Herve’ (Lamour) Cunningham, Pieter Heerema & Theis Palm, Dutch Open Champions.
Yes my friends and fellow sailors NED 412 (a Pedersen & Thuesen from 1964), helmed by Pieter Heerema won the Open Dutch Championships with a day to spare. Pieter and his team (pictured above) were sailing very well and continued their great form showed at the recent Gold Cup in Douarnenez where they finished 3rd. This will certainly be a team to keep your eye on next week in Weymouth at the Gazprom World Championships.
Runners up in this competitive 34 boat fleet were the “Family” Bakker’s, NED 402. With Jan Bakker at the helm and son’s Olivier and Dominic as crew, they comfortably held off the other challengers for 2nd place, with a classic, conservative final race on Sunday.
Proud “Dad” Jan Bakker, & Son’s Dominic and Olivier, wearing their “Silver” Medals.
In 3rd place overall was NED 275, Bluzette, helmed by ex Laser Sailor Ivo Kok and crewed by Remco van de Berg and Gerrit Gortzak. This team hiked hard and sailed well to deservedly finish on the podium after 4 days of racing on the famous “Isllemere” Holland.
NED 275 “Bluzette” team, 3rd overall with their Bronze Medals at Prize Giving..
Next year in September 2014 the Gold Cup will be held in Medemblik, where preparations are already in full swing. Pieter Heerema will meet this week with the main organisers of the Dutch Dragon Association bringing his “expert” knowledge after the success of “Douarnenez’s” Gold Cup to the table. Medemblik is an excellent venue for Dragons, so over 100 boats are expected! Racing will be very well organised and plans for the boats to be moored in the “Old Harbour” are being discussed. The big advantage of these “In Town” moorings are that you step off your Dragon straight into the famous “Brackenbar” owned by JACK who will supply the fleet with copious amounts of “Heineken” Beer… 🙂
Higher, Faster, Longer……………. Stavros.