Delta Lloyd North Sea Regatta 2010 - Final day difficult

by Diana Bogaards on 25 May 2010 At the Delta Lloyd North Sea Regatta 2010 in The Hague/Netherlands, it was a difficult final day as the light southwest breeze dropped during the fourth day of the inshores along the Scheveningen coast, which made it hard for many classes to beat up the strong current.

The ORC and IRC yachts sailed the Fjellstö semi long-distance race, whereby the ORC 2 lined up with the biggest fleet (25). Harry Amsterdam (NED) took that bullet on handicap with his Arcona 340.

Prior to the prize giving ceremony, Harry van der Zwan, Director Sales & Marketing Delta Lloyd, praised the event: 'We try to make the sailing sports more accessible. For us as sponsor and for you as sailor, the Delta Lloyd North Sea Regatta is one of the pearls.'

IRC - Checkmate warms up for Swan Worlds
By the end of the afternoon, the results of the offshores and inshores were combined in one ranking. The Checkmate Swan 45 of Peter de Ridder (NED) turned out to be the strongest in the fleet of 23 competitors. They beat the Swan 45 World Champion Charisma of Nico Poons (NED) and the Antilope Grand Soleil 43 of Willem Wester (NED) and Olympic medallist Sebbe Godefroid (BEL). De Ridder: 'At the beginning of this season, we optimized our Swan for IRC, with a smaller mainsail and mast top spinnakers. Today, we even beat Charisma without discard. This was a good warming-up for the Swan Worlds in September. We may borrow the Dutch No Limits to participate.' The Xcentric Ripper J-109 of John van der Starre (NED) took the victory in the IRC 2-3.

ORC - Champaign bath for Moshulu
The Who's next X-46 of Ploos van Amstel (NED), with Volvo Ocean Race veteran Gerd-Jan Poortman onboard, did not experience much competition in the ORC 2. They scored six bullets and two seconds. Poortman: 'We trained quite a lot at the beginning of this year and we make big steps at the moment. We exceeded the ORC level, so we are thinking about the next choice for this team.' The local Moshulu won the ORC 2 and the crew celebrated happily with a Champaign bath. Ilya van Marle helmed his Lucifer to victory in the ORC 3 and Bram van der Hout did the same with his Celestine in the ORC 4-5.

Laser, J-22, Yngling and MaxFun
The Laser Radial managed to sail one race, where after the breeze dropped to almost zero. That made it impossible for the other Laser fleets to get off the starting line. They returned to the harbour. Wouter Sonnema (NED) won the Laser 4.7 Youth Grand Prix, Ben Koppelaar (NED) the Laser Radial Europa Cup and Douwe Broekens (NED) the Laser Standard Europa Cup. John den Engelsman (NED) finished first in the competitive J-22 with 31 entries. Maarten Jamin was first in the Yngling with 17 boats and Walter Geurts in the MaxFun 25 with 14 boats.

SB3: Coach Duel won by Zuiderbaan
At this year's Delta Lloyd North Sea Regatta, Laser coach Mark Littlejohn (GBR) and talent coach Klaartje Zuiderbaan (NED) faced each other on the Laser SB3 course. This morning, Littlejohn had a two point lead over the German team of Reinhard Schroeder. Zuiderbaan, Remco Hoeffnagel and Alessandro Tinoco were third overall and took today's first bullet. Zuiderbaan: 'It was very light air with a strong current and a long beat. Mark and us had a good start. At the first time we met them, we got a 5 degrees shift, which was just enough to cross ahead of them. From there, we controlled the race.' The two coaches, working for the Dutch federation, finished first and second. Zuiderbaan: 'We discussed that an OCS for Mark would be good now and that happened.'

Efsix: hattrick for Eekhof/De Bruijn
Marcel Eekhof and Joop de Bruijn showed a clear victory in the Efsix (15 entries), the third one in a row. The Dutch duo won the series with a six point lead. 'Obviously, the the current and waves suit us', commented the sailors. 'Our three bullets didn't come out of the blue. I am 63 and still trapezing, for which I go to the gym three times a week', admits De Bruijn.

FD: British champs beat locals
It was the first time that Toby Barsley-Dale and Gareth Russell from England came over to the Netherlands to participate at the Delta Lloyd North Sea Regatta. The competition was strong and close, but the British national champions in the former Olympic FD class did manage to claim the overall win at their first appearance. However, they were tied on points with the Van der Pol brothers, followed by Wijgers and Kamphuis from the Netherlands. 'We will be back fors ure and hopefully we will bring more boats', said Barsley-Dale.

F18 World Champions rule
The current F18 World Champions Coen de Koning and Thijs Visser scored the best series after eight races in the F18 class with 54 entries. The Delta Lloyd F18 Team finished five points ahead of the Bulthaup duo Mischa Heemskerk and Bastiaan Tentij. The new formation of Oskar Zeekant and Karel Begemann were third overall.

The girls' Hobie 16 team of Mariëlle Zonneveld and Celine van Dooren won the Hobie 16 competition (12 cats). Karel Boot and Annette de Gier remained unbeaten in the Dart 18 (15 entries).

For more results, please go to http://www.nsr.nl/.

The Delta Lloyd North Sea Regatta The Hague 2010 was made possible by Delta Lloyd, the city of The Hague, Van Gansewinkel, Clique, Brunel, Voormedia, Malherbe groep, Maritiem Watersport, Nautisch Centrum Scheveningen and Carlton Beach.