Muschka Van Hacht 75m2 – Ready for submersion

Among the hundreds of yachts on the IJsselmeer is a very special yacht, the more than hundred-year-old Muschka Van Hacht 75m2 owned by skipper Ramon Van Leeuwen. ‘Spartan sailing, little comfort, but fast and cozy,’ as they put it in a message last year. And Spartan it certainly is this Coastal Sailors 24 Hour Sail Race for the six-man crew. Van Leeuwen: “In itself it’s going very well, but it’s bumpy.”

“We are on a kind of rocking horse,” he continues. “We are now sailing above Stavoren toward the Afsluitdijk. It’s bouncing in all directions here with high waves and thick winds, so it’s going fast. We see others in T-shirts on board while we are ready for submergence. We get buckets of water over us.” “We started in Medemblik. That wasn’t the most ideal starting spot, but it was for us in terms of logistics and planning. The trade-off was whether we were going to go to a lot of trouble to sail the boat to Stavoren, for example, or do we relax and have a nice dinner at our leisure. We chose the latter and just took that short cruising leg for granted.” The nighttime hours were dark, according to Van Leeuwen. “There was very little moonlight. It went fine. There was quite a thick wind, I think on average wind force four to five. There wasn’t a moment when the wind dropped. Maybe below the Frisian coast. We did go there, but it was still blowing hard. We sail with six men, three of whom steer and rotate about every hour. The sleepers have one tack and sometimes two when things slow down. It’s a little rougher at the moment than at night, so we take our rest where we can.”

Record?

The past two years, Muschka won in Tour 3 and recorded the best overall performance in the tour. “With that, we won the silver pennant from the Coastal Sailors, so we have something to defend,” Van Leeuwen said. “I don’t know if it’s going to work again, but at least it’s going fast and for us it looks like we’re going to set a record distance. That’s kind of nice. Our record now is 171 miles and we’re now on track for 174 miles.” The mood on board is fine and there is good reason for that. Van Leeuwen: “Everyone is smiling, we have been eating and drinking. We are sailing nicely. We know we are at record distance, so everyone is motivated to go for the last quarter.” Will Muschka manage to reach his ninth official finish with a record number of miles? At the time of writing (1:15 p.m.), the counter stands at 126 miles. Still a few hours to go…