EFSA European Shore Angling Championships 2023, Noordwijk, Netherlands, 10th-13th May
EFSA European Shore Angling Championships 2023, Noordwijk, Netherlands, 10th-13th May
It is hard to believe that I am writing this report already. Noordwijk 2023 Done and Dusted
The week has flown by. It started with a buzz and ended in a high.
Wednesday at 19:00 we started with the opening, draw of pegs, goodie bags, team photos and explanations of the rules. 3 rounds of typical Dutch fried snacks and herring were presented to the participants. Everything seemed to go down well.
55 anglers from 7 nations rearing to start.
On Thursday morning most were present for coffee and cake to celebrate Amber’s 17th birthday. At 07:00 we were down at the beach for bait distribution. All A team members called out their zone anglers. While we were waiting for the tractors everybody sang Happy Birthday for Amber.
All anglers seemed to be very happy with hopping on the back of the tractors on to the flatbeds. During the first 2 hours of the match not many fish were caught. Once most could get over the sandbar fish were coming and the whole situation changed Mainly flounders a few dabs and the odd seabass.
In A zone it was a neck in neck race between Björn Hansen and Miranda Koop. Björn was lucky to catch a fish in the last cast ended 1st in his zone with 10 fish , 205 cm. Miranda Koop 9 fish, 186 cm. 3rd was Albert Leeuwis with 7 fish totalling 138cm.
B zone wasn’t as spectacular. Hans Jürgen Gläser smashed his zone with 9 fish 215cm. Jurgen van Rijswijk trailed far behind with 4 fish 93 cm
Zone C turned out to be pretty exciting with 3 anglers having 6 fish and 3 with 5. Candido Del Signore had the advantage of larger fish. He won the zone with 5 fish, 125 cm. 2nd Haydn Cole 6 fish,117cm. 3rd place went to Paull Curtice 6 fish, 103cm.
D zone saw top angler Arjan Rijnberg end the match with 3 dubbles shots in the last 3 casts. 11 fish good for 225cm. Lamberto Cotogno was happy with 8 fish 177cm. Warren Doyle was on his tail with 7 fish 130cm
E zone also saw a cannon shoot for the stars. Andreas Burkhardt won the zone with 12 fish 329cm. Mike Flynn was 2nd with 6 fish 151cm. The weather was overcast and flat calm. Certainly not the best weather to have on this strech of beach. Top 3 after the first match Andreas Burkhard , Arjan Rijnberg and Björn Hansen
Unfortunatley the Wi-Fi dropped and our program crashed just as we were uploading the results. Clarinda and Miranda went over to Kim Bowden who was the hero of the night. By 23:00 we finally had the results posted in the managers app. This app was compiled of A and B team captains- individuals and HQ representatives. We like short lines and clarity. No mix ups with times, dates or places. Everybody gets the same info at the same time.
Day 2 the weather had changed a lot. It started off raining. The weather forecast was for thunder/ lightening storms around 13:00. During the speech Miranda gave every morning, anglers were warned about the possebility of having to end the match early. There was also a warning issued about all the bait packaging left on the beach. It is such a shame that we need to warn everybody day in day out about taking trash back with you. There was only a 50 to 100 meter walk towards all the rubbish bins on the beach. More waves and longer surf prooved very difficult for many anglers. Especially due to the fact that many left their gripleads at home. Just like Thursday it took a while before the fish started coming in. Jan van Pieterson won A zone with 6 fish 151 cm. Aldo Giannuario 2nd with 6 fish 140cm. Anonio Addotta 6 fish 131cm. In B zone it was a hit and miss all over the pegs. Arjan Rijnberg cleaned up again with 13 fish, 283cm. Andrea Burkhardt had to be happy with 8 fish 198cm. Alan Jones 5th with 5 fish 133cm. C zone was dominated by a female Ilonka Rijnberg 11 fish 209cm. Barrie Senior put up a good fight for 2nd with 8 fish 185cm. He had a 53cm seabass to run up the cm count. Pat Short, another lady came in 3rd with 5 fish 124cm.
John Marshall won D zone with 8 fish, 169cm. Albert Leeuwis also 8 fish but smaller, 134cm. Miranda Koop rd in the zone with 6 fish,128cm.
E zone won by Charles Laboure with 11 fish and 230cm. Stuart Jones ended 2nd with 7 fish 151cm. Volker Claus saw his top 3 placing dissapear with a 3rd place 5 fish 140cm.
After 2 days it was very tight at the top. Arjan Rijnberg 2 day wins 22 points , Andreas Burkhardt 21 points and John Marshall raised to 3rd 20 points. All were followed by 5 anglers with 19 points and 4 with 18 points. It really did come down to the crunch on Saturday
Day 3 Saturday morning The weather had done another 180. Very sunny with a light easterly breeze. Once again not quite the type of weather you want ona venue like Noorwijk. But is was what it was and we made the best of it.
A zone was very hard fishing. Reg Clough won with 5 fish 110 cm.Kim Bowden 2nd with 3 fish 50cm followed by 6 anglers with one fish. Jan van Pieterson was the lucky one with a 30cm flounder.
Zone B had more fish come in. Arjan Rijnberg had his 3rd zone win with 6 fish 100cm. Just in his shadow Alessandro Raso 4 fish 98 cm and 3rd Hans-Jürgen Gläser 5 fish 91 cm.
Haydn Cole had more fish than 2 and 3 together in C zone. 11 fish 284cm. Wilco Keur 93cm and 3rd Warren Doyle 92.
D zone was a disaster on the last day with 5 blanks. Antonio Addotta won with just 3 fish 87 cm. Andreas Burkhardt als had 3 fish but they were significantly smaller. Just 51 cm on the scorecard. Miranda Koop came in 3rd again with 2 fish 44 cm.
Zone E saw a fair share of fish on the pegs. Helgi Bergsson had a 40cm and 35cm flounder in the second cast. That got everybody enthusiastic on the beach. Volker Claus and Ilonka Rijnberg both had a lovely seabass. Helgi Bergsson started and ended very strong with 7 fish 213 cm. 2nd Volker Claus 6 fish 198cm and 3rd Mark Short 5 fish 156cm. It was going to be a tight top 8 exchange seeing the difference was only 3 points.
It was a rush to get back to the chalet to do the results. They needed to be done in time so people could check them. This time we decided to keep the 2,3, and 4 man team results a secret right up to the end. That was a great surprise for everybody. After a lovely meal we started the prize presentation thanking Peter van Dam and his crew for all that they had done.Placing the pegs , making the lunch bags , getting the tractors , keeping everybody fed at the bar. Not to mention keeping the beers coming. Miranda Spierenburg and her crew for the perfect bait supplied during our competition. Stuart Jones for helping me out with Shorecast Leads. He brought over my order from England. Kim Bowden for helping us out 3 nights and days in a row. And of course a bog thank you to Frank and Clarinda van der Zande for being my left and right hand. Amber for taking on the roll as team captain .Team member Wilco Keur for helping out where ever he could.
European Champion for the 5th time Arjan Rijnberg 33 ponits 704 cm Ladies gold Miranda Koop
Silver went to Andreas Burhardt 31 points 593 cm silver Clarinda van der Zande
Bronze pin winner Miranda Koop 28 points 443 cm bronze Ilonka Rijnberg
We’ve done it again if you ask me. Just 2 small glitches. The Wi-Fi dropped as we were uploading the results to the printer. That caused the laptop to crash and block our access to the programs. Not only couldn’t we get back into the program we also could not get into the file Frank van der Zande made with the flags and National anthems. I sincerely apologize to the winner Arjan Rijnberg who stood on the highest step for the 5th time.
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