Day 5 - A Busy Day

Today’s schedule was very busy. With three stages waiting, it promised to be a very tough day for the teams. With weather conditions being the toughest in Rib Rally history, it was surely going to be a very exciting day! In the early afternoon the teams started from Kontiki towards Klein Curacao. When they arrived at the island they had to turn off their engines and paddle 100m towards the shore. At about 50m from shore, two members had to jump overboard and swim the last bit. From the beach they had to run for 200m towards the finish.

 

Rank	Name	Points
1	GILS/M&M Bouw	100
2	Polar Europe	90
3	Omnvents	81
4	Don Mario	73
5	Heesen/Valk	66
6	Jaquet Ladies	59
7	Team GB	53

 

Tech track:

 

Rank	Name	Points
1	GILS/M&M Bouw	100
2	Team GB	90
3	Heesen/Valk	81
4	Omnivents	73
5	Don Mario	66
6	Polar Europe	59
7	Jaquet Ladies	53

 

Jetski Relay:

 

Rank	Name	Points
1	GILS/M&M Bouw	50
2	Heesen/Valk	45
3	Polar Europe	41
4	Team GB	36
5	Don Mario	33
6	Omnivents	30
7	Jaquet Ladies	27

 

 

 

 

The tech track

At 14,45 Sijbrand called all the teams together for the second stage of the day; the technical track. In sets of two the teams had to complete the tech track twice. The starting order was the overall ranking so Polar Europe and Heesen/Valk started as first. Heesen/Valk rounded the track steadily and crossed the finish with a total time of 1:14. Polar Europe made a small mistake in their first run which cost them a lot of speed and about 5 seconds. They performed much better during their second run and finished with a total time of 1.21. Next up were Omnivents and GILS/M&M Bouw. After the first turn during the first run the run had to be restarted. The boats came at the crossing point at the same time and to avoid a collision GILS turned right, away from the course. In the rerun they came close to each other as well but this time the distance between the boats was enough to safely continue the track. GILS was incredibly fast during both of their runs and they crossed the finish in with a total time of 1:06! The next run was between Don Mario and Team GB. After having lost one member in the stage towards the island, Team GB made a great recovery and did very well during the technical course. They beat Don Mario with a difference of 2 seconds in each run. Their time was 1:17. The final run was between the Jaquet Ladies and a crew team. It was clear that the technical track was not really the ladies’ cup of tea. They finished with a total time of 1:35. 

 

The jetski relay

The final stage of the day was the jetski relay. Before we started, one team was the absolute favorite for the victory. GILS/M&M Bouw’s Tom and Max are both top jetskiers who compete in various international championships. They showed why they were favorites and won the relay with a big lead over the other teams. The battle for second place was a lot more intense! After completing four full laps, the difference between Polar Europe and Heesen/Valk was only 0.01 second! This was the smallest difference in Rib Rally history.

A night convoy

After all the stages we stayed at Klein Curacao for dinner and a campfire. The prize giving ceremony was held at the campfire and afterwards we prepared the boats for a night convoy. With the sea being lit by a spectacular moon, it was a perfect ending to a really perfect day!

RIB Stage: