Facts and figures of WC Le Touquet , France

1: Most entries were registered in the Standart Class
2: Youngest and oldest person were sailing in Standart Class ( both are Belgians)
3: Average age of all pilots was 42 years.
4 : Belgians obtained 6 medals ( 3 individuals , and 3 by team).
5 : Highest ranked lady in this Championship is place 7 (in Class 5).
6 : Is was only one time drunk ( final dinner).
7 : All classes have sailed 6 official races ( which is far above the average we are used to sail during a Championship
8 : The "Promo" Class has officially been accepted by the FISLY
9 : The first racing day ended in the dark

Soft sand during the WC in Le Touquet

Landyachting has always been a sport where waiting for good weather conditions is a part of the game. You can see the heavy rainfall in the dark where yachts are waiting for the briefing. Even the briefing took place in the obscurity of monday morning.

Our sailing master did his best to find nice sailing tracks but did not succeed to find them during the first days. The Standart pilots were unhappy about the position on the turning marks (mostly in the soft sand) . Some troubles and discussions arose about the "experience" of the sailing master. We have to admitt that it was extremely difficult to put a correct sailing track on the north side of the beach. A general team-captain meeting has been held with the organisation and the jury to find out how this can been solved.

The organisation decided to shorten the sailing track and to move a little bit southwards so that the Standart pilots were less submitted to the soft sand. A great discision !!! The last 2 days were nice to sail and everybody was happy. Even though we were still obliged to push the yacht through the soft sand on some places!!!!!

The general conclusion is that the beach of Le Touquet is not particulary appropiate for Class 5 and Standart Class yachts. There are much better sailing beaches in the neighbourhood (e.g. Hardelot plage , Marck plage , Gravelines , Quend Plage ...). Le Touquet is the most important beach/home for the French Class 3 pilots and the 50 Standart pilots of the past championship are not directly interested to sail future international competitions in Le Touquet.

WC 2006 , 6 th general ranking, vice-WC by team

Yeah !!! Great, the championships are finished and all pilots are happy and satisfied about the though competition we had in Le Touquet (France).
I knew on forehand that beach conditions of Le Touquet are extremely difficult. Even my large experience of Berck plage ( 20 km from Le Touquet) did not help me to take advantage of the others. Everybody was surprised about the soft sand , endless obstacles (e.g. water and holes) on the sailing tracks.
The winner is a real champion !!!! And all participants did exremelywell during this week. We had no severe injuries and all pilots even took the start on the last race. Now it's proved that the Standart yacht is strong and reliable on these beaches. I only had to replace the bearings ( 6 on the back wheels, and 2 on the steering case) and had no flat tires.