2.4mR Open World Championship 2017 at Sneekemeer
by Megan Pascoe on 14 Jul
84 boats headed to the Sneekemeer for the 2.4 World Championships. This included 12 British boats. After a weekend of measuring and decamping to the island which was to be home for the week we were ready for racing. Sneek has a world class race committee from running the biggest dinghy week in Europe so we were in for some good racing.
Monday brought big wind and with trapezoid courses things were going to get interesting. We had 3 good races with all 4 flights although not all boats made it through the racing with various breakages and swampings the gold/silver split was tight. I really enjoyed the big breeze and with a lot of handicap racing recently I was making some gains on the reaches. Navigation was also important after some trying to sail the outer loop whilst some of us got a lucky break turning a tenth into a first after sailing the inner loop.
The Brits had mixed fortunes in the breeze with a few of us making good gains and a few deciding that discretion was a better than getting wet. The rest of the week was light with a long day Tuesday finishing qualifying. The front of the fleet was breaking away with Stellan Berlin putting in the bullets.
I was having a mixed day but as I was discussing with one of the Swedes; there's no point crying over spilt milk. After two evening races gold and silver fleets were decided with myself and Jonny Currel inside the top ten. Martin Whittingham-Jones and Bruce Hill also made the cut. On the third day we had one race in the morning and one in the evening. I was making some impressive comebacks from deep but I was just off the top five spots.
Jonny was sticking well around the top ten and Steve Bullmore was keeping the Germans honest in the top three of the silver fleet. A good barbeque and watching some barges practicing with cold beer and good friends is sometimes the reason we go sailing. The penultimate day of sailing was two races in the morning and both Stellan and Heiko Kroger both put in solid results to move themselves ahead of the rest.
Further down the field Kate Hedley and Iain Stowe were at the top of the silver fleet in the first race of the day. I was having a good day racing with some big gains downwind and consolidating my top four position. Hans Askland my closest rival was having a mixed day with a first and a 39th. Friday was a bit of a non-starter with absolutely no wind so everything finished with Thursday's results.
I picked up second disabled and first lady. Jonny collected third disabled. Steve Bullmore collected third in the silver fleet. Adam Billany picked up a jib after finishing in the right place in race 7.
The Dutch class along with the KWS put on a great event both on and off the water. For us the next event is Tewkesbury ditch racing followed by RYA multiclass regatta at Rutland. The next worlds is next summer in Gavle Sweden which will be great to go back to after 14 years. My thanks to Allen Brothers for keeping my boat together especially in the big breeze.
Gold Fleet - top three and GBR placings:
1st Stellan Berlin (SWE)
2nd Heiko Kroger (GER)
3rd Hans Asklund (SWE)
4th Megan Pascoe (Weymouth SC)
11th Jonny Currel (Parkstone SC)
24th Martin Whittingham-Jones (West Kirby SC)
35th Bruce Hill (Frensham Pond SC)
Silver Fleet - GBR placings:
3rd Steve Bullmore (Frensham Pond SC)
9th Carol Dugdale (Norfolk Broads YC)
16th Kate Hedley (Frensham Pond SC)
25th Mike Coates (Whitby SC)
27th Adam Billany (Derwent Water SC)
34th Nev Millard (Queen Mary SC)
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