18th Easter Optimist Regatta at Yacht Club Braassemermeer

by Bas van Grieken 23 Apr 2003 08:52 BST

Photos © Annemiek van Kinderen Photography

During the Easter weekend of 2003 (18 - 21 April) the Yacht club Braassemermeer and the OCN (Optimist Club Nederland) organised the 18th International Easter Optimist Regatta. This year 272 young sailors from 10 countries competed fiercely to win this prestigious event. Even 20 competitors from the United States of America were there to race!

Friday afternoon the 18th of April a practice race was held to give the competitors a chance to get used to local circumstances. Saturday and Sunday they were split up in 6 groups, competing amongst each other.

On Saturday all three scheduled races were sailed in a cold wind from ENE around 18 kts with gusts up to 23 kts which made it quite hard for some competitors to stay aboard. Temperatures of 8 degrees Celsius, clouds and some sunny spells resulted in a typical Dutch spring day. Every race took about 1 hour to finish and between the second and third race the competitors enjoyed a short lunch and warming up break. At the start of the third race there were as many as 22 OCS’s and BFD's (both disqualifications for premature starting).

Sunday had two races planned. It was a sunny day with temperatures around 14 degrees Celsius and wind from Easterly directions, about 10-12 knots with some gusts and big shifts making it a demanding day for both the competitors and the racing committee. At the first race some of the groups were too eager to start, which resulted in 15 BFD's but the other sailors had a nice two laps race. The fifth race of the event took some time to start but after some generall recalls and postponements the race finally started with no less than 41 BFD's in the first fleet. Racing was difficult with the shifting and gusting wind, but the fleet stayed close together with over 80 finishing Opti's within 7 minutes.

Monday, the final day of the 18th International Easter Optimist Regatta brought us sun and comfortable temperatures (around 20 degrees) but very light winds from SE directions with big shifts. Based on the results of the five races of Saturday and Sunday the competitors were divided in a gold, silver and bronze fleet, to sail the final two races in these summer conditions.

The first final race started at 10:00hrs and Hannah Mills (GBR), leader after 5 races, did a good job by finishing sixth while her biggest rivals like Gijs Pelt (NED – second after 5 races) and Patrick Follman (GER – third after 5 races) got stuck in the second half of the gold fleet.

Before the last race could be started the race committee had to postpone due to lack of wind. After all the last race started around 13:30hrs with some more black flags and for the bronze fleet a shortened course. Well begun is half done, so Hannah Mills could sail her discard race, finishing 72, and won the 18th International Easter Optimist Regatta with a strong lead. Oskar Taurel (SWE) had a good last day which brought him from 8th place after 5 races to second place overall, before the first Dutch and second female competitor on the podium, Rikst Dijkstra.

British Report from the IOCA (UK)

This year’s Easter regatta held from the 18th-21st of April was attended 243 boats from Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, The Netherlands and the USA. The British sent a team of 36 boats. The boats were flighted into six groups with five round robin races to be sailed on Saturday and Sunday. After a discard, the first 90 form the Gold Fleet, the next 90 the Silver Fleet and the remaining boats form the Bronze Fleet. Two more races are then sailed on Easter Monday.

Registration and the practice race took place on Friday afternoon with about half of the entrants taking part. The sun was shining with a North-easterly force 5.

The races were sailed in a cold wind from East North East around 18 kts with gusts up to 23 kts which made it quite hard for some competitors to stay upright. The temperature dropped to 8 degrees Celsius with clouds and some sunny spells resulting in a typical Dutch spring day. Each race took about 1 hour to finish and between the second and third race the competitors could enjoy a short lunch and warming up break. The first race saw the British put in good results with Richard de Boltz finishing first ahead of Hannah Mills in their start. James Murdoch and Ed Powys both scored 3rds in their respective starts with Iain McKeeman 4th, James Large 8th and Ed Whitehouse 9th. The lighter sailors worked hard with Ben Saxton scoring a 12th in a flight of 90 starters.

