The weather gods had cancelled the AntwerpCityCup due to work in Galgenweel it took place at Lac de l'Eau d'Heure in Wallonia – from 25 to 27 October sunshine and warmth up to 19 degrees. This already brought happy faces to all participants and officials.
And the faces remained mostly like that for three days. Friday After some skillful crane operations for the boats, the first of four races started at around 13 p.m. The wind blew from the southeast at 10 - 12 knots and brought three real races, after which the majority of the fleet sailed into the harbor, which was inexplicable to both the race management and the other participants. Herd instinct, hunger for dinner or fear of the dark? The race management had no choice but to cancel the fourth race for the day.
In the evening there was an extensive program, which was Manuela was presented confidently, with each winner being greeted with an individual song. First, the 11 French sailors, as the "largest" nation, were treated to white or red wine pasta packages. Then there were daily prizes for the first three and last three sailors. The songs inspired not only the respective daily winners to sing along, but the whole hall.
Am Saturday The social programme then continued early in the morning: Patrick felt, IRL 171, was congratulated on his 25th birthday with a small red jib on his ship – thank you Ulli!!
The races were a little trickier because the wind was weaker and fluctuated considerably in strength and direction. It generally came from the south and the windward mark was inevitably quite far from land, so approaching it was a challenge that was more of a coincidence. In addition, the run-off mark was sometimes positioned in such a way that you had to tack further to get to it. But ultimately the favourites were clearly ahead.
The evening program first saw Patrick in the center with a large airy 25 and a picture as a gift.
The daily prizes were now awarded to those in the middle, again with songs. Here is an excerpt from highly motivated Kate:
Thanks Kate and all the other singers for your marvellous performance
On Sunday, the weather gods deserted us. Wind (?) from the north, thick patches of fog on the water. At the start, the wind was blowing at just under 5 knots. The windward mark had disappeared in the fog on the cross. It only became visible when we approached about 200 m. However, the wind had already dropped to 1 to 0 knots. My compass showed a maximum of 0,3 knots for the rest of the course. The call for abandonment - loudly raised again and again - was not heard. 11 sailors reached the finish within the time limit, the rest received a DFN and 37 points. In terms of sailing, this was unfortunately the low point of an otherwise fantastic event.
The winners by a wide margin were Megan Pescoe, GBR, in front Urs Infanger, SUI, and Ben van Cauwenbergh, BEL.
Our youngest sailor, Moritz Jakobs, sensationally came fourth in the overall ranking and was therefore also the best German.
The first five sailors (including me) showed once again that we are a class in which everyone can achieve top places, regardless of age, gender or disability. That's called inclusion.
After a total of 8 races, the second season of the European Circuit 36 participants from 9 nations is the largest regatta to date in terms of number and internationality. And the after-sailing programs have become a permanent and distinctive part of the European Circuit and represent highlights of our friendly and musical (!) get-togethers.
On to European Circuit 2025!
Detlef Müller-Böling, GER 99 Report Trophy Gewinner
I am from Ukraine. I really want to take part in your regattas. We bought four 2,4 boats and are now training.
We are very happy about that, Gennadii. You are very welcome. The dates for the regattas in 2025 will be published here soon.