2011 ISO Europeans, Quiberon, France.
Going to an ISO Europcup: because we went with two boats from the Netherlands we drove together with a trailer with 2 boats on it, when we were leaving I posted a tweet where is said: sailing Europeans you take a totally full Renault espace 2 boats, 3 masts, 3 booms, 3 daggerboards, 3 rudders, 5 gennakers, 3 jibs and 3 mainsails. It was for us almost 15 hours to drive to get to Quiberon.
Arriving in Quiberon: when we were finally in Quiberon it was very hot and there was zero wind. But what a location! Nice sea, good camping spots, small apartments that you could rent, a big hangar for the preparation of the boats and a restaurant with sea view where you could eat something and drink some coffee. When we arrived there we saw five ISOs, 2 from Dave and Colin, our 2 boats from the Netherlands and an unknown ISO which we eventually found out belonged to the Frenchman Frederic. So we were with 5 ISOs. But a lot off skiffs, like laser 4000, rs 800, 29er, rs 700 but also 505's and many other known boats like 420 and 470's.
On Tuesday we had the practice race and the Pallaver, at the practice we were starting in three groups: keelboats, double dinghies and single dinghies. The start committee were shooting us away and Dave and Rachel had won twice, Maarten and Hans two times second, we were twice third, and Colin and Frederic didn't start or were too late I think.
On Wednesday we had the first official races, it was beautiful weather and we had sun and wind I think about 18 knots. Menno and I were so excited that we went as one of the first on the water where we had to wait in very strong winds for almost an hour to the start so we were quite tired when we finally started. Dave and Rachel sailed a very good race and won the first one, Maarten and Hans were second, we were third, and Colin and Frederic had some material problems. The second race Dave had also won that one, Maarten and Hans second and Colin, Frederic and us went back to the harbour after the first race.
On Thursday they expected a lot of wind (up to 30 knots) and it was raining cats and dogs and very cold. So they didn't let us go, and we had to come back every hour for some weather updates. But the organization didn't let us go so we went for a short sail trip in the bay. The expected mistral didn't come over but was 20 kilometers more to the north.
On Friday we had 3 races it was very hard to sail as there was not much wind but during the day it became more and more very influenced water by the tides so you had to think very hard to know what the best place was to sail. Maarten and Hans did a very good job in the first race and sailing straight to the front of the field. In the second race Dave went first and Colin had a good day and became second in the 2/3 race. Menno and I were doing very good in the last race until our gennaker came down twice during the downwind course and instead of almost second we became fifth.
On Saturday we had the last race, we had 3 general recalls but they didn't hoist the black flag, then after a starting procedure of more than an hour we finally started. It was between Hans and Maarten and Dave and Rachel. Both could still win so during the race it was very exciting. Who would win? First the Dutchmen were in the front and then Dave and Rachel again. After Hans and Maarten were entangled in a situation with a Chinese 420 Dave crossed the finish line as the first.
That evening we went for dinner with the ISO sailors and had a prize ceremony. A huge cup (The ISO Europcup) was presented to Dave and Rachel as European champions.
