(Scheveningen, The Netherlands)- J/Boats dominated the 2017 Dutch Two Handed Championship, comprising the RORC North Sea Race and a series of middle distance offshore races held during the North Sea Regatta in Scheveningen. John van der Starre and Robin Verhoef captured their third consecutive gold medal on their shorthanded-optimized J/122E AJETO!
Capturing second place was the J/122 JUNIQUE/ RAYMARINE, sailed by Chris Revelman and Pascal Bakker. The bronze medals were awarded to Chris Schram and Raymond Roesink, campaigning their J-120 MAVERICK. Wim van Slooten's J-109 managed 4th place; the J/105 PANTHER, skippered by the all-woman team of Yvonne Beusker and Edith Voskamp finished in 5th place, and Ad Lagendijk's J-109 IMAGINE rounded out the top 6!!
Chris Schramm on the J/120 MAVERICK provided us his report on the experience over one week of sailing:
“Content, bruised, drained, and happily home after Raymond and I collected bronze medals for finishing third in the 2017 Dutch Doublehanded Championships. The championship series comprises the long North Sea Race from Harwich to Scheveningen, followed by three days of challenging medium distance races off the Dutch coast. It provides a comprehensive test of boats and crew with conditions ranging from dreaded lulls to stiff breezes and lumpy seas. Congratulations to John van der Starre and Robin Verhoef on AJETO for their well-earned 'three-peat', and to long standing Winter series sparing partners Pascal and Chris who picked up silver medals on JUNIQUE. Many thanks to Jasper van Staveren for the great photo of mighty Maverick."
The J/111 class enjoyed great one-design racing for North Sea Week. Winning class was the Swiss team of LALLEKONIG, skippered by Joerg Sigg with crew of Wick Hillege, Nico van der Kolk, Sigrid Sigg, Joost Aaphes, Gilbert Figaroa, Wouter Kollman, and Michiel van der Meulen. Their four 1st in nine races enabled them to finish with a 12 pts net tally. Taking second was based on yet another tie-breaker! Seems to be a familiar pattern at top J/one-design events! This time, it was the familiar crew on SWEENEY led by Paul van Driel that took the tie-break on 15 pts over Sjaak Haakman’s RED HERRING.
In the world of handicap racing, Alain Bornet’s J/109 JAI ALAI took second place in IRC 2 Class overall (offshore + inshore). However, when scored as ORC 2 Class, Bornet’s J/109 WON the class! Hmmm, seems to be that IRC vs ORC ratings are producing independent results where one is better than the other, or the other way around?!
For the ORC 2 Inshores regatta (no offshore events counted), it was Rutger Krijger’s J/109 JACK RABBIT that won with Bornet’s crew on JAI ALAI in second place. For more North Sea Regatta and Dutch Doublehanded Championship sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.