A l’eau c’est l’heure - (‘Allo Sailor ;-))

Hello fellow Fifteeners... thought I might share a few words having just completed the Belgian Championship at Club SNEH in the wonderful Lac de L’eau d’Heure region of Wallonia, Belgium.

My mate Josh drove through the night from UK to join me in Gent, Belgium on the morning of Friday October 7th — we then high tailed it to Holland (as you do ) to collect the boat (Angelina 3899) and drive back through Belgium to Froidchapelle — South of Charleroi — I was struck by the topical nature of the name... just missing a III.

As we left Charleroi in our wake we were greeted by rolling countryside and even hills — quite a thing to behold when you live in Flanders — as I now do. The Lacs de L’eau D’Heure consists of seven man made lakes — each with a different designation — water skiing, fishing, jet skiing and diving etc... brilliant — conflict avoidance at its’ best!

We were headed for the Lac De La Platte Taille — this turned out to be a lake formed by a truly massive dam — with a scary drop of 200ft or more — apparently they use spare power from wind and sun etc... to pump water up to the higher level to then release it to provide hydro electric juice when needed — we both agreed we had never sailed on a “battery” before.

We were welcomed at the club by Alain — president of the Belgian Flying Fifteen Association. I enjoyed their abbreviation of the class to “Le Flying”. Alain was enthusiastic and could not have done more to help us feel welcome and ready for the following days racing.... he scurried off and booked a restaurant and told us when to “rendezvous” later that evening... no question of us dining alone. We had a fine and convivial evening in a busy restaurant serving local and traditional cuisine.

We were blessed with phenomenal weather for the entire weekend — we were a fleet of 12 including some beautiful classics — a number of boats in the fleet had been imported from UK — “Swallow” (being sailed extremely well) was a familiar sight and a blast from the past.

This is not a race report — you can look that up — but the whole event, racing, onshore, social was off the scale brilliant. I honestly found myself questioning the reception we have given to visitors at my ex club in UK... hmmmm. The members of SNEH could not have done more to make the event warm, welcoming, generous, caring and fun. Our meal on the Saturday was “all inclusive” for €30 — the beer and wine was flowing without cessation and the food was knock out — Belgian beer flowing freely is a very dangerous prospect, trust me.

The prize giving was a magical event with the rewards being dominated by beer of, again, frightening alcoholic strength — all very normal to your average Belgian. All participants got a prize — the “podium” received a trophy AND a polo shirt and even more beer.... The applause we got when receiving our prizes was absolutely massive with so many people thanking us for making the effort to show up — I managed a few shabby words in French and again was greeted by warm adulation....

My message is this: its really worth the effort guys — several boats from this Belgian club travelled to Cowes and we really do need to support them in return. Make a week of it — bring your bikes — its a fabulous cycling area — but please lets support this super event.... As a new resident of Belgium (in spite of Brexit) I would be delighted to help you with logistics, accommodation etc....

We sailed eight races — four each day — excellent race management — no messing about (we shared the event with another fleet called “Le Penant”) — it’s flooky as all hell but there is always that Belgian beer to numb any pain — half an hour after getting ashore, life is always good!

I would like to acknowledge our new found friends at SNEH — they could not have done more to make us feel like guests of honour! We had a really wonderful time.

Un grand merci a toute l’equipe “Flying SNEH” et “chapeau” pour un evennement inoubliable! Merci a tous et a l’annee prochaine!

Josh and Andy