De Drie Haringen ready for Iepen Fryske Skûtsjesilen: “Maintaining class B as the goal”

The crew is fifteen. According to Thomas, this is necessary because there are many tasks on board. “It is a large and ungainly ship, a lot has to be done to make it sail quickly,” emphasizes Thomas. The ship they sail with is the Drie Haringen from Enkhuizen.

The first of a total of six games will start on Saturday, August 13. “We hope to finish at least in the top nine of our class every day,” says Thomas. The worst of all day results does not count and that is how the champion is ultimately determined. There are several classes. De Drie Haringen is participating in class B this year and can be promoted to A, but also relegated to C. “We hope to maintain ourselves this year, due to maintenance we have been able to train little”, Thomas reports.

He immediately points out a major disadvantage during training on the IJsselmeer. “We are the only ones who train here, so we can’t measure ourselves well with the competition. So we need competitions for this,” said Thomas. Due to corona, they have not competed in the past two years. The goal for this year is therefore enforcement in class B.

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The crew works hard during the training sessions. The ship sails under a steep slope against the wind towards the desired buoy. Only to tack a little later and have the wind in the sails from the other side. The rough speed goes at a speed of about 7 kilometers per hour. “We have also had it here over ten”, Thomas says.

Only they have no idea whether they are faster or slower than the competitors. In a week they will sail to Friesland, to stay there for more than a week. “We sail from place to place with a whole caravan. There are about 65 participants, each with about 20 people. It is a small village that moves along every time. The atmosphere during the competitions is great” Thomas assures.