{"id":87603,"date":"2018-06-05T12:01:28","date_gmt":"2018-06-05T10:01:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=87603"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:23:00","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:23:00","slug":"rotterdam-students-victorious-at-national-students-team-sailing-championships-yet-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2018\/06\/05\/rotterdam-students-victorious-at-national-students-team-sailing-championships-yet-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Rotterdam students victorious at National Students\u2019 Team Sailing Championships yet again"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Rotterdam Students\u2019 Sailing Club (RSZV) won the race it organised itself, held on Kralingse Plas Lake, beating Delft\u2019s Broach team in the final.<\/p>\n

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Following the J\/22 European Sailing Championships in France<\/a>, where the Delft-based team won and the Rotterdam-based team came second, the rivals once again faced each other at the National Students\u2019 Championships held in Rotterdam last weekend. \u201cRSZV tends to be slightly better at team sailing than Broach,\u201d RSZV member Joris stated prior to the race.<\/p>\n

It was a warm Sunday in June with a lot of sun and a little bit of wind. RSZV President Casper Hamminga had been chosen to spend the day shuttling sailing boat crews representing six students\u2019 sailing clubs across the Kralingse Plas Lake in a motor boat.<\/p>\n

He was transferring Groningen\u2019s Mayday team, all of whose members were wearing sunglasses. The team were a little hungover from the night before, but said they were ready to win the title. \u201cI certainly hope so, because the Rotterdam team has been winning this race for years,\u201d Casper told the Groningen team, pretending to be fed up with his own club\u2019s dominance. \u201cIt\u2019s about time someone else win the title this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Strategic type of sailing<\/h2>

Once we arrived at the committee boat, a large motor boat moored in the middle of Kralingse Plas, where the Championships\u2019 race committee were sitting on plastic garden chairs, there were some brief instructions regarding the start of the race, after which the Groningen team were taken to their sailing boats. Each race involved four sailing boats, all owned by RSZV, divided between the two teams participating in each race. It was now the Groningen team\u2019s turn to take on one of the favourites for the title, Delft\u2019s Broach club.<\/p>\n

After the \u2018Go-to-the-start\u2019 signal had been given, the two pairs of sailing boats made their way to the start line (an imaginary line between an oblong buoy in the water and the committee boat). In the meantime, a race committee member named Bart explained that team sailing is a very strategic discipline in which two teams, each consisting of two boats, try to obstruct one of the other team\u2019s boats so as to make sure it crosses the finish line last, since the team whose boat comes last is the losing team.<\/p>\n

Both of Broach\u2019s boats quickly took the lead, and in no time the two boats crossed the finish line. Every time a boat crossed the line, a pistol shot would be fired on the committee boat.<\/p>\n

\u2019I\u2019m just following protocol\u2019<\/h2>

By now Delft led the rankings, and it was RSZV\u2019s turn to take on Groningen\u2019s Mayday. Before the starter pistol was fired, the boats sailed to and fro in front of the start line and a complicated time-indicating procedure involving flags was carried out on the committee boat \u2013 a procedure so complicated that the person responsible for it, Kate, was unable to explain exactly how it worked. \u201cI don\u2019t know exactly how it works or what all these flags mean,\u201d she said, shrugging her shoulders. \u201cI\u2019m just following protocol.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Wind turned<\/h2>

When the starter pistol was finally fired upon completion of the lengthy flag ceremony, the four sailing boats made their way to a large orange buoy moored further down the lake, which marked the end of the course. However, while they were coursing towards the buoy, the sky gradually became overcast and the wind blowing down the lake changed direction. From the committee boat Bart communicated with the other race committee members, who were located on several boats on the lake. The general consensus was that the race was no longer fair due to the change of wind direction.<\/p>\n

During the discussion the various members of the race committee displayed a high level of confusion, and at one point there was a great deal of laughter on both sides of the walkie-talkie line. \u201cI\u2019m still drunk from last night\u2019s party,\u201d Bart admitted apologetically.<\/p>\n

It was decided that the race had to be cancelled and re-contested. In the second run RSZV beat Groningen. This meant Delft and Rotterdam were now the joint leaders and had to face each other off in the final, which was to be contested later that afternoon.<\/p>\n

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No beer allowed!<\/h2>

By then a crowd had gathered on the committee boat. An RSZV photographer had arrived on board holding a can of beer in his hand (\u201cNo beer allowed on the committee boat,\u201d Bart said sternly. \u201cThis is the championships\u2019 official boat!\u201d). Furthermore, two female spectators had taken seats on the front deck.<\/p>\n

Bart decided he had had enough. \u201cThere are too many people on board. Anyone who\u2019s not actually supposed to do something must leave the boat.\u201d While returning to the shore on the shuttle, the two spectators who had been banned from the front deck chatted about the \u2018Under The Sea\u2019-themed party they had attended the night before (\u201cI was in character. I brought a genuine cod as a prop,\u201d said Anniek). For his part, the pilot, Joris, discussed RSZV\u2019s chances of winning the final. \u201cRotterdam and Delft are evenly matched, but RSZV tends to be slightly better at team sailing events than Broach.\u201d<\/p>\n

Four consecutive titles<\/h2>

As it happened, Joris was proven right. In the best-of-three final contested between RSZV and Broach, the Rotterdam-based team won two races, meaning they won the National Students\u2019 Team Sailing Championships for the fourth time running.<\/p>\n\n\t

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De redactie<\/h2>\n\t\t\n\t\t
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