Fleet gets set for Scarborough Yacht Club's North Sea Race 2023
by Scarborough YC 18 Jun 2023 11:53 BST
23 June 2023
Scarborough YC is getting set for their North Sea Race © Fred Tiles
Scarborough Yacht Club's annual North Sea Race to Holland is scheduled to set off on Friday 23rd June 2023 with a fleet of competitors from both countries.
Yachts from along the Yorkshire and North East coastline will be gathering for the club's premier offshore event, sponsored again by Boyes 'for good value' Stores.
Joining boats from the home club on the start line in Scarborough's South Bay will be entries from Amble, Blyth, Hartlepool, Whitby and Bridlington.
There will also be two boats sailing over from Holland to take part, including 2022 IRC winner, Dick Koopman's yacht 'Jäger', returning to defend their title.
Another one to watch will be Impala 'Firebird' owned by Jimmy Cliff, with crew including Scarborough YC Commodore Sam Kennedy, which has proved to be competitive round-the-cans and will be a new entry for this year in IRC.
As well as competing in IRC, yachts will also be racing using the RYA YTC rating system.
Spectator boats and the RNLI will be alongside the 16-strong fleet to celebrate the start at 1900 on Friday 23rd June, with competitors then racing to Ijmuiden in The Netherlands.
As North Sea Race secretary Win Russell explains: "The boats have to negotiate gas rigs, wind farms and cross shipping lanes on their way to the finish. Depending on the wind that weekend, boats can usually take anywhere between 30 hours and 50 hours to arrive.
"The boats can be followed all the way across on YellowBrick tracking and apart from the safety aspect it is interesting to follow their progress."
Winning flags will be presented in Holland and the trophies will follow at Scarborough Yacht Club's annual dinner in November.
There is also an informal race back to Scarborough from Holland - with participants recording their individual times - allowing for the option to stay over in The Netherlands for cruising or a holiday.
Find out more about the race at Scarborough YC's website or follow all the action via YB Tracking.