Underway today

Strong line-up for ABN ARMO North Sea Regatta to set sail today reports Diana Bogaards

On Monday morning 14 May 2007, the organisation of the annual Vuurschepenrace, the feeder race to the ABN AMRO North Sea Race, had received 57 entries and the inspection of participating yachts is full on in the Scheveningen harbour.

At 7pm tomorrow, Dutch politician Jozias van Aartsen will fire the start gun from the three-master Minerva for the start of the ABN AMRO North Sea Regatta 2007.

The fleet will then head to Harwich, a crossing of 110 nautical miles. Star of the show will be Peter de Ridder's Team Mean Machine, the former Pirates of the Caribbean VO70 will line up for her racing debut with their Volvo Open 70, which is the

Today at around 5am, Mean Machine arrived in Scheveningen. Due to her deep draft, she has been moored in the fishing harbour. The rest of the fleet is tied up in inner harbour.

In the race Mean Machine will be aiming for a new record. This was set back in 1993 when there were ideal spinnaker conditions, by the Lutra 40 Bierkaai of skipper Jan van Gelderen who crossed the North Sea in 10 hours and 47 minutes. ABN AMRO One was to have entered the race as her swan song in lemon and lime before being taken over by Ericsson, however ‘Black Betty’ has not returned in time from the Caribbean.

New chances

IMS-winner in 2006, Atse Blei will sail his Huisman 41 Pinta-M again, however this year the IMS-rating system has been replaced by IRC for the ABN AMRO North Sea Race 2007. As a result, some teams have changed yachts. Multiple winner Peter de Ridder - another Peter de Ridder to the V070 owner/skipper, has acquired a new Checkmate, this time a Swan 45, while the Daikin Sailing Team of Frans van der Heijden has switched to a Ker 11.3.

Team Holmatro with skipper Sander Speet returns with their modified Grand Soleil 44-R. This season, the young crew has already finished second at SPI Ouest in France over Easter and were third at the Stellendam Regatta. In addition to Mean Machine, another former Volvo Ocean Race boat will join the ABN AMRO North Sea Race. Pleomax of skipper Harm J. Prins was originally Lawrie Smith's Silk Cut. The VO60 came in second in 1997-8 and was then purchased by Team SEB as their training boat for the Volvo Ocean Race in 2001-02.

Hans Bouscholte withdraws

There was also a withdrawal this weekend. A few months ago, Hans Bouscholte entered his Open 60 Brunel for the inaugural double handed competition, but after his successful North Sea Record attempt last week, his plans changed. Bouscholte: “Two potential sponsors contacted me and I will need my time for negotiations. That has priority, since I haven’t found the budget for participation in the Barcelona World Race and Vendee Globe yet.”
 
Delays

"Due to the strong winds of the last few days, many crews are delayed", says head of scoring, Leo Eggink. "There are 34 entries for the IRC and 39 for ORC. Some of the teams participate in both classes. There is a trend towards bigger and faster racing yachts.” All boats have to comply with the safety requirements, so the race committee is still examining them until tomorrow.

Once they have arrived in Harwich, the ABN AMRO North Sea competitors will be welcomed by the Royal Harwich Yacht Club in Woolverstone. On May 18 after a lay-day, the starting gun will be fired for the official North Sea Race, organized by the Royal Ocean Racing Club. It is an offshore of 180 nautical miles back to Scheveningen on a longer course via some marks in the North Sea. The inshore races will be sailed from Friday May 25 until Monday May 28 off the Scheveningen coast. This latter racing will include dinghies, beach catamarans, Olympic- and one-design classes, modern and classic yachts. While this is going on ABN AMRO One is expected to be moored in Scheveningen harbour.