FISLY EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP REGATTA, TERSCHELLING

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GARETH ROWLAND'S IMAGES - DAY ONE [SUNDAY, SEPT 25]

GARETH ROWLAND'S IMAGES - DAY THREE [TUESDAY, SEPT 27]

GARETH ROWLAND'S IMAGES - DAY FOUR [WEDNESDAY, SEPT 27]

GARETH ROWLAND'S IMAGES - COSTUME PARTY NIGHT [WEDNESDAY, SEPT 27]

FISLY EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP REGATTA
Terschelling, The Netherlands
SUNDAY, SEPT 25 - SATURDAY, OCT 1, 2005

Reports from Gareth Rowland

WEDNESDAY 21ST SEPTEMBER:
TXT 18:27:05pm - Phew, made it to the ferry. Had to get some wire made up in Hull. On ferry with Chris Wright, Rob "DCMB" Coburn, Nigel Spurr and Brian Bawden so not alone. 128 mile to drive tomorrow.
Regards Gareth K800

THURSDAY 22ND SEPTEMBER:
TXT 20:59:41pm - I'm at bar on Terschelling after eating. Yacht all rigged in car park for 6am start to get tide. Traffic heavy from Rotterdam to Amsterdam. Took 3 hours.
Regards Gareth K800

FRIDAY 23RD SEPTEMBER:
TXT 10:14:27am - On Terschelling Island, Holland, 300 miles due east of home. Up at 6 this morning, sailing by 7.30 tuning yacht up in light winds. Tide now in. Wait till 4pm tide.
Regards Gareth K800

TXT 20:37:33pm - Six of us in restaurant in west Terschelling. Drinking 2nd beer while waiting for food. Registration and inspection tomorrow. Will decide whether early start after some more beers!!
Regards Gareth K800

SATURDAY 24TH SEPTEMBER:
PHONE 12:08:54pm - Having lunch with DCMB. He's not up to his usual self, drinking less than 8 per cent! Roll bar fail scrutineering. Fixed now. Had to put some extra long bolts on the d-shackles on the steering. Safety measure. They weighed the front wheel as well. Making sure each yacht has steerage. More pertinent to the Class 5s. Their wheels weigh next to nothing and theyhave light steering. There's 105 or so yachts here with 33 Class 3s. Big Standart fleet but Class 5s are in the low 20s. Weather was offshore yesterday. Swung 180 degrees today and is around Force 3 [10 mph] from on-shore. Puffy clouds but weather looks quite stable. Tomorrow a 7am start!
Regards Gareth K800

SUNDAY 25TH SEPTEMBER:
TXT 06:31:59am - Sandsailing and stargazing! Full Class 5 fleet on beach one hour before sun up! Was meant to be a 7am start! 10mph wind off land. Low tide now. No pre sailing, have to push to line. Holes up beach. Regards Gareth K800

TXT 06:44:13am - Took great pics of big red sunball rising. Will have to find PC & phone. Still no action. Not too cold. Could do with bacon sarny on beach.
Regards Gareth K800

TXT 07:17:01am - Oh bugger! Class 5 started. Seven French then SoC a.k.a The Hobbit [Mark Lloyd] after first lap!
Regards Gareth K800

TXT 08:17:20am - SoC [Mark Lloyd] was 8th. Chris Wright was second tolast. Something very wrong with yacht. Standarts now racing. Tide coming in fast now. Class 3 next then Class 2. Don't think we'll make it. Long lunch!
Regards Gareth K800

TXT 11:02:14am - 10am all racing finished. They dropped the flag very faster after briefing. I was slow off the start. Was first Brit to finish. Each class had 1 race each.
Regards Gareth K800

TXT 15:12:50pm - Found internet connection at back of pay internet. Pulled it out and can access Net FOC. Download email but not upload. Can only do it by webmail. All manual but works.br> Regards Gareth K800

TXT 19:46:29pm - Eating with Belgians. Just going to have local sea bass for 19 Euro. Chris Wright and Brian Bawden have gone four Chinese takeaway!!! Madness!! The social side important. Talking to Jury.
Regards Gareth K800

MONDAY 26TH SEPTEMBER:
TXT 06:40:09am - Thunderstorm last night. Was still going over at Harlingen at dawn. Showers now clearing, wind same. Class 3 and 2 on Course A heading south, others Course B going north. Two races today. Regards Gareth K800

TXT 07:48:54am - Two laps, half lap pushing. Let sail out & rolled on. Second then race yellow flagged. Boiled in suit. Blue sky coming. Barometer steady. More wind later... they say!! Regards Gareth K800

TXT 08:34:01am - Sun out. No wind. No sailing. Beach flat, only smallest ripples in places. Very hard banks. No holes. Thunderstorm took care of those. Put more air in tyres. Regards Gareth K800

TXT 10:09:45am - Second race yellowed. Class 2 and Standarts on at 6pm. Dinner at 7pm!! Regards Gareth K800

