Dutch Youth Regatta about to start with record number of entries
by Fettje Osinga 22 May 2017 04:23 PDT
25-28 May 2017
Dutch Youth Regatta © Valentijn van Duijvendijk
The 16th edition of the Dutch Youth Regatta (DYR) will kick off in just a few days. There are currently 773 entries in 9 classes. For many of the sailors the event is part of the qualification of their nation for events like the World and European Championships. New at the DYR this year are a new sponsor Windesign and the High Performance course where the Nacra 15 will join the 29er class.
Extra Optimist starting group
Because of an enormous amount of entries for the optimist class the entry limit was reached in an early stage. Therefore the organisation tried and managed to add one starting group to five in total (393 sailors). The Optimist Benjamin (<12 years) will now race on the course with the RS Feva and the Cadet class, so split from the other 4 optimist groups. The committee of ZV Workum will manage this course. This extra group results in more young sailors at the event.
High Performance course
The Nacra 15 class is making their debut at the Dutch Youth Regatta this year at the new high performance course. Last year's winner and World Champion in the Optimist Max Wallenberg will start in this new class. Also the 29er class will be racing on this HP course as part of their Eurocup. A new race committee will run this course, led by race officer Alex Hoeve of Sailservice.
The race committee of WV Braassemermeer will lead the Optimist course and a second committee of local club ZV Workum will run the Laser and Splash course.
How to follow
On Wednesday the event starts with the registration and measurement. Live updates will be posted on the live blog on the website www.dutchyouthregatta.org
About the Dutch Youth Regatta
For 16 years already, The Dutch Youth Regatta (DYR) has been a leading event for youth sailing classes in Europe. About 750 youth sailors (age 8 to 23 years old) from 24 nations are in Workum each year for this four-day regatta. They are competing for the title of Open Dutch Champion. In each class only the best sailors will represent their country. Not only from Europe but also sailors from Kuwait, Mexico, Singapore and USA are present at this Dutch Event.
The organising authority is the Dutch Youth Regatta Foundation, in cooperation with the Dutch sailing federation, the class associations as well as the clubs who are sending their race committees: WV Braassemermeer, Sailservice and ZV Workum. The event is being held at Aqua Resort It Soal in Workum, The Netherlands.