Magic Marine RS500 Worlds at Bruinisse, Holland

by Golly Tucker 31 Aug 2010 20:45 BST 15-20 August 2010

Just the most fantastic week's sailing in a venue that couldn’t do enough for you, winds to die for and a social scene that whirled. The week started with a practice race that was designed for the bravest of the brave. Less than half the fleet started and only one finished earning the weeks first choccies for Swedish pairing Tobias Gustafsson & Max Freiman.

The wind was probably at its strongest during the earlier part of the week and whilst for some it was survival practice for others it was just a dangerously large adrenaline boost. The pattern of the week for the front runners was quickly established. The leading 4 boats were just that bit faster than everyone else and simply scorched around the track. Alex Taylor and Bryan Mobbs were in their element and just dominated although an OCS for the Dutch Magic Marine team of Barend Hilternman & Max Blom certainly helped. That OCS let Tim Wilkins & Heather Martin into 2nd as well. Johan Rook & Malin Broberg from Sweden were the 4th musketeers although they did have a midweek blip before hitting form again at the end.

The trend was thus set. Taylor/Mobbs and Wilkins/Martin traded 1st and 2nd places all week although it wasn’t as easy as it sounds for the other 2 musketeers kept on getting in the prize zone but couldn’t sustain it those positions. The Dutch Hilterman/Blom duo set an extreme example of consistency by racking up all 3rd places whilst the flattest boat on the course, Swedes Rook/Malin, got mostly 4ths outside of the blip.

The battle for 5th was an epic. Brits James Tanner & Lucinda Blain were head to head with new class chairman Michiel Geerling and gorgeous girlfriend Dr Hilde van Susante! In the end it went to tiebreak and James/Lucinda got the nod on the basis of their 3rd when the leading Dutch boat was OCS in race 1!

For the title it was a last race shootout! Exactly the same scoreline meant that whoever was ahead of the other (no matter where) at the line would be crowned. Four laps to decide it. Up the first beat Taylor/Mobbs and Wilkins/Martin were as tied by an umbilical cord and rounded in that order. But the Swedes Rook/Broberg first to mark 2 having had a blinding downwind. Upwind on lap 2 there was still barely any separation but Dutch Hilterman/Blom were now into their stride as the Swedes started to wilt just a little. Lap 3 is where it was won barring any last minute breakages. Wilkins/Martin found a gust they could hold onto downwind whilst Taylor/Mobbs in seeking the separation required to be able to cut the covering umbilical cord sailed out of the pressure. Worse still, it let the Dutch boat back in ahead of them as well. Whilst Tim Wilkins and Heather Martin extended a little to take the title in joyous celebration Alex Taylor and Bryan Mobbs showed that they are true champions in the wider sense of the word by fighting back past the Dutch to take the second step on the podium.

Youth World Champions are Hansebas Meijer and Fedor Couvert of the Netherlands in 8th place. They were also one of the leading party boats together with a posse of a further 2 Dutch boats, a British youth boat and the inimitable lads from Hong Kong Will Stephens & Justin Tse.

Ladies World Champions are Annika Ellerbrock & Anne Werner from Rostock in Germany by a mere 3 points from the host nations Stephanie & Chantalle Grootscholten.

Next episode of this event is the Worlds in Weymouth 3rd week in August next year. In the meantime Many thanks to Aquavitesse for the most amazing event and Magic Marine who enabled us to have 2 midweek spot prizegivings (to general hilarity!) as well as the main one!

Overall Results:

Pos	SailNo	HelmName	CrewName	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	Pts
1st	625	Tim Wilkins	Heather Martin	Hickling Broad SC	-2	-2	1	2	1	2	1	1	1	9
2nd	799	Alex Taylor	Bryan Mobbs	Budworth SC	1	1	-2	1	-2	1	2	2	2	10
3rd	890	Barend Hilterman	Max Blom		(OCS)	3	-4	3	3	3	3	3	3	21
4th	112	Johan Rook	Malin Broberg	GKSS	6	4	3	4	6	6	-10	-8	4	33
5th	525	James Tanner	Lucinda Blain	Burghfield SC	3	6	-14	-13	5	4	8	10	7	43
6th	837	Michiel Geerling	Hilde van Susante	wv braassemermeer	4	-14	11	6	-12	7	5	4	6	43
7th	89	Tobias Gustafsson	Max Freiman	OBK	5	-13	6	5	10	8	6	-11	9	49
8th	891	Hansebas Meijer	Fedor Couvert		7	5	7	7	7	-11	11	7	-13	51
9th	654	Lennart van der Dool	Frank van Leeuwen		9	10	-16	10	4	5	(DNF)	12	11	61
10th	550	Hamish Stewart	Stephen Hacket	Datchet SC	(DNF)	7	10	9	9	9	7	(OCS)	12	63
11th	517	Richard Morley	Sue Morley	Burghfield SC	8	8	8	12	8	12	(DNF)	(DSQ)	10	66
12th	633	Will Bovington	Tom Richardson	Hastings SC	10	9	9	(DNF)	-20	16	9	15	5	73
13th	884	Hugo Tucker	Tim Collino	Emsworth SC	16	16	5	16	16	-17	4	5	-17	78
14th	519	Simon Payne	Hope Halstead	Whitefayers SC	11	11	12	8	14	-19	12	13	-20	81
15th	516	Will Stephens	Justin Tse		12	12	13	-14	13	13	13	6	-14	82
16th	885	Richard Rot	Marieka Gijzel	wv aquadelta	(DNF)	15	-17	11	11	10	15	17	16	95
17th	851	Annika Ellerbrock	Anne Werner	Akademischer Segler-Verein zu Rostock	14	18	15	(DNF)	17	-21	14	9	19	106
18th	737	Stephanie Grootscholten	Chantalle Grootscholten	wv Braasemermeer	13	17	-18	(DNF)	15	18	16	18	15	112
19th	879	Thijs Janssen	Joris Jessen		15	(DNF)	-19	15	18	14	17	16	18	113
20th	636	Will Summers	Jonty Cook	Abingdon School SC	(DNF)	19	(DNF)	DNF	19	15	18	14	21	129
21st	733	Rogier Grobbee	Sjon Grobbee		(DNF)	(DNF)	20	DNF	21	20	19	19	22	144
22nd	570	Joris Van der Ven	Jeroen Honig		(DNF)	(DNF)	DNF	DNF	DNC	DNC	DNF	DNF	8	146