Gstaad Yacht Club Car Rally

On Saturday August 5, the Gstaad Yacht Club organized its first Rally & Yachting event. The Gstaad Automobile Club (GAC) was invited to join the event. The weather gods had no mercy on all the fine classic cars which were parked in front of the Grand Hotel Bellevue.  Not every car was equipped for the rain, and one team had to resign before the start because they did not have functioning wipers.

The initial meeting took place in the Yacht Club, where each team was given the program for the day and also some tricky questions which, when answered correctly, brought you some more points. You were asked how many flags from different countries you could count on the route to the Col des Mosses, the only question where the competitors and organizers disagreed on the answer!  The other questions included “How many speed restriction signs do you pass through from the start to the Col des Mosses?” And the most difficult one was an anagram using the letters in the names on the signs of the villages you pass through en route (the mystery word being “engine”). There were also sailing questions such as which team is the Challenger of Record of the 32nd Americas Cup? What is the name of the British yachtswoman who sailed around the world solo in under 72 days in 2005?  What is the name of the most famous European lake race that attracts over 500 boats every year? Why did Brazilian Torben Grael made sailing history at the Athens 2004 Olympics? What is the name of the Gstaad Yacht Club junior who narrowly missed the bronze medal in the Star Class at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games? What type of boat has gone over 48 knots and holds the world speed record? Which city will host the 2008 Olympic sailing event be held in China? What is the name of the famous classic boat regatta held every year in Cannes? Name at least one of the two members of the Gstaad Yacht Club who has won an Olympic gold medal? In the racing rules of sailing, when boats are on opposite tacks, a port-tack boat shall keep clear of the starboard-tack boat – true or false?

If you were able to answer all these questions correctly you earned one point per question. My luck was that I was the co-pilot of George Nicholson, the Commodore of Gstaad Yacht Club, so these questions were quickly answered by him, the only problem question we had being the city in China for the Olympic sailing.

Having received our start numbers, question sheets, and umbrellas, we went outside in the pouring rain and attached the numbers to the cars. The assembled cars were representative of the important collections in the Gstaad area.  Just to name a few; Claude Picasso’s Mercedes 300SL Gull Wing; an AC Bristol driven by George Nicholson;  a 6.5 Liter Bentley recently prepared to go on the arduous 2007  Peking to Paris rally, driven by Peter Livanos. There were also several Ferrari SWBs, the Erzberger TR2, and René Fatton’s TC model MG, just to mention a few. 

So off we went to the Col des Mosses, and as the wipers worked hard we started counting all the competition objects. Competitors had been given 45 minutes to reach the Col des Mosses, which we in the first car somehow totally misunderstood. As a result, George Nicholson drove enthusiastically, not in an old-timer manner, to the end of the course at Lac Retaud on the Col du Pillon in just 50 minutes; and we thought we were five minutes late!  Needless to say a totally confused Marianne Matti, who was taking the intermediate time at the Col des Mosses, called to the lake restaurant where we had lunch to ask where we were, only to be told that we had passed her a long time ago and had just arrived. This mistake cost us 20 minutes but it was worth it.

On arrival at Lac Retaud another challenge was waiting for us; driving through an obstacle course. This would have been easy, but the steering wheel in the special test car had been tampered with. When you wanted to go left you had to turn the wheel to the right and vice versa. It was great fun to watch the drivers struggling. Hans-Ueli Brand of the GAC demonstrated his mastery of this back-to-front discipline.

After lunch and the arrival of all 24 cars, the sailing competition started. Sadly the rain almost killed the wind. There were three remote controlled sail boats, and only the ones who knew how to sail had any real chance.  The sailors and their remote control units were shielded from the rain by umbrellas, held by their copilots. While this competition took place we noticed a group of people singing on the other side of this little lake.  Suddenly two people jumped into the very cold water.  It turned out to be a Mormon wedding. One friend who came especially to watch the sailing event remarked; “This is like in Neverland”.

After a hot bath, the prize-giving took place back at the Yacht Club. The winning team was Thomas Widmann and Gregory Gerhardt in their Mercedes 300 SL with 74 points. The best Lady drivers were Frederique De Lint and Lydia Brinkgreve. They were given the Ladies trophy by Trudi Goetz from the Prada Boutique Gstaad, who also organized the lovely fashion show featuring some very wearable clothes. Then dinner started and the conversation, not surprisingly, was dominated by the very exciting day - no rain or cold could diminish its success.

By Antoinette de Scheel