Along the fish auction in Scheveningen are ten traditional, seaworthy sailing ships side by side. Students from universities and colleges from all over the country roar over the quay. Dressed in brand new sailing suits with brightly colored hoods and t-shirts printed with large letters: Race of the Classics.
The contrasts are large with the captains of these ships: weathered faces, long hair and clothing that have lost their color through sun and salt.
On the Hendrika Bartelds (1918), an imposing three -meter three -meter long, originally built as a herring logger, the Palaver starts on Monday morning: the consultation between the captains and the competition management. Only on this day of departure is the knot made: do the ships set course for the English Ipswich, or will it be an alternative route?
“We are waiting for the one -hour weather forecast,” it sounds formally from the race management. “But there is little chance that we will go to England this year.” The outward journey is still feasible, explains Daan Vooijs (24), member of the competition committee. But the worries are mainly in the return trip. “The weather forecasts before the end of the week are changeable. Chances are that we would have to go back on the motorbike. And of course it remains a sailing competition,” said Vooijs.
Photos Bart Maat
Traditional fleet shrinks
The Race of the Classics, the largest student sailing event in Europe, has more than 250 participants this year. The main objective of the competition: the preservation of the traditional sailing fleet.
The charter fleet, ships that transport recreational passengers, have been shrinking for years. “The trend that the number of ships is falling has continued this year,” reports the Association for Professional charter shipping (Bbz). In ten years the fleet has shrunk from 433 ships to 365 ships. The association emphasizes that the ships that fall under the Charter Vaart is falling under the SeaVaart category. The ships that participate in the ‘Race of the Classics‘Also fall under the SeaVaart category.
“Schippers are blood fanatic and know to convey that enthusiasm to the students,” says Coco van de Wijngaert (25), chairman of the event “that works contagious. This is how students keep coming back, and that is important for the preservation of the ships and the profession.”
Also 32-year-old Lex van der Linde, captain of the ship Luciana (1916), sees that effect. “They come on board here, often without any sailing experience, but love it. In the meantime, former participants are sailing with it as a mate or sailor.”
1st stage: Katwijk-Terschelling
Restly, Van der Linde shuffles over the aft deck that afternoon. He wants to go on the water, preferably towards England. But at half past one there is still no decision about the final destination. Half an hour later the crew starts to get ready for departure. The location of the start is known: at 6 pm with a ton, a few kilometers off the coast of Katwijk. One by one, the bunches are thrown loose and the ships sail out of the mouth of the Scheveningen port. Then the decision finally falls, the first stage is sailed towards Terschelling.
The ships sail through the night and Tuesday morning finish the first at the Schuitengat, a trench in the Wadden Sea south of Terschelling. Once on the Wadden Island, the race management determines on the basis of the wind what the continuation of the race will look like. Hoping on a number of long stages, the competition commissioner Vooijs explains, “we will go how the wind is winding.”
The only thing that is certain: the finish will be in IJmuiden at the end of the week – hopefully Saturday.