The wind picked up during the second race and Mills fought all the way to the finish line to take a 1st. Murdock and Powys both stayed in the running scoring a 7t each with Peter Hill picking up an 8th and Ed Whitehouse again finishing 9th. The final race saw a number of undisciplined boats leading to 22 OCSs and BFDs. With the sailors tiring Murdock and Powys continued to shine score a 4th each with Mill posting a 5th. At the end of the first day Gijs Pelt (NED) was in the lead scoring 3 2nds on 6pts ahead of Mills on 8 and Patrick Follman (GER) on 9.

Sunday was a sunny day with temperatures around 14 degrees Celsius and wind from Easterly directions, about 10-12 knots with some gusts and big shifts making it a demanding day for both the competitors and the racing committee. The first race started this morning at 10:00hrs. Some of the groups were too eager to start, which resulted in 15 BFD's but the other sailors had a nice two laps race. Mills made the most of the ideal sailing conditions to finish 1st with many of the lighter sailors doing well. Claire Lasko was second in her flight for most of the race to finish 7 with a large shift on the final beat. Tim Saxton finish 6th in his race with Murdock continuing well to score 5th. Richard Mason improved his form to finish 7th. All sailors went ashore for their lunchbreak before the start of the second (and last) race of today. This fifth race of the event was originally planned to start at 14:20hrs, but after some black flags, generall recalls and postponements the first group finally started at 15:15hrs with no less than 41 BFD's in the first fleet. This was going to prove decisive as many sailors would have to count all their races.

Racing was difficult with the shifting and gusting wind, but the fleet stayed close together with over 80 finishing Opti's within 7 minutes. Mills did not loose her cool and finished the day with a 2nd place to be in 1st place going into the final day on 6 pts. Pelt picked up a BFD on the last flag but after discard maintained 2nd place on 11 pts and Follman 3rd on 13 pts. Murdock’s 3 in the final race left him in 4th overnight with 17pts. Powys kept up the pressure with a 6th to leave him 6th overnight. Matthew Rainback at his first International event placed 8th to enable him to be in the silver fleet.

Monday morning saw 19 British sailors in the Gold fleet with many well placed to be in the prizes. The final day brought us sun and pleasant temperatures (around 20 degrees) but very light winds from a SE direction with big shifts. The first final race started at 10:00hrs and Hannah Mills (GBR), leader after 5 races, did a good job by finishing sixth while her biggest rivals like Gijs Pelt (NED – second after 5 races) and Patrick Follman (GER – third after 5 races) got stuck in the second half of the gold fleet. Mills had done enough to win with a race to spare. Unfortunately it was not a good day for the British fleet as many of them expected the wind to track right only to find themselves stuck on the right hand side of the course.

The final race saw the race results nearly being turned upside down, with many of the leaders being in the bottom half of the fleet. Whitehouse and Hannah Diamond made the most of the conditions to finish 1st and 8th respectively.

The Silver Fleet (89) had a number of top boats in it who had scored a black flag and so effectively had no real discard to use during the round robin. The remaining British sailed very well, but the points gap was too large to take top honours.

Overall Results: (7 races, 1 discard)

Pos	Sail No	Helm	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	Pts
1	GBR 5149	Hannah Mills, Female	2	1	5	1	2	6	-72	17
2	SWE 3928	Taurell Oskar, Male	10	2	10	9	1	2	-29	34
3	NED 2434	Dijkstra Rikst, Female	8	3	3	12	12	-53	2	40
4	GER 11229	Follmann Patrick, Male	1	6	2	4	9	-44	31	53
5	NOR 3300	Christoffer Grimert Hopstock, Male	2	1	11	21	6	12	-32	53
6	NED 2498	Bladel Axel van, Male	3	20	-40	3	14	3	20	63
7	NED 2166	Dijkstra Hielke, Male	10	12	8	4	-86	11	18	63
8	GBR 4962	James Murdock, Male	3	7	4	5	3	-77	45	67
9	NED 2397	Stumpel Pim, Male	5	3	17	22	-66	4	16	67
10	GBR 5121	Edward Powys, Male	3	7	4	24	6	26	-46	70

More information about the Yacht club and the event can be found at www.braassemermeer.nl

Full results can be found at www.braassemermeer.nl/easter2003/results.html

Brunotti Sportswear, Van Wettum Optimists, Optimax and Print Productions Scheveningen were the sponsors of the 18th International Easter Optimist Regatta.