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FROM TERSCHELLING
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t o m e s s a g e o n e - T u e s, O c t 3
t o m e s s a g e t w o - T h u r s, O c t 5
t o m e s s a g e t h r e e - T h u r s e v e n i n g, O c t 5
t o m e s s a g e f o u r - S u n e v e n i n g, O c t 8
t o m e s s a g e f i v e - S u n e v e n i n g, O c t 8
t o m e s s a g e s i x - M o n e v e n i n g, O c t 9
t o m e s s a g e s e v e n - W e d e v e n i n g, O c t 9
t o m e s s a g e e i g h t - W e d e v e n i n g, O c t 11
t o m e s s a g e n i n e - T h u r s e v e n i n g, O c t 12
t o m e s s a g e t e n - S u n d a y e v e n i n g, O c t 15
MESSAGE ONE received OCTOBER 3:
From: "G.J. Rowland" holivans@enterprise.net
Subject: Tuesday on the Ferry
Date: Tue, 3 Oct 2000 18:38:09 +0100
Hello
Sorry for not sending any mail last night but I was sticking sail numbers on via a Bicardi and Coke, as the sail was laid out in the bar (The Towbar), much to the amusement of the other drinkers. The orderly fashion of putting gear in the car and caravan turned to panic as Monday came to an end. It was a case of throw it in and sort it out later. By Mon night had all the yacht, mast and axles on the roof rack. The caravan is packed with those small fireworks and those little bits of computer. Robert Coburn turned up at 10.30am as I was finishing throwing the excess baggage into the van. We left at midday to get to Hull for 14.00. Stopped in a side road by the Hull docks and went and did some shopping. Robert and I had to drop into a pub to sample the local brew. We are on the ferry now at 18.30. Penning this in the side bar with Dave and Robert Green, Chris Wright and that man Coburn. Going to send this on the ipass system. Hope it works.
Gareth Rowland
Hello, Chris here
Well after all of the problems of the past few weeks I've made it. With some trepidation but having wondered about the possibility of sending the van and yacht etc out with TP (Robert Green) and Dave, and having checked how I could get out independently, it seems a case of now or never. The logistics of travelling without transport don't bear thinking about. Bus to Leeds, train to Hull, ferry, taxi, train(s), ferry then you're there, assuming that the ferry has space and the train connections get you to where you want to be. DCMB (Robert Coburn) is now into pint two but the rest of us have yet to start, though Dave (Green) has just asked if we are drinking or eating. Drinking was my reply so a beer should be here fairly soon he said hopefully. Yes, it (the ferry) is on its way at last. Meanwhile TP has disappeared towards the upper deck so that he can watch the ship leave the dock. This being Hull and a very tidal estuary, the ferry terminal is located inside a lock, so the ferry has to do a three-point turn and then negotiate a lock that is about 6" wider than the ship.
Chris Wright
Hello, message from DCMB
Please don't worry the beer was fine. (No idea which of the pints he [Chris] is referring to). Where was I? I went over to TP's this morning and found them still cutting spare axles and drilling holes in them. We offloaded my yacht from its trailer and proceeded to fit all three onto their trailer, freshly painted for the occassion. Bikes, masts, wheels, sails and spare tyres (about 15 tyres I reckon) all went in the van. I questioned the need for so many tyres and was told by TP that we didn't want to be worried about punctures. If we get through tyres at that rate there won't be enough tubes on the island and we'll have to send to the mainland for more.
Robert "Don't Call Me Bob" Coburn
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MESSAGE TWO received OCTOBER 5 (NZ Time):
From: "G.J. Rowland" holivans@enterprise.net
Subject: RE: RED BULL 7TH WORLD CHAMPS
Date: Thu, 5 Oct 2000 17:10:52 +0100
Hello
It's Thurs evening.
Gareth and Robert Coburn had a good crossing on the Hull to Rotterdam ferry, eventually as the ferry had a problem getting out of King George Dock. With a stiff side wind up to Force 6, the ferry missed the entrance to the lock three times. It's on only a foot less in width than the lock, so you had to be square on to get in. The ship finally threaded the eye via a little scraped
paint and skidding rubber bumper.
That made us late out, we did not leave the sight of Hull till gone 21.30. Next day in Rotterdam we were late in, getting off the ferry by 9.30. We had to pick up Colin palmer at Schiphol (Amsterdam) on the way up to Harlingen.
