(Stellendam, Netherlands)- The first major offshore regatta of the Dutch
offshore sailing season took place this past weekend off Stellendam,
The Netherlands on the North Sea. In general, J/Teams did quite well
across the board in the challenging, somewhat light to medium sailing
conditions (the same massive High pressure system that caused the
cancellation of the RORC’s Easter Regatta off Cowes, England).The first of the season-long Dutch Doublehanded Series started with this event. Not surprisingly, the top Dutch crew of John van der Starre and Robin Verhoef started off the 2019 season in first place on their J/122E AJETO. In fact, J/Teams nearly dominated the top five. Taking third was Chris Revelman & Pascal Bakker’s J/122 JUNIQUE, followed by Michel Hof’s J/122 AMBITION in fourth place and Ad Lagendijk’s J/109 IMAJINE in 5th place.
In the ORC 1 Class, it was Paul van Driel’s J/111 SWEENY that posted a 5-3-3-1-1 to take the silver with 8 pts, just one point shy of first overall!
In the ORC 2 Class, the J/109s occupied half of the top seven. Taking fourth was Rutger Krijger’s JACK RABBIT, followed by Alain Bornet’s JAI ALAI in 5th, and Arjen van Leeuwen’s JOULE in seventh position.
In the one-design world, the J/70 class has grown considerably in the Netherlands. This year’s regatta saw the fleet double in size from last year. Winning this year’s event was Wouter Kollmann’s PLA J with a 1-2-3-1-1-1 for 6 pts net. Grabbing the silver was John den Engelsman’s MR HENRI with a 3-5-1-2-3-3 for 12 pts net. Then, Jan Wanders’ KIND OF MAGIC took the bronze with a 2-3-2-6-2-5 for 14 pts net.
The J/22 class was won by the French crew on JAZZY, led by Reiner Brockerhoff; it was a “nip & tuck” fierce fight all weekend with Dirk Jan Ver Doorn’s Netherlands team on JUT EN JUL. The JAZZY team took it all in the last race, ending up with a 1-2-1-5-4-1 for 9 pts net. Losing that proposition was JUT EN JUL with a 2-1-2-1-9-4 for 10 pts net. Rounding out the top three was Melina Dinter’s JAG’D from Germany with a 7-3-4-2-1-3 for 13 pts net. For more Van Uden Reco Regatta sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.
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