(Almere, The Netherlands)- The 9th Almere Regatta was a great sailing challenge for the teams that had assembled in Almere, The Netherlands. Like many other places in Europe, a big High pressure system meant there was not much “gradient winds” flowing down around it, with isobars spread out so far it was a wonder there was any wind for the weekend. On Saturday, that was certainly the case, with gorgeous sunny weather, but little to no wind. Sunday improved bit with winds hitting 8 kts, wonder of wonders! In the end, the J/80 and J/109 fleets both managed to sail six races.
The ten-boat J/80 class had tight racing for all three spots on the podium. Naturally, for the first major regatta of the season, some teams start out hot and fade, others do the reverse. As a result, there were many anxious moments taking place on the last three races on the second day. Starting hot, but losing their edge on Sunday was Bob Jansen’s FUN-J, posting a 2-1-2-3-3-7 tally for 11 pts net. The balance of the podium was determined by a tie-breaker at 13 pts each. On countback, it was Bram Adema’s NJORD record of 7-2-3-5-1-2 that overcame Bernard Holsboer’s JUUL scores of 3-3-1-4-2-8! That was close racing! Rounding out the top five were JOYRIDE in 4th and OANT SJEN in 5th place.
Winning the nine-boat J/109 one-design class was Roy Heiner’s TEAM HEINER 4 with an outstanding record of 2-1-1-3-3-1 for 8 pts net. Magically taking the silver was Arnout Jorrtisma’s MAJIC with a 4-2-3-4-1-2 tally for 12 pts net. Just one point back to snag the bronze was the 2018 winner of the class, Arjen van Leeuwen’s JOULE with a 5-3-4-1-2-3 scoreline for 13 pts net. Sailing photo credits- Hans Knapper For more Almere Regatta sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.
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