Zwitserleven Sailing Week - First event Nacra 2010 Int'l Championship

by Diana Bogaards on 15 Jun 2010 Zwitserleven Sailing Week. Nacra 2010 International Championship started in building conditions on Monday June 14. The racing commenced in 5-8 knots of breeze and in the afternoon it picked up to about 15 knots.

A total of 62 Nacra catamarans, representing nine countries, lined up for the first event of the 2010 Zwitserleven Sailing Week. The F18 Nacra Infusion class attracted the biggest fleet with 40 entries. Gunnar Larsen and Jeroen van Leeuwen from the Netherlands are leading after four races.

'It was close racing with the German Sach brothers and Coen de Koning and Thijs Visser', says Van Leeuwen while enjoying his steamed fish at the Nacra beach club. The new duo scored a fifth and first place in the morning. Larsen about their first bullet: 'It was hard to get off the line. There was not much room for a starboard start, so we decided to restrict the risk with a port start. We swopped positions with the Germans and Coen a couple of times. In the last beat, we tacked after 50 meters to the right side of the course, to position ourselves at the inner side of the Sach brothers. We gained speed and passed them close to the final top mark.'

Orange Soccer madness on Texel
While people on the Texel Beach were watching the first match of the Dutch team at the Soccer Worlds on the big screen, the cats set sails again. But the race committee understood the need of staying informed, so they put up the sign '2-0 Holland - Denmark' just before the last start of the day. That was a relief to many competitors.

After a second in today's third race, the Dutch duo Larsen/Van Leeuwen was on fire in the bigger breeze. They rounded the top mark in third position after Yvan Bourgnon (FRA) and Willem Geijssen (NED), gained one spot on the downwind and chose the left gate mark. Bourgnon was still leading, but opted for the other side of the course. Larsen: 'It paid to go inshore and that is how we overtook him.' It resulted in their second bullet and a four points lead in the overall ranking. Van Leeuwen: 'We haven't had that much practice this year, so we try to achieve a maximum performance. We are happy to be able to keep up with the top.'

Mixed feelings for F18 World Champions
The current F18 World Champions Coen de Koning and Thijs Visser (NED) had mixed feelings after the first day of the Nacra 2010 Int. Championship. De Koning: 'We didn't do well this morning. Our settings weren't really right and we missed some calls here and then. I am disappointed if we do not perform according to our abilities. You have to be as good as you are.' Coach Sven Karsenbarg had a good talk with the boys at lunch time, where after they continued with a fresh mind. 'We sailed cleanly over the course and our boat speed was much better. The conditions were easier as well.' The World Champions are second overall so far. 'I enjoy competing against the same catamarans', concludes De Koning.

Sach brothers
Helge and Christian Sach from Germany, F18 World Champions 2006, had a strong start of the Nacra 2010 Int. Championship. They scored two seconds this morning, followed by a third and eighth in the afternoon. Although they dominated in the light circumstances, they hope for different conditions this week: 'This is a good test for the F18 Worlds in July in France. Four Nacra teams here on Texel, finished top ten at the 2009 Worlds in 2009, including the World Champions.' Asking for their strategy in the light breeze, Helge Sach answers: 'My brother does the tactics and I keep up the speed.' According to Christain Sach, they did not go to far into the corners and played the middle of the course.

Other fleets
The Open fleet had thirteen boats on the starting line. It was a clear win for Piotr Skotnicki and Niels Kleijweg (NED), sailing a Nacra 20. They grabbed all four bullets in a row. The same is true for Peter Vink (NED) and Pom Green (GBR) on the Nacra carbon 20. This new class had eight boats lined up.

The weather forecast for Tuesday June 15 looks promising for strong wind specialists, as the north-northeastern breeze is believed to be about force 5. There are again four races scheduled.

Top five Nacra Infusion after 4 races:
1. NED, Larsen/Van Leeuwen, 9 punten
2. NED, De Koning/Visser, 13 punten
3. GER, Sach/Sach, 15 points
4. AUS, Guinea/Richardson, 18 points
5. NED, Huntelman/Van der Kamp, 26 points

Top three Open class:
1. NED, Skotnicki/Kleijweg, 4 points
2. NED, Meermans/Brommer, 13 points
3. ISR, Leshed/Oded, 14 points

Top three Nacra carbon 20:
1. NED, Vink/Green, 4 points
2. NED, Bouscholte/Bouscholte, 9 points
3. NED, Van der Plas/Pool, 11 points

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