(Breskens, Netherlands)- The Breskens Regatta is considered one of the
pre-eminent events the Dutch summer sailing season and generally marks
the culmination of the summer offshore series prior to the fall European
events. Overall the J's had a respectable showing with a real battle
going for the top of the IRC 2 class between an IRC-optimized J/33 and
the new J/111.Ultimately, the J/33 QUANTUM RACING sailed by Jeroen van der Velde won IRC 2 Class in convincing fashion, the largest IRC fleet in Breskens Weekend. Their 2nd and five 1sts dominated their fleet for a total of 7 points, having to throw out a first (!!) and count the 2nd since the long-distance race must be counted in the overall scores!! Fighting for every inch of the way was QUANTUM's classmate, stablemate, the J/111 J-XCENTRIC skippered by John van der Starre, getting a good scoreline in this tough fleet by wining the offshore race and then adding a 5-6-4-7-6 for a total of 22.5 points to get the third position on the podium. Also sailing well was Yvonne Beusker in her J/105 PANTHER, managing to snag a fifth overall despite a DNS and having to count a DSQ! In IRC 3 Class, the J/97 JAI HO raced by René Van Quekelberghe finished fourth in her class.
The sailing was better than what most expected for the weekend. The first day saw weather forecasts for light or no winds. However, the wind did fill in and the challenging conditions for the 36 nm offshore course not only was a mandatory score and counter for the Breskens Regatta, but it would also count as an offshore race for the Dutch championship IRC. First prize in IRC2 in class went to J-XCENTRIC, the J/111 sailed by John van der Starre (NED).
During the second day of sailing, between showers and strongly increasing winds, the participants had to demonstrate good seamanship and boat-handling skills. There was a lot of sail and mast damage in all three fleets. After starting the day with 49 boats, at the end of the day only 33 were left-- as it turned out, with breezes varying from 6 to 7 on the Beaufort scale, it was still too heavy for many. In IRC 2, it was the J/33 that sailed the best day, sailing to three 1sts!
For the final day of the regatta, the wind had not diminished. For most of the classes they had trouble keeping everything under control, spinnakers and hour-glasses around the forestay were commonplace, as were more torn sails, broken booms and severely bruised egos. For more Breskens Regatta sailing information
