Harken sponsored sailors second at 29er Europeans
by - Bleddyn Mon and Tom Humphreys 14 Aug 2008 11:28 BST
20-26 July 2008
Harken sponsored sailors Bleddyn Mon and Tom Humphreys finish second at the 29er European Championships at Medemblik, The Netherlands
Day 1
The first day of racing got underway in Medemblik after two days of measurement and registering in heavy showers. But this was a completely different day with nothing but sunshine.
The 113 boats, from 19 countries, which had been divided in to four fleets were sent promptly out on the water in a 12 knot breeze to their allocated courses, for the first race at 11am. Four races were scheduled for the day but because of the light winds expected for Wednesday the race committee did an extra one.
As the wind went round through the day from the NW to the W it became shiftier and gustier with the wind blowing more over the land. This made getting consistent results difficult but Harken sponsored team Bleddyn and Tom managed this with a 2,2,1,4,2. This put them in to second place on the leader board behind Dutch team Mark Walraven and Kaj Böcker.
Day 2
The weather forecast was right about the wind. Not even a slight breeze at all in the morning, so the flag to postpone the races for 2 hours was hoisted. Slowly the wind started to build to 6/7 knots from the East around 1pm. Quickly the four fleets were requested to launch their boats and hit the water to start the races.
There were fewer shifts and gusts on the courses so the gains were made by avoiding any holes in the already light winds and through tactics. After two races the race committee decided to call it a day as the breeze began to die. Team Bleddyn and Tom made the most of the races sailed by getting two bullets. But even this wasn’t enough to be top of the leader board going in to the final series races in Gold fleet as Mark Walraven and Kaj Böcker scored a 2nd and a 1st on the other course.
With 7 races completed qualification was now over and the 113 boats where split in to Gold, Silver, Bronze and Emerald fleets. All would now tighten up again as it was your qualification position that would be carried through.
Day 3
On Thursday the Gold and Bronze fleet were sent out to the Northern course area whilst the Silver and Emerald fleet went to the Southern course. The breeze was light again; around 5-8 knots from the East but there were still a few shifts.
As in the qualification series fleets were started promptly and as a result all four scheduled races were sailed. Team Bleddyn and Tom had a bit of a up and down day scoring a 1,7,4,and 11, but this seemed to be the case throughout the Gold fleet apart from one of the other GBR teams of James Peters and Ed Fitzgerald who were third overall coming in to the final series but after scoring a 2,1,1,4 had moved up to first. This did not affect Bleddyn and Tom’s position though so they yet again held second position over night.
Day 4
A steady 13 knot south easterly breeze greeted the sailors on Friday morning as they arrived down at the club. In the same way as the previous day the four fleets were sent out to their course areas and racing got under way.
Bleddyn and Tom made the most of their boat speed in the wind and large chop and started the day with two bullets. By mid way through the second race the breeze had decreased to around 5-8 knots. This made the final two races very difficult and unpredictable. Unfortunately in the third race Bleddyn and Tom pushed the line a bit too hard and were disqualified for being over the line along with the other top GBR team of James and Ed. This meant that both teams had used their discards so they had to be conservative in the final race of the day and get a solid result. Bleddyn and Tom did this by getting a 6th.
At the end of the day Bleddyn and Tom remained in second place with James and Ed leading. The Dutch team of Mark Walraven and Kaj Böcker had closed the gap between second and third to equal points.
Day 5
The final day began with beautiful blue skies and sunshine but unfortunately no wind so racing was postponed for one hour in the hope that a steady 5 knots at least would come. After an hour the race committee decided to postpone the racing indefinitely which meant that all sailors had to be ready to go at any time. By 1.45p.m. there was still not enough wind to sail so it was decided to cancel the races.
Overall Results: (top five)
1st James Peters / Edward Fitzgerald (GBR)
2nd Bleddyn Mon / Tom Humphreys (GBR)
3rd Mark Walraven / Kaj Böcker (NED)
4th Annemiek Bekkering / Jeske Kisters (NED)
5th Max Richardson / Alex Groves (GBR)
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