JAMAICAS KRONJUWEL Wins J/22 Euro-League(Braassermermeer, Netherlands)- Fourteen teams gathered for the weekend of sailing that constitutes one of the end of the season regattas for the Benelux J/22 sailing circuit.
The fleet was greeted on Saturday with 2-4 m/sec winds and, somewhat prophetically, it started to rain at the start line on the Braassemermeer. On Saturday the wind was moderate and very shifty. Sunday dawned no better. Sunday it was pretty uncomfortable outside. Said Thomas Hanf, "instead of using the alarm, we were awakened by pounding rain on the roof of our VW bus." Such was the weekend for the real "Cooling Down Regatta".
After eight races in total, the final victory went to the VERFPAGINA.NL Team led by Gaston Loos and his team with an amazing tally of two 4ths and six consecutive 1sts for total of 14 pts. A dominating performance it was. However, the battle for the balance of the podium was anything but simple exercise of sailing around the course. The next three boats were all essentially tied going into the last race! For each start, for every mark-rounding, for every tack, set and gybe, the three teams all fought "tooth & nail" to scratch-out the best possible finish every race. In the end, second was the team of Reinhold Gross with his German team aboard JAMAICAS KRONJUWEL with a steady scoreline of 7-7-3-3-2-3-4-3 for 32 points, just one point ahead of his rivals. Third and fourth were determined on a tie-breaker by two Benelux teams. Taking third place was Jean-Michel Lautier and his team with a 1-3-2-4-5-8-2-8 for 33 pts. At the short-end of that stick was Ivo Jeukens taking fourth with a 2-1-5-2-6-5-8-4 for 33 pts. Rounding out the top five was Haka with 46 pts.
As a result of this regatta, perhaps the most significant victory went to Reinhold Gross and crew on JAMAICAS KRONJUWEL, taking the overall 2012 Euro-League for the J/22s in Europe. Congratulations to the Jamaica-loving crew led by Reinhold! Perhaps an invitation to the "real" Jamaica to sail off Montego Bay is on order for this crew! For more J/22 Cooling Down and Euro-League sailing information