Colin did not know we were late, his flight in was at 10am. We arrived at 11.30 at Schiphol Airport and found a parking place in the bus lane then found Colin. We all then had a damp drizzly trip over to Harlingen. The ferry cost us 474 Dutch guilders, and that was with 50 per cent off. Towing our 6.4 metre caravan cost us a pound or two, but at least we had a trailer and accommodation.
We found the campsite Landzicht and set up. We duly filled the fridge with the essential amber nectar and rode into town to find a restaraunt, where we had a nice three-course meal at 47 guilders each, washed down by a small beer. It was off back to bed as the high tide was 2pm next day.
Gareth had miscalculated the sunrise time, as we woke at 6.30am only to have it pitch black till 7.30. We were down on the beach early, rigged the yachts and sailed on what you could describe as a bad beach for Terschelling, but it was similar to Mablethorpe Beach on a good day. There were banks of soft sand then there was a small amount of moon country and some ripples. You could avoid most of these and sail on the hard stuff. The wind was a moderate southerly that fell light by 11am.
Most yachts did not venture too far down the beach as the tide was coming up the inlets. We stopped fiddling with the yachts in the car park and Colin came back with his Standart. We went into town to stock up on milk and breakfast food.
Later in the afternoon the rain set in well and we have all come back to our bases. We hope to get a good half day sailing in tomorrow.
Going for a beer. Cheers Gareth K800
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MESSAGE THREE received OCTOBER 6 (NZ Time):
From: "G.J. Rowland" holivans@enterprise.net
Subject: RE: THURDSAY NIGHT
Date: Thu, 5 Oct 2000 18:06:03 +0100
Hello
It's 18.50 and the buggers have nodded off! Colin is allowed, but hell who
is cooking tea?
Having problems with the ipass network having to use the mobile on the
international number.
Gareth K800
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MESSAGE FOUR received OCTOBER 8 (NZ Time):
From: "G.J. Rowland" holivans@enterprise.net
Subject: RE: RED BULL 7TH WORLD CHAMPS
Date: Sun, 8 Oct 2000 15:47:09 +0100
It's Friday morning and the weather is decidedly wet with rain showers coming through on a regular basis. Robert Coburn had his ear plugs in again while sleeping. That meant at least Colin and Gareth could crash around doing breaky Robert provided the dawn chorus in variety of musical notes for various. Decided to wake him up with the smell of toast since he coudn't hear a damn thing anyway.
Last night we ate in the caravan. See Colin's report!
We all then pedaled round the town of Terschelling and called into a few pubs, usually doubling the numbers in the pub. Went in three pubs before we landed in the Braskoer, we met the sponsor "Red Bull", Eric van Rijt and some others. A small number of beers were consumed!
SATURDAY
A pleasant sunny day with the usual opening ceremonies. Gareth played about making a new set of softer battens as what was pulled out were stair rods. The beach seemed a little softer in places. The beach is not in it's best condition. It needs a storm to flatten it all. There are banks of soft you cannot see and there are the occasional innocent looking puddles that look shallow but lurking somewhere in them is a deep hole.
Sat night we all went to Misland only to find the restaurants full. One chef was coming out of the pizza place for some fresh air and asked if we were pilots. On our explaining that it (the restaurant) was full, he said: "No it's not!" and promptly found a table. We all ordered something different and did the swaparound. Whatever I had, it was pretty hot with chillis!
SUNDAY - RACE DAY ONE
A dull day with a Force 4 or 5 blowing from the south making the beach a reaching race. There was a pilots' briefing at 8am. First race was at 9.30. Order of the day was Class 2, 3's, Standarts and then 5's then the 2's went on again.
Gareth was doing a tyre pressure check and final look at the yacht in preparation for the Class 3 race when I noticed the spacer for the front wheel was cracked in half. I had to run back to the car (no cars on beach) and sort it.
Alan Scantle bury was on pole position, Gareth was No. 5 and Adrian Warren was on the front row. First mark was 700 metres to the north and then turn land to sea and belt down the beach 4km. The first mark was tricky as there was a large area of soft sand just on the racing line. It had been cut up by the Class 2's. There was a narrow hard bit right on the orange line, but with a fleet of others coming in from the right and the high speed made it very interesting.
