J/111 Wins Dutch 2H Nationals

J/109 Crushes ORC 2 Class @ North Sea Regatta
(Scheveningen, The Netherlands)- Participants in the 70th North Sea Regatta, powered by Delta Lloyd, were treated to beautiful weather all weekend long.  The participants in the Two-Handed Nationals had a stronger, more demanding three days than they had sailing for 24 hours at sea last week.  As most will admit, it was great training for the Fastnet Race.

After the first day of racing, it was clear amongst the fifteen duos on the Two-Handed Class starting line that Robin Verhoef & John van der Starre’s J/111 XCENTRIC RIPPER was going to be a force to contend with.  Easily starting fast and handling their boat as well or better than all their competitors, the super slick J/111 simply outsailed their colleagues to lead after the first day.

Yvonne Beusker, who is responsible for the racing and the competition within Shorthanded group, was positively surprised about the level of competition. "They are all real die-hards, everyone sailing with the knife between the teeth. The level is really high amongst all the teams! Everyone is going to continue until they are exhausted; the two of you have to be very versatile. You saw yesterday, especially with the heavy weather, the teams all sailed very well. We left at 8:45 am from the harbor and were the last ones were back at 17:45 hrs! That is a full day of sailing for two people after three races!  On Saturday, the conditions were calmer and the duos could be little more relaxed about pushing their boats.”

Beusker is thrilled with the number of participants in this first national championship (seen in the photo above). "The atmosphere is very good and most of the participants will also take part in the Fastnet race. As we celebrate, this feast continues forward to the Fastnet Race.  The major competitors there are the French and the English for us.  However, we know the level of Dutch sailing high, particularly with this current group of two-handed teams, so we hope the Dutch are really going to do well during the Fastnet."

Beusker’s words may be prophetic.  As it was in the last edition of the Fastnet Race that the J/111 XCENTRIC RIPPER, after passing Fastnet Rock, was one of the leaders overall in the IRC Class of 250+ boats- including fully-crewed teams!  So, it remains to be seen if this year’s preparations bring everyone in the Netherlands to a much higher level.

At the end of the regatta, the first Netherlands Two-Handed National Championship crown went to John van der Starre and Robin Verhoef’s XCENTRIC RIPPER.  No one could touch them on speed, strategy and boat-handling.  Understandably, Van der Starre was walking on air after winning the first Two-handed Nationals! "I walk on roses," says van der Starre. "It's always ups and downs, now with the Vuurschepenrace and North Sea Race experience, we believe we have a good chance in the Fastnet Race. When we were in England, I said that I simply wanted to go sailing and see what happens.  We’re happy with our performance so far!”

“The crossing of the Channel and the races up and down the coast of Scheveningen are not comparable to this weekend,” said van der Starre. "The Channel crossing is really tough, we were awake nearly 25 hours, so it’s mentally and physically challenging. Last weekend saw really how high the level in the Netherlands, it was very physically challenging since you sail so many races!  The North Sea Regatta was one that stood high on the list that we hoped to do well in, we now move on to the Fastnet. And, in between we also still do some competitions in the Netherlands."

In addition to the winners, taking second in the Two-Handed Nationals was the J/122 JUNIQUE RAYMARINE SAILING TEAM sailed by Chris Revelman and Pascal Bakker, winning the last two races in convincing fashion over their friends on the RIPPER!  In fifth was the J/133 BATFISH sailed by Bart Desaunois and Gerard de Boer; seventh was the J/109 FIRESTORM (Wim van Slooten/ Jochem Hamstra); taking 8th was the J/120 MAVERICK (Chris Schram); and tenth was the women’s duo on the J/105 PANTHER (Yvonne Beusker/ Edith Voskamp).  That is quite a showing for J/Teams in the top ten of the first Two-Handed Nationals- 60% of the top ten!!

Besides the 2H Nationals, XCENTRIC RIPPER duo also won the 2H Yeoman Cup with a 1-2-1-3-2 record for just 9 pts.  Taking second were their friends on the J/133 BATFISH, 3rd place was the J/122 JUNIQUE RAYMARINE SAILING TEAM, 8th was the J/120 MAVERICK, 10th was the J/109 FIRESTORM, and 11th was the J/105 PANTHER.

Over in the world of ORC 2 Class racing, there was another excellent performance by a J/crew-  JC Bornet’s J/109 JAI LAI.  Wouter Kollman, who was sailing aboard as tactics, said, “I can’t believe we won the Dutch ORC Championship, the Yeoman Cup and the North Sea Regatta Overall in ORC 2 Class!  Great sailing with Team ZDH Stevedoring!!”  Their J/109 classmate MAJIC, sailed by Arnout Joorritsma took fourth in class.

The J/22 Benelux Open Championship went to Jean-Michel Lautier’s FRAPORITA, posting five 1sts in the twelve races the J/22 class sailed over the four days.  The FRAPORITA gang sailed a remarkably steady series, posting only top five finishes to win with just 19 pts.  Despite leading after the first half of the series (6 races), having to take second overall was Dirk Jan Verdoorn’s JUT EN JUL.  Dirk’s crew may have “lost their minds” after celebrating their good fortune at the start of the regatta, for their disastrous performances in the next four races, an epic 8-11-10-11 tally, saw them tumble hard down the standings.  Only three points back in 3rd place was Ivo Jeukens’ DA KANTOORBUTLER.  Rounding out the top five was Erik Verboom’s JAM SESSION in 4th and in 5th place was the famous BIG ROLL/ TU DELFT/ BROACH/ BERING crew led by skipper Lisanne Nijdam.

This year there was four J/80's registered in the North Sea Regatta for their Open Benelux Championship.  It turned into a match race struggle between Peter Paul de Vries and Bram Adema.  "We were a bit wild at the start,” said Peter Paul, “but then we were happy to have a match race for the regatta with Bram!  Fun sailing all weekend!”  In the end, Peter Paul’s team on DE SJAAK won with eight bullets in the scoreline with Bram’s NJORD taking the second seat on the podium.  Sailing photo credits- Sander van der Borch.  For more Delta Lloyd North Sea Regatta sailing information