Spiegelplas, 12th and 13th of October 2024
It was a nice and also adventurous sailing weekend at Spiegelplas. Returning home after just over two hours drive I was still exited and a bit done. I took a nice, long hot shower and smiled.
For all of you that have not been there yet.
Spiegelplas is a former peat extraction area that has turned into a small lake with clear water just south of Amsterdam. The race area is about 1.0 by 1.4 km in size and thus large enough for some nice races. The club, the WSV De Spiegel is quite small and cosy. The hospitality in the clubhouse and bar as well as on the lake is great. Wanting to register after arrival, I was told that there is no need for that. „Just sail out, pass the starting vessel. They will take your start and finish in any case. We are casual around here”.
We enjoyed two very different days together with the Javelin and some Spankers.
On Saturday we had just 6 degrees when I left home. It got a bit warmer during the day and the sun came out. We had wind from the south, nice kind trapezing, close tactical racing. Four good fun races.
For the night gale force winds from the west were forecast, so securing the boats made sense.
As usual in the Netherlands most Contender sailors go homefor the night, they all live “nearby”. Just the three foreigners and the two far travelling “locals” stayed in their campervan, car or “tent in shed” (?!!). The five of us had a Chinese take away meal in the club house, we really needed some food and truly enjoyed being together.
In the morning the rain had gone, (we thought), but the breeze was still strong and gusty. This could hardly be felt at the club and the sheltering shore, but you really noticed it when you were accelerated down wind through the narrow exit to the lake.
The forecast was 14 knots from west, with gusts twice as strong. Forecasts like that are always interesting! So we left for another four races. The forecast turned out to be correct, but there were gusts most of the time and they did not really seem to decrease. Every big cloud approaching brought new fun.
We managed another four races. They were adventurous at times. Each race, triangle plus up and down took only half as long as the day before. Luckily there was no damage with us Contenders, except for Paul unfortunately. The leaders of the first race of the day were nearing the end of the second reach when a “gust” hit, it was survival mode for all of us for some time from then on. Pauls carbon fitting inside the boom that holds the mast bracket broke loose. He was safe, but had to be towed home. Similar situations followed in practically every race. One start was cancelled at just 5 seconds before the gunas a heavy gust hit. In another race a heavy horizontal stormy shower hit the fleet. Luckily for most of us it was while sailing up wind.
The other classes seemed not as lucky as us. A Javelin lost its mast, a Spankers nearly sank.
As Spiegelplas isn’t that large, we were able to shelter in the near calm lee of a small, wooded cape between the races. Thatrest was very much appreciated. When the orange flag went up there still was plenty of time to reach the start. Nevertheless, due to the conditions, the field slowly decreased.
Back at the club after the last race we had a joint action getting the boats out of the water and up the narrow path to the pitching area.
Congrats to Rene and Mark, both did great on both days and conditions. Dear Dutch Contenders, thanks for organizing a great event. More of that next year.
Utz
