2.4mR fleet at the Delta Lloyd Regatta 2017
by Megan Pascoe 31 May 2017 09:57 BST
23-27 May 2017
Delta Lloyd Regatta © Klaas Wiersma
This year in Medemblik had one of the smallest 2.4 fleets participating, but possibly the best weather. 3 Brits and 2 Dutch took to the Ijsselmeer for a week of racing. Tuesday was slightly windy which makes 2.4 sailing very wet in the short chop.
It was nice being back on the open sea after a 2 mile reach to the course. There were a few mishaps in the fleet with Carol Dugdale of Norfolk Broads YC and Dirk Jan Broertjes of WV De Koenen having pump issues. Luckily no one sank but it allowed Megan Pascoe (Weymouth SC) and Nev Millard (Queen Mary SC) to make the early running.
Day 2 the fleet waited until the Lasers had finished in the early evening to go racing on the green course. It was worth the wait with some shifty racing. The first and second places wouldn't change for the rest of the event with Megan taking the bullets and Carol taking the silvers. This wasn’t always the case throughout the race course. The 4th race say Nev and Dirk Jan take a nice lead from a left shift only to be reeled in later.
Cor De Graaff from EWVA was holding onto the red dot for 3rd place on day 2 only to give it up to Nev on day 3. The shiftiness and light wind chop of day 3 mixed in with a 40ft bargee coming through the course made things interesting. The Dutch were swapping places mid fleet with Nev hanging on in there. Cor was hanging on tight to his red dot.
On day 4 we were back on green course with Laser Radials making things quite choppy in the 8th race. After a slow start due to a lack of wind it was Dirk Jan who was chasing the ladies with two thirds.
The fight for third would come down to Saturday. The forecast was for big breeze but the reality was anything but. It was shifty with Nev making the best starts of the day. The shifts got bigger as the day went on which mixed the fleet up. Dirk Jan held onto his third place and Nev had a good day ending up equal points with Cor, but his 2nd place on the 1st race put him in 4th overall.
The Delta Lloyd Regatta was a great warm up for the season ahead with the Dutch heading for a German open meeting next. Carol and Nev are heading to the Para World Sailing Championships at Kieler Woche with Megan going to the Frensham Pond Open. Everyone will reconvene in July with a few more boats in Sneek for the 2.4mR World Championships. Home to one of the biggest dinghy regattas in the World it’s going to be a great event.
Overall Results:
1st Megan Pascoe (Weymouth SC) 9pts
2nd Carol Dugdale (Norfolk Broads YC) 19pts
3rd Dirk Jan Broertjes (WV De Koenen) 31pts
4th Nev Millard (Queen Mary SC) 35pts
5th Cor De Graaff (EWVA) 35pts