The Fun Race, organized by the RBSC in Zeebrugge, was the first race in the CR-championship 2009.  19 boats appeared at the starting line for a short offshore race on Saturday 9th of May.  Amongst them were 4 mini's.  Pikes, pirlouis, Bling Bling and of course Felicity II are familiar names by now in the Belgian race sailing at the coast.  At around 12 o'clock the starting signal was given for the 16-mile race in front of Knokke.  It didn't sound like this distance would take the boats long, but with only 5 to 7 kn of wind and a strong tide, it promised to be a long sailing afternoon with a lot of tactical opportunities... 

A new permanent crew member of Felicity II has been welcomed to the team.  The team baptized the new Raymarine Autopilot 'Filiberke'.  During the prologued weekend of May 1st untill May 3rd the Smart Pilot X5 Tiller was tested during the first sea trials.

Due to the light weather conditions on Friday and Saturday it was only on Sunday that the pilot was tested to its full potential.  That morning Felicity II left Nieuwpoort with a nice Soutwesterly wind at Bft 3 to 4.  The big spi was hoisted and the boat speed averaged about 7 to 8 kn.  The Raymarine pilot came into action and both Glenn and Bert were curious to see how the pilot would behave.  The spi was thrusting the boat over the waves and the boat was accelarating quickly.  The pilot did an amazing job, both in wind mode as in compass mode.  Felicity II stayed perfecty on course and was sailing fast.