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At the 2018 CVRDA Bowmoor event nine Minisails were present and nine sailors. (Only for the record there where: 3 wooden Sprites, 1 Wooden Meson, 3 MS Sprint M2 and 2 MS Monaco. On Saturday morning eight were out on … Continue reading
(all pictures courtesy Janny Devriese)
On Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 June the host of the event Watersportvereniging Wormer welcomed the Minisail class as participants for their annual open club race this year named the “Beschuittoren race”.
Saturday: The five Minisais (three Sprint MII, a Monaco and my Sprite) sailed out for a recreational tour on the lake. It being time for lunch we headed straight to the jetty of the waterside pub “De Hofjes”.
The sailing Saturday afternoon was a joy, not every day the majority of boats on a lake are Minisails. On several occasions all five sliding seats were out and we were planing along just for the sake of planing.
During the lulls it was for the three not locals a good training in how not to get stuck in the mud with centreboard and rudder.
Sunday: After a delicious breakfast offered by Frans and Janny at their home we drove to the club and got the boats rigged. With hardly any wind we wouldn’t make it in time sailing upwind across the lake towards the starting line (and inscriptions), so we got a tow from a helpfull club trainer.
With the race twice postponed the wind finally picked up at 2 pm and the race officer decided for a semi canncelation: The race would be a simple one way trip to the club.
David and Jakko veered off to the north side of the lake unike the majority that went of to the centre and south. The entire fleet (all boats, not only the Minisails) had to cope with windshifts and variations the same way David and Jakko did, however slowly but surely we saw them gaining on us, their option to stay close to the North side payed of.
It was a close call but it was David taking the win with Jakko second, me third, Frans fourth and Dean unlucky getting his hull full of water came in fifth.
We got more attention than deserved during the prizegiving, and would like to thank the Watersportvereniging Wormer and Frans Stoop for the hospitality.
Here is why: Look at the lovely poster of the event:
Now take a look at my Minisail 9000 sail:
Minisail Sprite 9000
I can’t but suspect but the designer of the poster artwork must have seen the sail.
So, dispite not having sailed that boat for more than a year I’ll take 9000 to the Europeans at Wormer Holland in a few days.
Four boats with two excellent local sailors (Frans and Yakko),David A. and daredevil Dean M. are the competition in the Minisail class.
I’ll choose for presence rather than win, probably sailing along carefully and pleasantly kind.
Done that on several occasions and it wasn’t only pleasant but it ended with a good result as well.
Fun isn’t it; five Minisails in an European event.
Three MS Sprint, one Monaco and one wooden Sprite; All with seats. (I’ll remove mine when it’s below 3Bft, but don’t tell anyone).
Report on the event will be next.
All images courtesy R.Baker
At Staunton Herald things are well organised, sailing’s only allowed when the green flag is up. And at about 6 P.M. it went up on Friday evening. For Friday evening clubsailing… How I love this and just cannot imagine this kind of discipline would get installed in clubs in Belgium.
I rigged the boat and got out in the midsummer sun (and a gentle breeze) on the lake to discover it along with some other plankers, the lovely TOY playing along.
Half an hour later I came back in and heard water slashing in the hull when pulling it up a trolley. Quite a lot of water in the hull there.
It didn’t take a drop in Ostend or Wormer.
The 760 km on the trailer between Wormer and Staunton Harold must have shaken the old hull and opened some seams.
And it did fill up really good since I saw the bow submarining on the last race downwind course day two second race. Never had that with a boat before.
Still it was fun to sail and not a big issue, I’ll waterproof the cigarbox. A bit disappointing it sank during a Nationals yes.
Different issue and completely my fault was losing the centerboard all together during race two of day one.
The item freed itsself from the c.b. king-pin (because I didn’ secure it) and slid away trough the c.b.slot happily knocking the hull. I managed to pull it back to into place again after a while, but by then the race had ended.
As also by then the wind was gone, luckily the gentle rescue-people towed me in.
So really the first attempt racing the Meson wasn’t flawless, still I love sailing it, and as usual: room for improvement.
All images courtesy R.Baker
Building a wooden Minisail 