From the start I was sandwiched into the soft stuff. Running down the beach at high speed I found the traveller rope had flown out leaving the traveller fully out. At least I did not hike as much as some, also the battens were too soft. The way down was not as smooth as you might think with a puddle of water with that damn hole in it.
Jean-Philippe Krischer went flying past me only to have a wheel fall of after hitting a small gulley,(weld broke on the stub axle) To cut a long story Gareth's yacht went backwards and Andrew Bottomley had the best result for a Brit coming ninth.
We packed up by 3pm and the clouds darkened and the wet stuff fell out of it. Time now is 4.30pm and rain is persistent. We are drying out in the caravan.
One Class two decided to see if they could score points by running over a pedestrian. Seems a group of four were walking, three went one way and a woman went the other. She got run over having a knee bent at 20 degs sideways. Seems the c2 also hit a beach car as he stopped.
Sending email out is not organised yet as we can only send on the mobile at the caravan. Hope to take some pics to one of the organisers, Ute Vrijburg at official headquarters and get a good phone line.
Gareth K800
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MESSAGE FIVE received from COLIN PALMER on OCTOBER 8:
From: "Colin Palmer" holivans@enterprise.net
Subject: SATURDAY AFTERNOON UPOVER
Date: Sun, 8 Oct 2000 15:45:42 +0100
Hello
I'm currently supping on a cheeky little red - as Gareth calls it. "Dogs Bollocks" written on the label. Gareth cooked a nice "to-go" with it, Swedish shrimp soup and stirfry. Gareth is more than just a pretty face or a rolly pom.
The weather's turned shitty now but managed to get an hour's sailing on a small piece of usable beach before the weather and tide got the better of us.
Hired a mountain bike from a local shop in the afternoon and set of from camp to the beach to see who's showed up to play.
10kms into a 3km ride I figured my southern sense of direction had been affected by the fact that we are at 53 degrees latitude, or was it the beer followed by a sip or two of "friesenfeuer", a more lethal version of peppermint schnapps.
Finally arrived after several course corrections to find Nord Embroden attempting to assemble "Silver Bullet" in the pissing rain frustrated by the fact that his container was smashed on the way over and a few vital parts seemed to be missing.
More later. We're off to do a bit of socialising.
Cheers Colin K301
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MESSAGE SIX received from GARETH on OCTOBER 10:
From: "Gareth" holivans@enterprise.net
Subject: MONDAY'S REPORT
Date: Tue, 10 Oct 2000 08:35:13 +0100
Hello all
Thanks for the emails. Glad someone is reading this.
Monday started off wet and little wind. First race was 10.30. By the time you struggled into your multi-layer wet weather gear the rain stopped and the sun peeped though.
Took the tent down on the beach and put some stiffer battens in. Wind was light southerly. Two courses were raced - Class 3 and Standart on one and the other Class 5 and 2, hence the lack of Class 5 info. Apologies to those desperate to here about what they're (c5) are doing. The course was east to Pal 4. The grid was on a narrow beach. I was up the beach in the soft sand with a push through even more soft.
Just as we lined up to start dark clouds gathered and the wind filled in. It was a drag race at high speed with the strongest winds up the beach. From Pal 8 it was a tight tack with my yacht hiking as the stronger wind took hold. Overtaking was only really possible near the marks.
Second race was much the same but with a stiffer wind. Some very close racing and care had to be taken round the marks as the Pal 8 was getting chewed up. We finished at 4.30 and we all had a night in the Pilots' Gar with food. The weather outside was foul with a Force 9 blowing and it belted with rain most of the night.
Going to get ready for Tues.
Gareth K800
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MESSAGE SEVEN received from GARETH on OCTOBER 12:
From: "Gareth" holivans@enterprise.net
Subject: Wednesday
Date: Wed, 11 Oct 2000 09:34:20 +0100
Hello all
Yesterday was no sailing as the wind and rain fell out of the sky nearly all day and night. It was a howling a gale down the beach. The weather radar showed two walls of heavy rain coming up. Racing was put off each hour three times then finally at around midday it was called off.
The evening was even stormier with thunderstorms and a squally gale. Our tent pulled a few pegs out as I went to Heiko's party at his house. (see Heiko's party photos coming soon).
