Aussie competitor Richard Scarr reports on the tricky conditions at the Flying Dutchman European Championship, being sailed in Rabac, Croatia. Richard is sailing with fellow Aussie Norman Rydge and they are currently placed third.

The last two days has seen many starts to races, however there has been very, very light wind. Wind shifts through all points of the compass, at times, have caused races to be abandoned.

Having had no pre-regatta races, for us the many starts and short beats have been great to get us back into racing the big fleets, something we don't get to do in Australia.

The first race for us was great. The current was running at 20ft per minute and the predominate pressure was out to the right. The fleet went right, but we decided to get out of the current and work the lifting lighter pressure on the left. The depth in the middle of the course is about 70 metres and on shore it is about 35 metres.

We rounded fourth, rolled an Italian boat with a quick set and came to the bottom mark in third.

With our training over the past few days we had found the current stopped and changed direction mid race. With clouds forming to the right and the current changing again the leader went out to the left, with us by ourselves out to the right (only cause you have to back your self!)

The breeze, as expected, shifted hard right and the course was shortened. We could of come into the finish line with the kite up and it was a great start for us. Sailing here is all about clouds, current and boat speed.

Race 2 was the same sort of story as the first, except we were 15th at the top, then 10th and the bottom mark. The breeze then clapped out and we went from 10th to DFL (dead flippen last) and with a glass-out the race continued with a shortened course. We ended up finishing in 22nd.

Racing is very tricky here. The boat that crossed the line first in Race 2 GER199, was OCS.

Currently we are held ashore under AP as there is no wind at all today.

