Valken Cup Sailing June 2008

On my 30th birthday weekend we went to a sailing/ridiculousness competition with German (sorry: Schwabian) friends Sasha & Silke. Probably one of the best birthdays ever. Aside from the hangover after the whole island found out on Friday night that I was turning 30 and started force feeding me beer and scare concoctions out of IV tubes at the opening ceremonies. It was held on the Heeger Meer in Friesland in the Netherlands. Now, why do the Netherlands rock, you may ask...?



...because this is your back yard.



The theme for this year's Valken Cup was the Olympics, so we decided our team would represent the 'Valkland islands'. Our mascots were sheep

(check out the real Falkland island flag here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_the_Falkland_Islands.svg).

Our motto was: "Use Steroids and Bribe the Committee", which we did and won points for. Our props where syringes, stuffed sheep and edible money. We wrote a song in English, German and Dutch that I sang and Sasha played on his trumpet for our Opening Night entrance.

The whole thing was hilarious: I never knew Germans could be so silly.

Here are some of the other teams at the opening ceremony. First the senior citizens' team who wouldn't move or sail faster than their walkers would allow them the whole weekend. They doled out headache remedies on doilied trays at breakfast and had costume changes, no doubt all lifted from grandma's closet.



Then the East German team, complete with the old East German national anthem and communist discourse the whole weekend.



Then the synchronized swimmers.



Then Pinkie the mascot who was on the organizing committee, who we had to find all over the lake and on islands to win points. This is shortly after his swim.



Skipper Silke and First Mate Tony.



The Valkland Island Crew after our Grande Finale cartwheel dip in the lake (yes, we even managed to prevent Tony from drowning all weekend!)





We camped on a little island in the middle of the (massive) lake. Over two days we competed for best theme, costumes, team spirit, sailing skill, and treasure hunting prowess. The boats are called 'Valk's, hence Valken Cup.



On the last day we had a few hours after the competition and Tony and I took the boat out for a spin on the crowded lake.