Rob Campbell, Karl Odent & Luciano Malissa are the 2015 Belgium Open Champions.
After 3 days of sailing and 6 completed races GBR 788 helmed by Rob Campbell (former IDA Chairman) and his crew of Karl Odent and Luciano Malissa enjoyed a well deserved overall victory. The waters off Ostend threw up their usual challenges with tide, wind changes and difficult sea conditions at times. However, this experienced team from Britain, Belgium & Poland coped the best in both the light and heavy winds.
2nd overall was the BEL 80 team of Ben Van Cauwenberg, Manu Hens & Thibaud den Hartigh who pushed the Quicksilver team all the way. Ben explained “We needed two more races to close the gap with GBR 788, I feel our choice of sails let us down in the early light wind races, We also made some wrong calls with regard the current”.
3rd overall was BEL 79 helmed by Alex Helsen, crewed by Floris Mortlemans and Willy Hambrouk who enjoyed an excellent final race which moved them from 5th place overall to a very pleasing final “podium” place. Alex explained “We took a very good start and raced conservatively without extreme options. The middle of the course turned out to have the best wind and we could take some nice shifts in un disturbed air”. Well done and congratulations to all.
The Belgium Association represented by President Steven Vermeire & Secretary Anne Vanneste were delighted to attract 24 participants. The weather was fantastic and the RNSYC organisation did an excellent job on the race track assisted by RYCB team. Steven said “We hope that our quest for thorough care for quality and delivering excellent service to the sailors will boost the reputation of the Belgium Races. We hope to see about 30 Dragons next year for our Nationals which will be 13th-16th August 2016”.
Higher, Faster, Longer…………….. Stavros.