Montag, Februar 16, 2009

DN Racing Again Near Berlin at February 14/15th

Before I forget and spring break fever takes over, I have a short report about one of the best DN regattas of the short but extensive season. Wait a minute, I have to scramble for the date... Berlin, Lake Wolzig at February 15th and 16th. This is what the official report reads: Ice thickness: 20cm, hard surface, night temperature: -4°C, small snow drizzle 0,1cm, Wind 4 Bft. I had hit the road already Friday night to be fit on the saturday morning as the weather report was promissing. And so it happened. 28 racers arrived by midday and we decided to sail in 2 fleets. One for the more beginners or people with older equipment who did not feel comfortable with all the fast "carbon tuned" DN racers. This is a very good rule found by our friends from the Berlin DN fleet. 16 boats in the A fleet were called to the blocks. I had received block 17, the outer right starting position. A captivating race with position changes in the front. Going from 2nd on the weather mark to third after one round they spit me out at 5th place at the finish. There had been enough speed in the boat, just the shifts on the lake were not in my favour, or better, I did not read them right. Another fifth followed by a first and a third place. The first two spots were already occupied by G-624 and G-890. Close racing with both of them but at the end their nose was in front. Two more races for the day which saw me in 6th place and my friend "Vossi", G-709, found some more speed and stamina. He came 2nd and third now and made some valuable points. In the evening we found a great thermal pool with different saunas and outdoor pool with 28°C water.

Next day same conditions and our friend "Radlhuber", G-8 from Bavaria had his moments. 2, 1, 5 his scores for the three races whilst I scored 5, 5, 4. It was always close, the front 6 stayed together for most of the racing, only on the the last downwind the winner broke free or somebody got a real good shift on one of the windward legs. Holger, G-890 won with a 4th place as his discard. Well done. I finished in fourth positions overall. Not as good as my win the weekend before but than, the competition was a bit stronger. In one of the photos you can see the race committee with some of the racers. The left person, in the picture below, Dirk, showing the "Berliner" (pancakes with the name "Berliner" only outside of Berlin) had taken part in two Olympic games in the windsurfing division. Namely the DIV II boards 1972 and 1976. I was never able to beat him in that windsurfing class but on the ice I still have the nose in front. Dirk came 9th in the "A" fleet.The "B" fleet was won by Dietrich, G-532, an old salt whom I also met in my good old FD days in the early seventies. The "B" fleet showed good stunts on the downwind mark with 360°s and all. No accidents, only some scary moments. Driving home in the late afternoon there was still some winter in the air and I did not think about the end of season. The week after it snowed very heavy and racing had to be cancelled for the weekend 21/22nd of Feb. The Polish Championship held the weekend after was a bit far away for me. No co-driver available.

Last weekend the hardcore DN racers met in Goldberg again only to decide that the racing would have been too dangerous. The ice in general was safe but there were some holes spread over the lake. All bigger in size than our runners. Nobody wanted to destroy the equipment just for some fun races. Now it is maybe up to the Swedish Championship in the middle of March. Waiting for their ice report. I am already on the preliminary starter list. For the record. This report has been written at March 4th but I will date it back to the Monday after the racing. My blogging is supposed to be a diary of events for me.

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