TUESDAY 27TH SEPTEMBER:
EMAIL 15:24:00pm - Wind was blowing Force 4 to 5. Sadly the GPS did not record the speeds but it was fast downwind. From the start line of No. 36 which was high on the beach, it was a upwind run to the mark where there was a thin line of water-filled moon country. This was easily avoided as you could dive in late for the mark or take it wide avoiding the softish top. Back down the beach I let a lot of rope out and let the yacht power up then hauled it in to do a gusty high speed run avoiding a round deepish puddle of water a few hundred metres from the bottom mark. The narrow beach meant you had to sweep wide near the scorers' caravan, then kick it hard round the mark to avoid the sea. Some Class 2s on the first lap did not. When one yacht spins another slides hard inside the other and the hapless yacht behind goes wide with nowhere to go but straight into the ocean, as the pix show. We [Class 3s] were meant to be racing till 2pm but the rain and narrow beach forced us off at midday. K800 had a 12th place and a 9th adding to the first 10th making me 12th overall. If Nigel Spurr keeps doing well - he has a 17th, and maybe a 14th and an 11th - we might be looking at British team silver medal. Regards Gareth K800

TXT 18:14:57pm - In the Isola Bella having a Dynamite x2 with Nigel [Spurr]. Meal has garlic and Spanish peppers... sure to be windy tomorrow! Been sleeping this afternoon after hard racing in morning. Needed it. Regards Gareth K800

WEDNESDAY 28TH SEPTEMBER:
VOICEMAIL 06:15am - One hour early. Class 2 on Course A. 27mph wind almost straight down beach. Bottom mark you turn downwind so going to be hairy. Will be very entertaining. Wind increasing as I speak. Turning NW which means square on to the beach.

VOICEMAIL 06:32am - Black wall of thunderstorm cloud rolling down the beach. Heading for cover behind the containers. It's looking very naughty out there. Will try and get some pix.

TXT 08:34.47am - Storm passed now. No wind. Beach still narrow. Only really a 3 hour sailing window. Will try and send pixs from party tonight. Regards Gareth K800

TXT 09:21.23am - Second storm passed to south of us. Wind veered SW. Strong 20mph or more. Using only Course A. Course B too soft and narrow. Waiting till 10.30. C2s, Standarts, c3s then c5s. Regards Gareth K800

TXT 09:41.00am - Now blowing 27mph. Start delayed till 11am. Force 8 forecast tonight with higher tide. Sun out in puffy clouds. Regards Gareth K800

TXT 10:07.35am - Wind is 15 metres per second at top mark. Delay till 11.30. Regards Gareth K800

TXT 10:40.45am - NO RACING! ALL CANCELLED. Force 6 coming square onto beach. Expected to flood beach so pushing yacht into dunes. Regards Gareth K800

EMAIL 20:05pm - In the Isobella ready for the night's fun & games. We have an unrecognisable dress code but will leave that for later. It's 8pm and people are coming in. Food is served at 9pm. Just looked at the weather forecasts and the Force 8/9 looks like it's coming. Most yachts are dismantled . I've buried K800 and its sail in a sand dune. I expect the wind to come square on the beach tomorrow. Some chat about not being able to sail, but it's the usual bar chit chat of "why not, what if, and what???" Isobella's managment having problems with the electrics. They are trying to get power to the hot water servers. Good job we have candles on the tables in case someone gets it wrong! Cheers Gareth K800

PHONE CALL 12:29:32am - Was a good night at the Isobella. Couldn't get computer to send out images, they'd turned them all off. Chucking it down outside. Wind is howling and knocking everything over. Be about Force 7-9. It's coming onshore, from the sou'west, but is supposed to turn to the nor'west in the morning. Coming with the wind is a big wall of water. Wind is blowing the sea in. Talk is that it could be as high as a metre higher than normal tide. Sailing will be quite wicked. The beach is rock hard and rocketing down the beach on a broad reach at 60mph and turning 180 degrees at the bottom mark... I don't think so! And it's a very very narrow beach. You know it's windy when you travelling downwind, you've let everything out and the rope is almost through the blocks and you're still hiking... and that was yesterday in "lighter" wind. Imagine what's in store for us if we race. There was a high speed rollover yesterday. Pilot lost control going downwind and actually rolled twice with him in it. I've got a photo of his repairs which I'll send. So far we've had three races in each class. Next start Nigel Spurr is on No. 4 and I'm on No. 5 on the right-side of the grid. Hope we make it back home on the bike tonight...Cheers Gareth K800

TXT 00:44:09am - Just pedalled back in the rain and heavy wind. Bet on the beach it's horrible. Making a cup of tea then off to bed. Regards Gareth K800

THURSDAY 28TH SEPTEMBER:
TXT 08:42:49am - Blowing a real good Force 5 at 45 degrees on to the beach. Looks narrow. Top mark is the problem. Turning high speed downwind, possibly into soft sand all on the same bank! Regards Gareth K800

TXT 09:10:17am - Looks like they're moving top mark down to wider part of beach and finish turn further down to Course B. Order is Standarts, c5s, c3s. Low tide 1:30pm. Wind steady. Regards Gareth K800

TXT 09:42:39am - Unpleasant squall passing over making wind do silly things. Waiting to see how Standarts get on before getting buried yacht out of dunes. Regards to all, Gareth K800

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