North Sea Yacht Race Prepares for Scarborough Departure

The annual North Sea race is set to commence from Scarborough's South Bay this Saturday morning.

Organised by Scarborough Yacht Club, the race promises to be an "intrepid trip" as competitors navigate approximately 210 miles across to Holland.

Tom Hill, Vice Commodore of Scarborough Yacht Club, says the North Sea presents numerous challenges for the sailors.

"We set off on Saturday morning and they gotta sail all through the day and then through the night. And it doesn't take long before you're in the oil fields. The North Sea is very busy.

Certainly if you get down to the Southern North Sea when heading over to Holland, there's a few shipping lanes you need to navigate. You've got big ships doing 25 miles an hour, and we are only doing maybe five. And then also as we know the North Sea can be pretty rough, but it can be really nice and flat, sunny and perfect.

But also the sea can whip up pretty quickly. So yeah it's definitely a challenge. "

This year's race sees 15 boats entered, with crews varying from just two individuals to between two and five. Mr. Hill noted that for some participants, this is their first time skippering a boat across the North Sea,

"We've got 15 boats entered and they vary between, I think there's a couple of guys going across just two of them. So again, that's an extra challenge, there's only two of you on board.

A few people have sailed, but maybe not skippered a boat themselves. So they're going across for their first time. They'll obviously be getting everything ready, and be a bit nervous.

They'll be close to other boats, so they'll be okay, and then of course, there's people that have been doing it many years as well, so they're the old hands as well.

And all being, well, they'll arrive maybe Sunday evening into Holland, maybe Monday morning."

The inherent risks of the race were underscored last year when two boats required towing by the lifeboat. Tom says the support from the lifeboats was first rate.

"We had a couple of boats that both got towed in by the lifeboat.

One of them  possibly hit something and it damaged their propeller and they were taking on water, so that's quite scary.

And another one's rudder snapped so they had no way of steering the boat and they got towed in by the lifeboat a long way, about a 12 hour tow, which isn't great.

Luckily these things don't happen very often but we're lucky that we've got the emergency services there to be on hand when we need them."

For enhanced safety and to allow the public to follow the progress, every boat is equipped with a tracker. Tom Hill says the system allows spectators to track the race live as well as providing an added level of safety.

"We've got trackers, so if you go on our website or click on our Facebook page, you can actually track the race as they go.

So you can see how the boats are doing. That was actually how I first found out last year that there was a problem because there was a boat going at a funny angle, not going very quickly. So we knew pretty quickly there was an issue there.

So every boat has a tracker. We're sponsored by Boyes again, they've been really great and kind supporting the event and keeping that going, and their sponsorship helps pay for those trackers, which means we can keep an eye on them for an extra bit of safety. But also anyone wanting to follow the race along can do so."

The start time for this year's race on Saturday morning is dictated by the tides. Ideally, the race would start on a Friday night, allowing competitors to complete the bulk of the journey in one full day and arrive in Holland by Sunday morning but this year's tides mean a Saturday morning start has been arranged.

Tom says the start can be viewed at Scarborough HArbour.

"The start time is 10:00 AM The boats will be going out probably about half past nine, maybe a bit before, just to make sure they're all ready to go. And then the start line is just off the the east pier, so the outer pier, if people walk along towards the end where there's like a bit of a dog leg.

If they stand somewhere there that's our start line. So the boats will be milling around.

We've got our Boyes buoy, so there's a special buoy we put in the bay that's wrapped up with a nice Boyes' logo. So they'll go around that buoy probably in the South Bay somewhere and then basically they're off, off they go, off two hundred and ten miles just skimming past Flamborough ahead and then arriving in Holland."

Sailors are anticipated to arrive in Holland, specifically the town of Horn, by Sunday evening or Monday morning. While there is a trophy for the fastest boat to race back to Scarborough, many competitors choose to linger in Holland. Mr. Hill mentioned that after a meal in Horn on Tuesday night, many participants "do their own thing," with some opting to spend "a week or two enjoying sailing around the nice flat, sunny seas of Holland".

Tom expressed his optimism for this year's event, hoping for "no dramas, but lots of fun racing".

You can follow the progress of the race on the live tracker at https://cf.yb.tl/sycnsr2025