Pieter Heerema, Lars Hendriksen & Claus Olesen are the 2017 Dutch Champions.
The final day of racing provided the very best conditions with sun, wind & excellent championship courses… Requiring just one more half decent result to clinch the title NED 412 helmed by Pieter Heerema did it in style by winning race 6. After rounding the top Mark ahead of NED 422 & NED 247, Pieter went on to control the race to win by a comfortable margin. In 2nd place was NED 247 helmed by Martin Payne & 3rd went to NED 422 Jan Bakker.
As the wind increased for the start of race 7 Pieter and his top crew had the option of heading back into Muiden, as they did not need to sail the final race, knowing their job was done… 🙂
“The winners take it all” the beautiful Silver Dragon will be kept by the team until next year.
In the final race NED 422 had a great start at the Committee Boat end of the line and picked up a favourable shift on the right side of the course. GBR 803 Quentin Strauss, Nigel Young & Pedro Andrade had to really up their game as an OCS in race 6 meant they could lose out on the runners up spot if they were not careful.. NED 422 sailed a brilliant race to record their 2nd race win, NED 1 Ronald Pfeiffer was 2nd & BEL 80 Ben van Cauwenbergh finished 3rd. However, GBR 803 did manage to pull back to finish in 6th place which secured their 2nd place overall.
2nd Overall, GBR 803 Quentin Strauss (centre) Nigel Young & Pedro Andrade.
The final podium place went to NED 422 helmed by Jan Bakker, with Son’s Dominic & Olivier who thoroughly deserved their final position as they ended the championship with 2 race wins and 1pt ahead of me 🙂
NED 422 Jan, Olivier & Dominic Bakker won race 7 to move up to 3rd overall..
In his winners speech Pieter Heerema thanked all the helpers at the Royal Netherlands Yacht Club and gave a special mention to the excellent Race Officer Jacques Kellermann Slotemaker. Explaining that the courses had been well set, the lines were very fair and that Jacques made the correct call to abandon a race when the wind shifted around 30 degrees during Friday.
Final Results of the Championship.
Higher, Faster, Longer……….. Stavros. (NED 247).