Open Belgian National Championship

The Open Belgian National Championship, organised by the Royal Yacht Club
van Belgie, Antwerp, was held at the marvellously picturesque town of 
Brouwershaven, just an hour across the border in the Netherlands.  The
venue is  excellent, with a large expanse of tideless water, and is worthy of a far
greater  number of Snipes than the 19 that gathered for this event.  The racing was
held in  conjunction with the Benelux Championships for the Flying Dutchman, Finn,
470,  Fireball and Laser classes.  The Belgians competitors were joined by
Guillaume Got and Anne Romain from France, Jan & Jane Persson and Svend & Christian 
Andersen from Denmark, and finally Brian & Ian Gregory and the Butler
brothers from the United Kingdom.

Saturday started hot, with temperatures climbing to over 30 degrees
celsius, but due to high cloud the sea breeze didn't materialise until the
mid-afternoon, and most of the fleet had been on the water for about 4 hours before the race
officer deemed there to be sufficient wind in a consistent direction to start the
racing. Although 5 races were scheduled for Saturday, only 2 were completed in the
time available.  The new Olympic courses were used to great effect. Bart
Janssens & Hans Verwimp opened their account with a win, followed home by the
competitive pairing of Jean Martin Grisar and Yves Ratinckx, with Brian and Ian Gregory
recovering to 3rd after Jan & Jane Persson went to the wrong mark whilst
leading. The Perssons made no mistake in the second and last race of the day,
leading home from the consistent Grisar/Ratincx combination, with Herman Van
Dormael and Luc Verstraete picking up 3rd.

After a long, hot day on the water all the competitors and supporters
enjoyed a meal at the only Chinese restaurant in Brouwershaven.

Sunday was even hotter than Saturday, but this time a natural easterly
dominated from early morning, and with a 10am start time everyone was up and on the
water by 9 to be certain of clearing the lock gates in time!  Although there was
a delay to wait for the wind to settle, the fleet was soon away, and the
Grisar/Ratincx pairing consolidated their position with a win, with Janssens/Verwimp
second and Van Dormael/Verstraete third.

Jan & Jane Persson showed the way home in the next race.  Grisar & Ratincx,
although they didn't know how many more races there would be, had already 
clinched the Championship at this stage with yet another second, meat in a 
Danish sandwich, as the Andersens were third.

The fleet got cleanly away for the next race, but to everyone's surprise
the race committee cancelled it at the windward mark, presumably due to a port 
biased line and a shift in the wind. 

After a delay for a revised course to be set, the Snipes then had to wait
for the other classes to start before the fleet was away.  In the much lighter
conditions there was the unusual sight of the two Devoti boats at the front, led by
"Big" Ben Cauwenbergh crewed by Luc Wouters, who went on to win the shortened race 
with Janssens/Verwimp second and the timber decked boat of Thierry Den 
Hartigh and Greet Jansen squeezing into third.

So Jean Martin Grisar and Yves Ratincx emerged as worthy Champions, and 
received the usual early bath.

Many thanks must go to the Royal Yacht Club van Belgie for such good 
organisation, with Dirk De Bock and Andre Callot having made a major 
contribution from the Snipe end of things and yet still managing to
compete.

The good news is that next year's Championship will be held at the same
venue, probably in September, but purely for the Snipe Fleet, and the locals are
looking for at least 5 French, 5 Danish and 10 Brits to boost their increasing
numbers to make it viable. A more idyllic venue would be hard to find, the only shame
is that there are not yet any Snipes competing for the Netherlands. 
Perhaps next year!

Results:
Pos.	Names/Sail No./Club	Race	Race	Race	Race	Race
				1	2	3	4	5 	Total
_____________________________________________________________________________

1	Jean Martin Grisar	2	2	1	2	4x	9.0
	Yves Ratincx	
	BEL 28156	RYCB

2	Bart Janssens		1	5x	2	4	2	14.0
	Hans Verwimp
	BEL 28362	RYCB

3	Jan Persson		4	1	6	1	9x	19.7
	Jane Persson
	DEN 29252	Espergaerde

4	Herman Van Dormael	8	3	3	5	13x	35.4
	Luc Verstraete
	BEL 24702	VVW

5	Thierry Den Hartigh	5	4	7	9x	3	36.7
	Greet Jansen	
	BEL 27141	RYCB

6	Lode D'Hoore		6	6	4	6	8x	43.1
	Vera  De Wilde
	BEL 29115	RYCB

7	Svend Andersen		16x	9	5	3	7	43.7
	Christian Andersen
	DEN 25528	Espergaerde

8	Ben Van Cauwenbergh	14	11	9	14x	1	52.0
	Luc Wouters
	BEL 29164	RYCB

9	Brian Gregory		3	10	11	10	17x	54.7
	Ian Gregory
	GBR 20641	Erith YC

10	Guy Gelis		9	7	10	13x	6	55.7
	Birgit Dumez
	BEL 28544	RYCB

11	Wim Ghys		10	8	12	7	DNFx	61.0
	Dirk Ghys
	BEL  29177	VVW

12	Andre Callot		7	17x	8	11	11	61.0
	Eric Callot
	BEL 28813	RYCB

13	Dirk De Bock		13	12	17x	8	14	71.0
	Dina De Bock
	BEL 20214	RYCB

14	John Butler		18x	15	14	15	5	72.0
	Keith Butler
	GBR 29163	Rutland SC

15	Patrick Keunen		12	14	16	18x	12	78.0
	Tom Keunen	
	BEL 23649	Sodipa

16	Jan Dumez		11	19	18	19x	10	82.0
	Annick Van Meerbeck
	BEL 26811	VVW

17	Lieven Dosche		15	16	15	12	16x	82.0
	Olivier Verhelst
	BEL 28046	VVW

18	Guillaume Got		PMSx	13	13	17	15	82.0
	Anne Romain	
	FRA 29005	Le Havre

19	Dirk Verylen		17	18	19x	16	18	93.0
	Peter Carmen
	BEL 28704	VVW

(DNF: Did Not Finish, PMS Premature Start, x Discard)