start!!

Yellow flag signals start

Yachts with so many people

Huis Ten Bosch Cup Yacht Race, which celebrates its 15th anniversary this year, was held today.
This tournament, which can be participated by both professionals and amateurs, is one of the largest yacht races in Japan, competing in two courses, long and short.

If you head to Huis Ten Bosch Marina around 8:30 in the morning, you will see the yachts competing in the long course leaving one after another. Looking offshore, you will see a large number of yachts. If you include the boats competing in the short course and the headquarters boat that coordinates the race, there are a considerable number of them floating in Omura Bay.

Around 9:15, I took a cruiser and went offshore to see the moment of the start. The yachts lined up at the start line are waiting for the start as the summer sun blows in a lie-like pleasant breeze.
When the buzzer sounded five minutes ago, the movement of each boat became hectic. By the time the buzzer sounds one minute ago, they will line up in a crowded manner.
Then, at 9:30, the moment the yellow flag in the small photo on the left was dropped, the race started!

The yacht went smoothly because it was windier than usual and the weather was blessed. As it got farther and farther away, the scenery of the blue sky, the sea, and the colorful sails became a very nice "scenery".

On the way, there was an accident in which the sails were submerged in the water due to too much wind, but the race ended smoothly.
time for the awards ceremony. I have received the results, so I will report them.

[Long course (participating boat 64)]
1st place Hirahira (Hiroyuki Numata)
2nd place METAXA-V (Masami Moriyama)
3rd place Native Dancer E (Yutaka Fukuda)

[Short course (participating boat 86)]
1st place Maneuver 2 (Makoto Sagara)
2nd place Hummingbird 7 (Toshiyuki Eguchi)
3rd place LUCKY DEVIL III (Takanori Nishimura)

(Photo / text / Yumi Mizukami)