Harry Lucas talks about his experience at Medemblik

The Nations cup was a fantastic event and by far one of the best events I have done to date. We began the journey by getting the ferry from the hook of holland to harwich on the overnight ferry on Wednesday evening. The ferry was great, very comfortable and relaxed, which was helped by a few heinekens. We arrived on the Thursday morning and headed to Medemblik regatta centre, which was a fantastic venue with clean launching/ recovery and great facilities. We then checked into our room at Hotel Medemblik which was a fantastic place with excellent food and beer, along with many other solo sailors. Medemblik town was also a fantastic place with many nice bars and restaurants.

The first day of the event came around, with 6-8 knots forecast I was excited to get out there and see how my winder mk2, D+ mast and HD MAXX sail would perform in the lighter winds. I finished the day laying 21st overnight with one decent result and 2 average results. The Friday evening was great with free beer in the local bracka bar, where we had a couple of hours free drinking, thanks to the dutch solo association.

The Next day came around which was forecast more wind, around 16-20 knots and with 4 races planned it was looking at being a knackering day. I finished the day with 3 very good results and one decent result to move up to 13th overnight. The Saturday evening was also fantastic with a bbq at the beach bar, with drinks included. The food was delicious which was made even better by the view out on the IJsselmeer.

The final day of the event also showed some good breeze, around 10-12 knots and some decent chop. I finished the day with 2 more decent results and one good result which put me 14th overall , which I was very happy with in a fleet of 68 solos, which was made better as I beat the old man. The whole event was brilliantly run, with the race team doing a great job and getting the races turned around very quickly. All in all, a great event and would definitely recommend it to anyone for the next one over there.