tuesday 11^th May was the start of the feeder race for the North Sea Race (NSR) to Harwich, the Vuurschepen Race. Harry, Wouter, Leen, Vic, Ed, Floris and two new recruits Nijhof en Jasper took the grand old lady to sea. With 20-25 knots in a reach they took of for England. It was a fast run to the other side, however, it was not fast enough to receive a price and sing the Woolverstone blues after a great lunch at the Butt & Oyster in Pin Mill on Thursday.Thursday Joost Dantuma, Boj and Joost Heikens also arrived after having a great night at the “trucker’s bar” in the Stena Line. That evening we had diner with Sue and Geoff and with Tom and his wife. Their hospitality is endless, how wonderful it is to feel so at home with these generous people. I still don’t understand how they put up with hungry and smelly sailors from abroad. It was great to see them again and we hope that next year we will have the chance to meet them again! That night Ed and Jasper took the ferry back to the mainland (NL), the night before Vic had already left us.  Friday the 14th was the start of the NSR. The forecast was (very) light with clear skies. With 8-10 knots of wind Wouter gave us a good start and we had a beat to the first mark. Thanks to Carl, Deckman was working nicely and we sailed a perfect layline to nearly everybody’s surprise. Thank you Carl! Conditions remained fluky with a lot of (no) wind patches. After 210 miles of racing we were confident we sailed a good race and enjoyed every minute of it. Late Saturday evening we arrived at Scheveningen. Regretfully, other boats were faster on corrected time. Looking back at the race it still is a mystery to me where on the course it was possible for the winning boats to slip away, as we sailed a good race. Perhaps they could profit more from the tides or had a bit more wind, who knows? In the end we had a great time and a good race, we learned more about Deckman and I think Harry will contact Carl for some more tips and tricks. Harry, thanks for the the wonderful time and the good start for this season! This week WINSOME will be sailed to her berth on the Medina.

The next race will be on the 28^th of May: The Myth of Malham. www.WIMSOME.nl will keep you up to date, pictures of this race will be posted soon.

Joost H