Solo Spring Cup at Medemblik - Overall
by Will Loy, NSCA 6 May 2019 16:55 BST
3-5 May 2019
Solo Spring in Medemblik © Marc Dieben
The Solo fleet arrived at the club after a successful evening of spring rolls and spare ribs, courtesy of the class dinner at Danny Leng's Chinese Restaurant, to be greeted by an ominous sky, Medemblik had certainly delivered a testing playground for the competitors.
A storm passed through the area, whipping up some impressive waves which deterred half the sailors from launching. Out on the racecourse and there was a short delay as one of the OK fleet sat upside down on the start line, their race over before it had began. Once extracted, the fleet set off in the big sea, ironic and fascinating that a land locked mass can create such huge waves. The white hulls powered off up the beat, the muddy colour of the water topped by crests of white foam resembling a world record sized Cafe Latte. The main players were out to play with Guy Mayger and Andy Tunnicliffe needing at least one decent result to enable them to jettison a penal score.
Guy Mayger provided his report on the action:
"With the beating the fleet took in yesterday's sole race still fresh in the memory a slightly reduced group of Solos and OKs took to the water, some hoping to get a race which would trigger the discard and others to get around the track without a swim in the character-building conditions. One soaking of an icy cold IJsellmeer wave over the head as the competitors left the somewhat sheltered harbour soon refreshing the parts other waves cannot reach!
On arrival at the start area the wind seemed to be at least a solid (read 32 knots!) as the previous day and the Race Officer wisely flew the AP whilst the safety boats dealt with a number of capsized competitors. President, Doug Latta having surveyed the scene headed back to shore along with a number of others, but then the wind swung and died to 5 knots leaving the fleet wallowing in the generous swell. This encouraged a number of those heading in to change their minds and return to the start area. Of course, once things had settled down the North Westerly returned with a vengeance and a number headed for the relative safety of Medemblik once more.
Into the starting sequence, and it was really getting quite breezy (again) and the starboard bias line attracted the fleet in under the committee boat, or were they just attempting to seek a final bit of shelter before commencing battle? As the starting hooter sounds, Guy Mayger, having nailed pole position (not OCS) and sporting the new HD MAXX Mk2, once again unfurled his lanky frame to good effect and sailed out towards the favoured left side of the course holding a higher and faster lane than those around him. To leeward, Tom Gillard (hiking like a Ninja!) and house-wives favourite Shane McCarthy had their own battle, whilst Andy Tunnicliffe flicked onto port and tested out the right-hand side of the beat. As the fleet converged on the windward mark Mayger led from Gillard with Paul Dijkstra (NED) in close attendance and Tunnicliffe, doing ok out of the right, ahead of McCarthy. Behind this group the remaining sailors ploughed on, most worrying about the downwind legs (and gybe) to come. Not so the leaders though, as Gillard could now play his card being 10kgs lighter than Mayger and duly sailed through his lee. Dijkstra also made gains, but the gybe mark was approaching, very quickly! Gillard was first to stylishly surf a nice IJsellmeer mountain and head off down the second reach. Mayger, having twice Granny tacked the previous day and taken much abuse from the fleet (I still won boys!) decided to show he still had his South coast sailing skills to hand and flicked in his gybe to set off after Gillard. At this point I am really not sure what was happening behind, but can imagine it involved numerous swims and various tacks and the leading two suddenly found themselves a good way ahead of the fleet.
And so, the pattern resumed, with Mayger grinding down Gillard and cheekily pinching the lead from the multiple Fireball champion with a nice lee bow tack coming into the windward before Gillard surfed through again on the rather lively run. With gybes once again smartly negotiated both sailors then indulged in a little wave catching and surfing by the lee to get back down to the leeward mark. For once, Mayger managed to hang on and limit Gillard's lead to a handful of boat lengths as they rounded for the final upwind thrash to the line.
Clearly, this was Mayger's territory, but Gillard is a smart cookie and one fluffed tack or dodgy wave could create opportunities. With the generally left favoured beat Mayger dug deep into his memory banks to remember what coaches Jim Saltonstall and Mark Rushall had said what to do in such circumstances. "Think Guy, think!" Oh yes, tack below and marginally ahead then as the header starts to take effect the gain can be made. With his upwind speed advantage added to the tactically advantaged position, Gillard was forced to tack back to the right allowing Mayger to sail into the header before making his final tack for the finish line. The result was a comfortable, if such a thing existed in the 2 degreesC wind chilled conditions, 40 second win. As the two leaders recovered to windward of the finish line further battles ensued with Tunnincliffe holding third, Dijkstra an excellent 4th to add to his consistent run of results and Shane in 5th. The war of attrition on the fleet had been hard and I doff my cap to all those who finished, with Pieter Jelle Jongejans being the 13th and final finisher.
After some debate over whether there would be another race the fleet took the decision to head for home as thoughts turned to loading boats, and catching ferries and trains, for the UK competitors. Mayger, Gillard and Latta even having time to de-rig Tom Lonsdale's boat who was AWOL. Be wary of enjoying the Medemblik nightclub a little too much should you ever attend an event at the Dutch Olympic sailing venue.
With results in, the prize giving took place in the regatta reception centre. It was still too cold outside! Tom Gillard took the overall win in his North/Winder ship from Mayger who secured his best finish at a Solo Super Series event racing with the HD/Winder setup. McCarthy can be well pleased with his solid performance also using the HD/Winder combo, likewise Tunnicliffe returning to the fleet can be happy with fourth place running one of his own Impact Marine sails on another Ovington hull. Paul Dijkstra is fifth was leading Dutchman and has shown continuous improvement over the last few years sailing Nick Bonner's old boat, a testament to the class that you don't need a brand-new boat to be right on the pace.
With that, another Dutch adventure came to an end. As usual, Medemblik had laid on a challenging breeze that at times made getting downwind more than a little tricky, but most will remember the exhilarating rides and close racing that few other classes can offer in such conditions. Thanks to our Dutch friends for hosting the event and now we look forward to the Carnac Nations Cup and Weymouth National Championship along with the host of local and regional opens."
Thanks to Guy for his report, thanks also to Marc Dieben for providing the interviews and on water videos.
Full results can be found here.