Fly Sailing Club Opatija
2008 Flying Dutchman Open European Championship

Series Summary
Pl B# Sail # Crew From 1 2 Total
1 43 GER202 Jorn Borowski & Andreas Berlin ROYC 12 3 15
2 63 ITA45 Francesco Vespasiani & Francesco Gerunzi 17 2 19
3 1 AUS37 Norman Rydge & Richard Scarr RPEYC 1 22 23
4 5 AUT20 Christoph Holzingen & Stefan Schmitz UYCT 20 7 27
5 25 GER40 Bernd Schreiber & Detlev Schmidt VSAW 11 19 30
6 55 HUN78 Antal Kardos & Csaba Polgar SVE 5 27 32
7 32 GER91 Helmut Lother & Michael Klawitter SCAI 24 9 33
8 72 NED25 Harold Wijgers & Niels Kamphuis WZWT 33 1 34
9 34 GER98 Shmuel Markoff & Mircea Carp AHYC 28 6 34
10 50 HUN4 Janos Ziegler & Gabor Hajto SVE 25 10 35
11 67 ITA109 Spartaco Francesconi & Franco Tognocchi CVMP 32 4 36
12 12 DEN21 Jorgen Bojsen-Moller & Jacob Bojsen-Moller HS 8 29 37
13 73 NED26 Enno Kramer & Ard Geelkerken WSVN 27 17 44
14 8 AUT40 Alexander Schmid-Siege & Wolfgang Skoda UYCSW 15 30 45
15 54 HUN70 Szabolcs Majthenyi & Andras Domokos SVEB 10 37 47
16 31 GER86 Frank Tobias & Frank Simone SH 16 35 51
17 30 GER75 Christian Zbil & Bichler Paul BSCF 3 49 52
18 39 GER135 Ralph Jambor & Jens Scheiber TSG1898 9 45 54
19 38 GER113 Kilian Koning & Johannes Brack SCE 14 40 54
20 45 GER211 Marco Lieberth & Mario Gotz SSGEP 48 8 56
21 41 GER187 Stefan Beichl & Roland Kirst HSC 45 11 56
22 64 ITA50 Luigi Silvestrini & Francesco Ciuccarelli GVLNI 43 14 57
23 21 GER12 Ernst Gretten & Detlev Kruger HYC 47 12 59
24 14 ESP9 Dolores Sanchez Herr & Javier Higuera Argue CNA 18 41 59
25 80 NZL110 Hideo Tayama & Sven la Graauw KBC 2 59 61
26 27 GER51 Andreas Kunze & Josef Seebauer MYC 40 21 61
27 46 GER213 Rolf Albert & Lutz Albert SSVEP 39 25 64
28 28 GER61 Keller Bernd & Fischer Bernd SKF 31 33 64
29 74 NED32 Bas van der Pol & Marc van der Pol WZVT 7 61 68
30 7 AUT39 Uwe Kelderbacher & Christoph Zingerle SCTWV 55 13 68
31 68 NED4 Mark Brouwer & Paul van der Pol WSVNB 64 5 69
32 23 GER16 Karsten Keil & Frank Descher SSVEP 57 16 73
33 24 GER19 Paggy Bahr & Torsten Bahr YCBG/SLRV 19 55 74
34 66 ITA102 Mauele Gregori & Matteo Mariotti AVB 13 62 75
35 53 HUN63 Laszlo Damokos & Reti Zsolt Dr. TYCSE 37 38 75
36 44 GER210 Jorg Witte & Stefan Madicke TSG, SYC 52 24 76
37 36 GER100 Jan Lechler & Jens Salow YCBG 50 26 76
38 79 NED341 Toos Zandstra & Durk Zandstra KZL 49 28 77
39 57 ITA6 Francesco Ravasini & Giovanni Borrini CUSP 46 32 78
40 52 HUN13 Andras Suli & David Papp SVEB 30 50 80
41 69 NED5 Frea Schaaf & Lasper Schaaf WVK 29 52 81
42 76 NED304 Johan van Werkhov & Pieter Staal AEGIR 51 31 82
43 2 AUT5 Fred Zorn & Erich Schober YCZ 35 48 83
44 17 GBR373 Rosie Pye & Neil Pye BVSC 41 43 84
45 22 GER13 Hans A. Koning & Jorn Kulb VSAW 67 20 87
46 86 SLO4 Peter Stoka & Andrej Borstnar JKJ 65 23 88
47 13 ESP6 Gines Romero & Alvaro Moreno CNA 26 63 89
48 42 GER199 Dirk Bogumil & Michael Lisken SR1926 4 86\BFD 90
49 61 ITA16 M. Luisa de Michele & Luigi Bellotti VSTB 6 86\DNF 92
50 56 ITA4 Nicola Vespasiani & Carlo Carincola 21 75 96
51 9 AUT382 Christoph Aichholzer & Philipp Zingerle SCTWV 23 73 96
52 87 USA251 Paul Hemker & Pavel Ruzicka BLSA 82 15 97
53 16 GBR369 John Williams & Alex Rogers RSC/PSC 53 44 97
54 83 ROM10 Mihai Butucaru & Nikola Kelis YCB 68 34 102
55 11 CZE1 Pavel Fiala & Roman Houdek LTFD 36 67 103
56 10 CRO51 Tin Matulja & Robin Matulja FSC 86\DNF 18 104
57 47 GER216 Frank Kanigi & Steffen Ulemann SCF 1891 62 42 104
58 35 GER99 Bjorn Athaus & Matthias Krukenbaum YCWA 58 47 105
59 49 GER224 Wolfgang Dietrich & Jens Fuchs SCHP 42 65 107
60 60 ITA10 Roberto Cipriani & Stefano A. Morelli FVP/CVT 22 86\DNF 108
61 84 SLO1 Luka Tomori & Urban Jan JKJ 34 74 108
62 78 NED340 Hugo Maarleveld & Pieter Zandstra YCR 56 53 109
63 75 NED122 Erika Geelkerken & Harald Berning R&ZVG 66 46 112
64 20 GBR386 Tony Lyall & Colin Burns WGCSC 75 39 114
65 37 GER103 Kurt Muller & Ralph Aicher SCSTS 81 36 117
66 58 ITA7 Alberto Barenghi & Giorgio Allaria SCL 61 57 118
67 26 GER41 Edwin Neue & Marco Steinem DUYC 60 58 118
68 3 AUT11 Walter Moser & Wolfgang Sitzwohl YCO 54 69 123
69 18 GBR382 Peter Doran & Richard Phillips OSC 63 60 123
70 15 ESP90 Carlos Beltri & Juan Pablo de Dieg FVRM 38 86\BFD 124
71 77 NED327 Frank Nooijen & Ronald Huijsmans ZCK KPH 71 54 125
72 33 GER92 Jurgen Grolle & Caroline Rudorff SKU 76 51 127
73 51 HUN12 Petet Gaal & Balazs Kail MTDSC 73 56 129
74 71 NED11 Kai Schafers & Martin Romberg YCWA 44 86\DNF 130
75 70 NED9 Paul de Schipper & Cor Huisman WSVB 69 66 135
76 19 GBR384 John Berry & James Whitaker WGCSC 70 70 140
77 6 AUT22 Helmut Gotz & Roland Huber KYC 78 64 142
78 65 ITA99 Gian Luca Vignazia & Alessandra Coloccini CVP 72 72 144
79 4 AUT15 Gerhard Ulrich & Rainer Ulrich SCK 59 86\DNF 145
80 40 GER178 Rulf Vogel & Heike Wild SCS 77 68 145
81 85 SLO2 Miha Stanovnik & Tomaz Pogacnik JKJ 80 71 151
82 59 ITA8 Leopoldo Biasi & Francesco Biasi 74 86\DNF 160
83 82 POL133 Pawel Swiderski & Marcin Zawistowski SW 79 86\DNF 165
84 48 GER219 Herrman Jorg & Oliver Hyzyk YCBG, SCF 86\DNF 86\DNF 172T
84 29 GER66 Kurt Prenzler & Heinz Bollweg HYC 86\DNF 86\DNF 172T

by Richard Scarr

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