Morning Cloud sistership wins across North Sea

Atse Brie takes the honours in RORC North Sea Race

The start of this year’s North Sea race on Friday 2 May saw sunny skies with seven to nine knots of wind from the east, south east. The conditions may have been calm but the start of the race was far from it, with a delay to the second start and then a collision between two yachts which then decided to retire from racing. The 180 mile race across the North Sea, from Harwich to Scheveingen, proved to be a tactical affair with medium to light airs and the heavy influence of tidal gates.

The undisputable star of this year’s North Sea Race was Atse Blei’s S&S 41, Pinta-M, winning class in both IRC and ORC and best yacht in ORC overall.

“My wife was the first to tell me the results from the RORC web site and I was surprised because I didn’t think we had won.” Said Atse Blei before the prize giving. “To be fair, we were extremely lucky with the tides in this race, but I am very pleased for all of the crew who are all good friends. The first leg was a beat against the tide and we came out of that in really good shape but we had a close battle with Cosmic Dancer and we both went around the last mark (MSP) together, we thought that we had not done enough when we went through the finish but obviously now, we are delighted.”

Second overall in ORC was Herbert Visser’s custom 41, Lancer of Hamble and Kees Groenenboom & Suzanne van Meerten’s, Que Guapa, third.

IRC Super Zero
Peter Vroon’s modern hi-tech Lutra 56, Formidable 3, couldn’t have had a worse start, as they got snagged on the lines of a buoy. However, Formidable 3 kept their heads up and staged a good recovery; winning IRC Class Super Zero by over 45 minutes on corrected time.

IRC Zero
Kees Kaan’s Grand Soleil 43, ROARK/Claus & Kaan Architecten, won the class showing that they will be on the pace as part of this year’s Dutch Rolex Commodores’ Cup team but there was true drama at the start; a collision between Peter De Ridder’s Swan 45, Checkmate and J & J Payne’s Dufour 44, Heartbeat 3 of Burnham, which led to both boats deciding to retire from the race.

IRC One
Frans de Vries Lentsch’s, X-43, Stortemelk, won class but only by just under two minutes on corrected time, Bert Dolk’s, Ragazza, was second and British entry, Stan Fenton’s, Jedi Knight, was third.

“It was a very tactical race.” Explained Frans de Vries Lentsch, owner of Stortemelk, “Probably the biggest decision, which we got right, was to anticipate the wind shift to the east later on in the race, we still overstood the last mark but not by much. This is the boat’s first success racing under IRC and we are delighted to have won our class.”

IRC Two
It was the usual sight of Harry Heijst's S&S 41, Winsome, that took the chocolates with a comfortable win on corrected time from Radboud Crul’s, Dehler 36, Rosetta from the Rocks and Stuart Galloway’s Elan 40, Titian, was a very close third on corrected time.

IRC Three
The Class proved to be a close tussle between three yachts, Atse Blei’s, S&S 41, Pinta-M, winning by just 11 seconds from Russell Walker’s, well campaigned Baltic 37, Cosmic Dancer III, Herbert Visser’s Lancer of Hamble was third.

ORC One
Bert Dolk’s crew on Ragazza will be delighted with their win under ORC, having come second under IRC. They won the class by about 45 minutes, on corrected time, from Hans Kuiper’s, Walkabubak. A. van Lookeren Campagne’s, Xanadu, was third.

ORC Two
K J.M. Kakebeeke’s Elan 333, Joris, has competed in the North Sea Race for several years and will be delighted to have won class in 2007 from Reijer Blankevoort’s, Windveer. Robert Jockin’s, Griel, was a close third just

ORC Three
Atse Blei’s, Pinta-M, capped off a wonderful race with victory in class, by nearly one hour from Herbert Visser’s, Lancer of Hamble. In third place, looking good, was Kees Groenenboom & Suzanne van Meerten’s, Que Guapa.

ORC Four
Willem Kats, Gouden Ruiter, is a Pion; a 9 metre one design boat from Holland, she won the class with A.van der Hout’s, Celistine and Jorg Raven’s, Haddock second and third respectively.

Overseas Rear Commodore RORC, Harry Heist, presented the awards to the winning competitors, at a prize giving in Scheveningen.

“The prize giving was very much a family affair with lots of children.” Commented RORC Event Manager, Janet Grosvenor. “The Master of Ceremonies was Frans Sluyters, who entertained the guests in both Dutch and English. The prize giving was held in the unusual venue of a fish merchant’s hall and all of the prize winners turn up which is very sportsman like, even if they have gone home and then return for the event.”

After the prize giving Atse Brie, owner of Pinta-M commented; “This has been a fantastic race for us, Pinta-M is the sistership to Edward Heath’s Morning Cloud.”

“We intend to follow in Morning Cloud’s footsteps and race in Australia, competing in the Rolex Sydney Hobart later this year, just as Morning Cloud did over 30 years ago. If we win, they might make me Prime Minister of Britain!” Joked Atse [ has he be reading the British press?....Ed]

For full results see: http://www.rorc.org/content/view/310

RORC Season’s Points Championship 2008

The North Sea Race is part of The Royal Ocean Racing Club’s Season’s Points Championship. The Championship consists of a testing series of races which attracts an international and varied fleet. For the serious offshore sailor, trying to win the Season’s Points Championship is the real challenge. The Season’s Points Championship this year includes the tactically challenging BMW Round Ireland Race and a new addition to the RORC sailing programme, The Cowes Madeira Race which offers an exciting opportunity of a race to Madeira and back, some 1500 miles away in the Atlantic off the coast of Africa. For those with less time, the programme also includes a race to the charming port of La Rochelle.

For the full RORC racing programme go to: http://www.rorc.org