North Sea Regatta 2019 - It's a Wrap
by North Sea Regatta 13 Jun 22:59 PDT
8-10 June 2019
North Sea Regatta 2019 © Sander van der Borch
During the inshore races of the North Sea Regatta, the race committee started over 115 races, divided over 15 classes, competing on three different race courses. These numbers are not including the races for the Dutch Opti Top 40 Clinic that Principal Race Officer Menno Vercouteren has also been overseeing.
Most remarkable is that the races were started not over three days as planned, but only over two race days. The first day of the inshore races, Saturday June 8th, all racing was cancelled due to heavy winds creating unsafe conditions for competitors. The lost day was made up by the two beautiful race days that followed.
From the Race Course
Course C
On course C the catamarans, 49er's and 49er FX got sporty. For the F18 class is was a tense start of the last day of the event, with only 0.4 points between Wik Becker's C2 and Jacob and Dominique den Houting's Proc. However, Ad Noordzij managed to squeeze in to second place, leaving Wik Becker in first and dropping team den Houting to third place. For the F18 class it was a special event, as it was the first time that all entrants sailed with the new decksweeper sails. In the 49er class is was Olympic talent Scipio Houtman who sailed away with the gold medal.
Course B
On course B the sportboats also had plenty of excitement on the water and close racing the final day of the event. As anticipated the wind has been clocking right and the race committee acted accordingly by quickly adjusting the course. Despite the rotation in breeze, the course stayed square and the races went off like clockwork.
The Javelin class started the final day with one point between the leaders in first and second place. By the end of the race day places were swaped and it was JunkFood skippered by Jan de Groot that sailed away with the gold medal. Also starting with one point of separation between the leaders in the Finn class, it was Cees van Rees snatching the gold medal. But the fun didn't stop there, in the MaxFun 25 class it was also very close racing between 18+ and Yellow Rose. In the end it was Yellow Rose who sailed away with the gold medal.
Course A
On course A the large keelboats battled it out over two days of racing. Again the boys and girls of Rotterdam Offshore Sailing Team cleared out the awards table. The first place winners of the 2019 Open Dutch ORC Championships are:
- ORC Double Handed: Ajeto!, skippered by John van der Starre
- ORC 3: CSI Rakker, skippered by Kees Keetels
- ORC2: Jack Rabbit skippered by Rutger Krijger
- ORC1: Van Uden sailed by Rotterdam Offshore Sailing Team
All pictures from the race courses and award ceremony can be found in our photo gallery on the event website and a list of all results is posted on our race portal Manage2sail.
In Memoriam
After a long and though battle with cancer, long time NSR competitor Marco Scholten has decided to leave this earth on June 10th, the final morning of the regatta. When his close friends onboard of the J109 Jack in the Box, received the news it was decided to sail the first race of the day in Marcos honor before retiring for the day. Marco has been competing in the regatta since he was 13 years old almost every year and the regatta held a special place in his heart. Although he couldnt sail last year, it brought him great joy to see his final project the custom 36 Judel Vrolijk Nightshift compete in the 2018 North Sea Regatta and the ORC/IRC Worlds. Despite his battle Marco stayed positive and sailing gave him hope and motivation, his positive attitude resonated through to others. Our thoughts are with the Scholten family.
Thank You
We would like to thank all our sponsors, in particular Gemeente Den Haag, volunteers and competitors for making the 2019 North Sea Regatta a big success. We coulnd't have done it without you! We are looking forward to see you back for our anniversary edition in 2020. Stay tuned for more information, #NSR2020 has started today!
Save the Date
- Vuurschepen Race - May 19, 2020
- Inshore Races - May 30,31 and June 1 2020
About the North Sea Regatta
The North Sea Regatta is an annual sailing event hosted by the Stiching North Sea Regatta and Jachtclub Scheveningen held during Whitsun. It consists of the offshore races Vuurschepen Race and North Sea Race, from Scheveningen (NL) to Harwich (UK) and back, followed by the inshore races off the coast of Scheveningen. We would like to thank all our sponsors in particular Gemeente den Haag to make this event possible.
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