IMS 600 Europeans at Scheveningen, Holland
by Diana Bogaards 5 Jun 2006 14:46 BST
On Sunday June 4th 2006, Dutch entry Checkmate 3 with Peter de Ridder on the helm won the European Championship IMS 600 2006, part of the ABN AMRO North Sea Regatta in Scheveningen / Netherlands. After missing the second offshore earlier this week, the skipper considered himself as possible runner up. According to the skipper, it would be a challenge to equal their silver performance of 2005, but the title would not become theirs. Other competitors knew he would be able to come back and the family boat did it. They won the final four races in row. The Daikin Airco of Frans van der Heijden (NED) finished second, followed by the Foxy of Sander Vos.
“We haven’t won, but Foxy and Daikin made a mistake today”, said De Ridder modestly on Sunday afternoon. “This morning, Foxy had a four point lead on us and Daikin seven”, explained De Ridder. “We were lucky that they started on the wrong side of the line every time. Before the final race, Foxy was still in the lead, but they were too early over the line (OCS).”
“We screw up today”, said Stijn Becker of the Daikin Airco (NED). The first start went wrong immediately: “We were off in second line and everybody passed us on windward side. We tacked to the right, which was the wrong call, so we had to go back. At that point, they were all ahead of us and we are not particular good at overtaking others.” The conditions were pretty difficult with a light pressure against the current, which caused relatively high waves. Becker: “Our second start was good, after which we were parked a couple of times and we finished as seventh out of eleven. The Checkmate was gone and even beat the Grand Soleil of the Russians. That is absolutely fantastic. If you score four bullets, you are the true champion.”
Foxy’s crew agreed directly. Skipper Sander Vos: “In case they had sailed the second offshore, we would have lost the championship yesterday already. After their off day on Saturday, the bronze team spent 5,5 hours working on their mast to change the set up. “It paid off, but it was just one day too late”, said Vos. With a smile on his face: “We are fed up, but we congratulate Peter and his crew. We will wait for Peter’s retirement and we will give him a hard time at the nationals.”