23th of June 2019, Aalsmeer.
It’s a few days after the summer solstice in the Netherlands and the beautiful weather conditions confirm this. Aqua has moved a sailing team to Aalsmeer to compete in the Nestor trophy. Other associations participating today are Lagakari, Loefbijter, Broach, Orionis and RSZV. Today we will be sailing on J22’s, the boats are unloaded from trailers and lowered into the water with the help of a crane.

It’s my first experience with competitive team sailing so I’m still getting used to all the rules and the slang. We’re sailing 2 vs. 2 matches, after sailing the determined match course, the goal is to cross the finish line with the two boats of your team and obtain the least amount of points. Number 1 gets 1 point, number 2 gets 2 points etc. Everyone tries to give their best, picking the right course to obtain the right of way, trimming the sails to their optimum condition and distributing the weight on the boat correctly. The rotation schedule makes sure everyone can rest for a bit and grab something to eat. At the end of the day, the fluorescent orange shirts of Aqua didn’t end up high in the ranking. We managed to beat Orionis and we only just lost from RSZV and Broach (the winner of today’s match). Oh well, it’s about participating and enjoying the moment. It was a cool and fun experience, I can recommend it to all of you, also if you have limited sailing experience. See you next time Nestor!

Find the aftermovie of this Nestor Trophy here!