Flying over the start in Kiel, the first offshore of the ROST II

The world has not stood still since the last post. The rules regarding team sports and Corona have been relaxed from July. Fortunately, we have effectively used the lockdown with the Rotterdam Offshore Sailing Team, so we were fully prepared to start immediately on 1 July. After a short consultation with our sponsors, we threw the ropes loose to make up for the missed training hours on the water.

It was clear that the team had missed sailing, because from July on, a full crew trained for at least two days a week. Fortunately, our coach Gerd-Jan Poortman had missed sailing at least as much, because without a coach we can't go on the water. Because of these many training days, we had a steep learning curve as a team, and the progress was visible in every training. Everyone got to know their position in the boat better and better, and in addition, the crew of ROST I visited often enough (through the cockpit?) to share their expertise with regard to the boat, the Van Uden Ker46. In addition to Gerd-Jan's professional knowledge, Simeon Tienpont participated in a training course to give us tips. In this way, the team took steps again every training session, and the core team was formed. After all those training hours, you as a team want nothing more than to measure where you stand compared to the competition. At the time of 'social distancing', this is more difficult than before, because the safety and health of the various sailing teams is paramount and 1.5 meters away must be possible. This resulted in a search for what kind of event was possible, with N.K.'s that went ahead or not, events where an incomplete team had to be started, and events in Germany or England. In the end, the bullet was through, and thanks to Gill, the team was able to appear at the start of the Kielerwoche fully in team clothing, including a mouth cap. At the beginning of September, the boat left for Kiel to compete against twelve other boats in the ORC class for the German championship. For many of the crew this was their first offshore experience. We were introduced to sailing in the dark, a four-hour-on/four-hour wait system, freeze-dried adventure food and taking care of each other, the boat and yourself. After the first night had been survived and we had left the Kiel Canal behind us, we trained another night on the Baltic Sea.

Secret Sailing

In Kiel, the open German championship started with a welcome race of 28 nm. Our race started with a 'perfect start' according to the Kielerwoche race organizers. Unfortunately, due to a technical error, we lost sight of our comparable opponent, a German team on a mills 45, right after the start. In the end we completed the race in 6 hours 29 minutes 28 seconds. For the next three days we conduct three inshore races a day. The German team was a nice competitor here, because you don't come across many other carbon racing monsters and this resulted in a nice battle on the water. On the relatively small track of the inshore races we pushed ourselves and the boat hard and pushed the limits. A total of nine races were sailed, with the best result being second place and finishing in seventh place in total. Due to the different weather conditions from 8 knots to 28 knots, we learned a lot as a team. We got to know each other better, among other things through the evening sessions of 'we by me' led by Gerd-Jan. In addition, we also got to know the boat better and it has become clear to us that even though we have come a long way, we still need to train a lot to get that first place in the future.

The instructive experience of the trip to Kiel and the four competition days had not yet ended when we left headlong back to the Netherlands to arrive in Scheveningen on Friday 11 September at 06:00. After all, on the same Friday at 19:00 we would start again at the Bruine Bank race. The much-needed hours of sleep had to wait for a while, because after arrival the boat had to be emptied and cleaned, before loading the new ration. The mood was still good after those two weeks on the boat together, and at 17:30 we sailed out of the harbor again on our way to the start. The Bruine Bank race is a 100 nm race and is one of the oldest sailing races in the Netherlands. Each boat can choose whether the course is sailed clockwise or counterclockwise and on the instructions of our navigator we decided to sail the course clockwise. After a good start, a short upwind followed, followed by a reach in which we led away from the group with our fractional code zero. Throughout the night we sailed the boat with fourteen men. The conditions were ideal, with 16 knots of wind and mild temperatures. From the rail you could see the luminous algae splashing off the boat, and because there was not a cloud in the sky, countless stars could be seen. After 10 hours 7 minutes and 17 seconds we rumbled across the finish line with a boat speed of 16 knots at first light of the morning. We learned later that day during the virtual award ceremony that all our training hours had not been in vain. Our first prize was finally in! We are extremely happy and proud to have taken first place, breaking the track record that had been set since 2009. The past summer months have flown by at lightning speed. We have grown a lot with ROST II in sailing, in boat knowledge and as a team. From the offshore experience and the results in Germany, we know that we still have a lot to learn before we can achieve our goal of winning the Fastnet. We will continue to train in the coming winter months, so that we are stronger next summer. We would like to thank our sponsors and our coach Gerd-Jan Poortman for the opportunities that the Rotterdam Offshore Sailing Team offers us. Until the next match!

Foto by Twirre Bogaard