Delta Lloyd North Sea Regatta 2011 winners

by Diana Bogaards on 15 Jun 2011 Delta Lloyd North Sea Regatta 2011 was held from Friday June 10th until Monday June 13th. The final day was thrilling with again a strong current and a bit more breeze.

On Monday June 13th the regatta winner was crowned. Koen Niftrik from Delta Lloyd awarded the prizes, after organizer Frans Sluyters had filled up the waiting time with his music repetoire. On the same stage as where popular Dutch musicians performed this Whitsun Weekend, with Anouk as the main act on Saturday evening.

More than 400 boats in 27 classes competed on six courses. The conditions were challenging with a strong current and a changing windforce and direction. That resulted in exciting races. The Laser Europa Cup & Youth Grand Prix was part of the event.

IRC 1: Checkmate takes overall win
The top two IRC 1 leaders Baraka GP and Checkmate finished on equal points. Eventually Peter de Ridder (NED), skipper of the Swan 45 Checkmate, grabbed the overall victory (offshores included). 'We knew we were a few points behind, after we had lost yesterday's protest. However, in this field and with this current and wind shifts, we still had chances. We said this morning to ourselves, 'We go for it'. 'Experience, according to the veteran is not the only thing that mattered: 'The big yachts in IRC dominated the fleet. The Swan 45's, Swan 42 Baraka GP and the new Grand Soleil 46 Antelope, determined the top eight. The slower boats cannot keep up. I believe we must ensure that there will be more Swan 45's quickly, so they can pull out of the IRC, which allows the others a better competition.'

The Belgian Samantaga Swan 45 of skipper Philippe Moortgat was third overall, without having participated in the offshores. The victory in the Swan 45 and the Yeoman Trophy (ranking of all inshores from 10th to 13th June) went to this team as well.

ORC 1: POPOV wins despite missing the offshores
There was an exciting battle going on between POPOV of Hans Tak (NED) and the RoaringX of Ad Lagendijk (NED) in the ORC 1. POPOV managed eventually to win the entire series and the Yeoman Trophy, despite missing the two offshores. POPOV's Jan-Willem Mullier (NED) crew talks about the closing day: 'We had to go very fast, because there were only a few boats left on the course. Consequently, not many teams could finish between us and the RoaringX. We started with the heavy one and that was actually a bit too much. Between the races we have changed to the high aspect. Then the wind died out and we changed again on the downwind leg. Things improved and it was just enough to get them. We were really battling and match racing the RoaringX. It was very exciting and hard work.' Two years ago, the POPOV won the ORC 1 as well. In 2010 they tried their luck in the IRC, but this proved too ambitious. 'The difference between IRC and ORC are that big, that we no longer wanted to sail in the tail of the fleet. '

ORC 2: Redan beats Rosetta
In the ORC 2, with 31 entries the biggest yachting class, Hein van Schaik (NED) of the Redan was not sure about his victory till long after the finish. 'The Rosetta from the Rocks crossed the line ahead us, but we didn't know whether one or two boats finished between us.' Two would have been one too many, but only the X-Stream was found between the Rosetta and Redan. 'It was exciting. It was black flag start, so we were careful. Therefore, we commenced badly and had to fight boat for boat to get our position back. We sailed a tactical last beat against Rosetta. At the finish we were two boat lengths behind. It was like a one design class championship.' The mission was to win the overall series including the offshores and they succeeded. Van Schaik: 'We also had a lot of fun throughout the regatta.' Quantum Racing of Jeroen van der Velden (NED) took third. New Frontier of Jan Bart won the Yeoman Trophy.

FD: With bullet and DNF to victory
'Well, how should we explain this', is the answer to the question why they scored a DNF in the last race. Enno Kramer tries: 'We had a big lead, but it went wrong with the spinnaker drop at the second leeward mark. We sailed over it, even so much that the dagger board came up.' Fortunately there were no real consequences for their ranking: 'If we have properly counted, we had already won with the first bullet today. That was exciting with the brothers Van der Pol and Harold Wijgers. But Bas [van der Pol] capsized. We could just save the boat during the jibe. Then we could slowly capitalize on our lead.'

Laser Radial: Rudawski 'too fast'
The Polish Laser Radial sailor Marcin Rudawski wins the Scheveningen series of the 2011 European Laser Cup. He beats the number two, Cocccoluta Giovanni (ITA) with eleven points. Rudawski: 'It was a tough regatta. The current made it tricky.' To the fact that he has a great speed, he responds: 'I'm pretty fast with strong winds, but less so in the light breeze and current.' He has tried to qualify for two Olympics in the Laser Standard, but he did not succeed. 'After eight years full rig I decided to go back to the Radial. I'm too small for the Standard.' Puck is his residence on the Polish coast, that receives the Laser Europa Cup in August. The bronze went to the Italian Marco Benini.

Laser 4.7: Benjamin Wempe dominates
The young Dutch sailor Benjamin Wempe is in his first year in the Laser 4.7. After his 30th position at the Optimist World in Malaysia, he changed classed. Last week he won the Dutch national title an, this weekend he added another great achievement. Wempe scored one thirteenth and furthermore only top four positions. He wins the Scheveningen series of Laser Europa Cup & Laser Youth Grand Prix 2011. 'It was a difficult last day with a strange current and changeable wind', he describes the conditions on Withsun Monday. 'That was hard, but I did well.' His next focus point is the Laser 4.7 European Championships in Workum. Levent Takacs takes silver, followed by Floor Vrijenhoek from the Netherlands.

F18: Bundock and Van Leeuwen on fire
F18 catamaran sailors Darren Bundock (AUS) and Jeroen van Leeuwen (NED) could theoretically still lose the lead on the last day. But after a bullet and seventh place the duo could afford a DNS. Bundock: 'In race one we were first at the upwind mark and we rounded the buoy in good pressure. The rest had less wind, so we could expand the lead. The race game was more exciting. Due to the strong current, we could not make the pin-end.' They were third at the top mark, but there were so many boats that they had to carry on and eventually gibe. For almost the entire field, the Round Texel Race is the next event. Not for the fresh winners of the Delta Lloyd North Sea Regatta. 'I'm going to America for two weeks and I cannot tell you why ...', said Bundock.

Mischa Heemskerk and Bastiaan Tentij were second in the field of 58 cats, despite the second OCS in the last race. Heemskerk laughs: 'We could not win or lose anything, so I wanted the sharpest possible start.' Title defenders Coen de Koning and Thijs Visser are back on the podium in third place.

Dart 18: Van Gorp and Van Gisbergen take victory
Nicolette van Gorp and Ruud van Gisbergen from the Netherlands were leading the Dart 18 class (14 boats) since the second day. They successfully defended their top position on the last day and won the Delta Lloyd North Sea Regatta 2011.

The complete results of all classes are available here. Delta Lloyd Regatta website