Gareth K800
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MESSAGE EIGHT received from COLIN PALMER on OCTOBER 12:
From: "Colin Palmer" holivans@enterprise.net
Subject: Wednesday
Date: Wed, 11 Oct 2000 09:34:20 +0100
Hi
Well I started with a good result in the first race but as I feared my next couple of attempts were less successful. Hope I can turn it around next time - that's if we get any more racing. At the moment it's blowing its tits off with frequent squally showers.
The Race Committee seem to be reluctant to start racing in these conditions for safety. I had a good blast yesterday after they called it off. Mark Lloyd took some good pictures of us playing about in speeds of 90-plus kmp/h.
I have to try and sort out my boatspeed as there is quite a lot of fiddling in setting the Standart up for various conditions.
Race one I had a poor start but seem to have good speed and slowly worked my way up to a good position to challenge for second but slammed into a hole which dropped me back 50-odd metres so I couldn't quite pull in the distance in the time left. Second and third races after changing the yacht around to deal with lighter conditions I had poor speed and got slowly picked off by the faster yachts.
More later
Colin NZ301
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MESSAGE NINE received from GARETH on OCTOBER 12 PM:
From: "gareth" holivans@enterprise.net
Subject: THURSDAY FROM TERSCHELLING
Date: Thu, 12 Oct 2000 18:38:56 +0100
Thursday
Started racing at 13.05. Weather was dry and sunny but with a strong 5 to 6 blowing across the beach. Class 5 were first on. Roger Leah was doing well till a tyre blew.
Colin Palmer had two seconds in the Standarts.
Gareth had a bad day in Class 3. On the second lap I was just settling the yacht down to a high speed run. I was near the east turning mark turning sea to land. I was deeper down the beach than I wanted to be so I could get past two yachts. Hit one lot of moon country, just caught the second lot and my windward wheel fell off doing 50 mph. The yacht spun a 180 and stopped dead.
I derigged and was taken back on the trailer only to have the wind catch the mast and capsize the yacht and me on to the beach while in motion. Had to fit a new stub axle and missed the Class 2s and Standarts raacing.
Feeling a little knackered and tired. Going to Isola Bella for a pizza and clap Colin for his good deeds.
Gareth K800
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MESSAGE TEN received from GARETH on OCTOBER 16 AM:
From: "Gareth Rowland" holivans@enterprise.net
Subject: BACK HOME
Date: Sun, 15 Oct 2000 15:15:37 +0100
FINAL RACEDAY (Friday)
Two courses were running. Wind was nearly across the beach blowing a bF5. Class 3 and Standarts on one and the 5's and 2's on the other. I was drawn No. 21, but was stuffed by some bleeder that could not push. I was last but one off the grid (the other was still pushing). Being a fast reaching race getting past other yachts was only possible on or around the marks. If you tried it anywhere else you either went into the ripples or the soft and ended up further back. At the top mark, second lap, turning land to sea I took a Dutch yacht round the outside. I didn't make the turn and hit the sea at speed. The yacht was floating as I pushed it back out onto the beach Anyway I finished the race. Parking up I found the body had broken above the axle, so that was my championship over. All was not wasted as I went armed with a video and 35mm camera, grabbing lift with the beach vehicle up to the top mark. Took two rolls of film and a load of video. It was useful as each pilot had different ways of taking the mark. Steve Borrill spun out "on camera"! You could also see the sail twist on the long lens. I then grabbed another lift and went into Terchellling to get the films developed before the night's do.
FINAL PRIZEGIVING NIGHT
Sat in the middle of the room with Colin Palmer and DCMB (Robert Coburn). Also next were two sponsors
of Land Rover who helped make the long night a little shorter. For 45 Floren the meal was not very impressive. I made the mistake of not putting a lining on the stomach before I left the caravan. The red wine seemed to be the starter and for that you had to buy a ticket for 51 Floren (around NZ$55), so if you were a light drinker you had to find friends to share it. The day's racing prizes were handed out and then it was the Final Presentations. I was too far away to get good pictures and a column got in the way. There was at least two good singers for the final party. As we had to be on the second ferry of the day at 8am Saturday morning the party thinned rapidly down to the last hardy souls.
SATURDAY-SATURDAY NIGHT
A quiet journey home as we were all knackered from the night before. Most of us were on the ferry out of Rotterdam to Hull. Sat in the quiet lounge and the Brit team had a chat. Had good feed on the ferry and a full breakfast.
Signing Off Gareth K800
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