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flyandice
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« on: January 28, 2009, 09:13:31 PM » |
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The US had only one representative at this year's European Championship. I got to hoist the flag at the opening ceremony - probably the high point of my effort for the week. But Mercedes and I had a great time in St. Petersburg. The weather cooperated and the planners and the Russian team put on an excellent race.
The original site southwest of St. Petersburg at Strelna was unsuitable and with a few day's notice the event was moved to Repino, a resort area on the Gulf of Finland about forty miles northwest of the city. Our headquarters, the Repino Hotel, would get at least three stars by our standards and was an ideal venue. The pit area was on the shore in front of the hotel and with a little negotiation the authorties allowed us to park on the beach and we were able to set up within about a hundred feet of the vehicles. The one hundred and eighteen entrants were split into three fleets. The opening ceremony was held on Saturday and racing started on schedule Sunday morning.
The ice was about a seven with some rough spots and skiffs of podwered snow and the wind was constant at five to ten knots, almost idea racing conditions. The Europeans have a professional racing committee that make thing run smoothly at the EC race and the Gold Cup in alternating years. They set the course a mile and a half off shore and with constant wind direction we races in the same spot all week. It was an easy broad reach out and back from the pit area and a managable hike for the spectators.
By Tuesday afternoon the Gold fleet had nine races, Silver and Bronze eight. That night everyone sharpened runners. Half a dozen portable units in the basement put a strain on the hotel power system. It was interesting to see all the variations in sharpening fixtures and sharpening techniques. I stood around looking hopefull and finally got a first-class job on my minimum inserts by Andres Bock, G-624. I won't touch them before the February Gold Cup. We got about three inches of snow overnight and the races were postponed for a day. With decent winds we tried again on Thursday. The Silver fleet started the day in snow and marginal visibility, but things deterioated in a hurry and the regatta was called at noon. The fleet did a daisy chain finding its way back to the shore with limited visibility. I must report the US sail didn't do much to represent our country. I sailed ok in the back of the Silver fleet. Beat a few boats in six races and brought up the rear in the other three. The Thursday race in the snow was a little dicey. The visibility got down to a little more than a hundred yards on the last lap. (Where the hell is the windward mark??) The race committee was probably glad to see me finally appear out of the gloom and promptly called off the race and got the boats off the ice. Alas, I finished at the bottom of the Silver fleet.
But we had a lot of fun. Wednesday night the crowd toured St. Petersburg in a couple of busses, one with and English-speaking guide and the other in German. The city is spectacular at night with the buildings in the historic area all lighted for maximum effect. The tour ended at a disco club. The Russian sailors taught us how to properly drink vodka. (Exhale, throw it down, exhale again then suck a lemon. Repeat as necessary.) The iceboaters held their own on the dance floor with Niclas, OE-221, the European Commodore, leading the way. We gave high marks to the pole dancer in the bar room. She looked to have been trained at the Bolshoi but must have developed beyond the confines of her tutu.
The award ceremonywas held Thursday night. Vaiko Vooremaa, C-6, was a convincing top skipper with six firsts out of nine races. Chris Williams, K-1, trumped me for the oldest competitor. I got hardeware for the farthest distance traveled from the west. We all tipped our Russian caps (the regatta gift) to the winner of the farthest traveled from the east, a Russian from Siberia who drove four days from the middle of the country to get there. The Poles won the team trophy. The Burczynski brothers told the group how pleased they were to get the Golden Runner back from America - to Europe where it belonged. Hopefully we'll get our US hotshots back over there in 2010 to stir the pot again. It was a well-planned regatta and a great week of ice sailing.
Hal Bowman
US 1277
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