NED 372 “Wolly” in full flow……..
Wouter Ten Wolde, helming his beautiful wooden decked Doomernik Dragon, sailed two fantastic races yesterday here at the Open Dutch Championships and recorded the best overall score of the day with two 2nd places in this 34 boat fleet……. After starting at the PIN end in the 3rd race of the championship, NED 372 was soon able to cross the fleet to lead at the top mark. Just ahead of the following pack was NED 316 Pieter Heerama who also sailed another very consistent two races to now head the fleet overall after all four races are counted.
The winner of the 3rd race was NED 402 Jan Bakker sailing with his two son’s, Olivier and Dominic, who were rewarded with a favourable shift on the second beat after pushing the extreme right to take the lead and never look back…. Well done to them.
The winner of the 4th race of the championship was NED 300 Michiel van Dis who repeated his performance of the previous day by showing good speed as the wind increased to around 18kts. Always in the mix of both races was the championship favourite GBR 745 Poul-Richard Hoj-Jensen, but with a surprising OCS in the morning race, had to rely on his 3rd place in the afternoon race to add to his impressive 1st and 4th of the previous day….. Poul-Richard will look forward to the next races knowing that the discard will soon “kick in” allowing him to drop his OCS….
I must say how times have changed, over the years “The Man” has always been a very cautious starter to say the least! He usually is seen waving to all his customers somewhere in the 3rd row of the starting line……. Then relies on his skill and boat speed to sail him through the fleet.. But now he has made “everyone” else so fast, he too has to risk it with the rest of us to try to gain that elusive “Clear Air” off the start line…
So my friends with three races still to go in this extremely well organised event, which see’s each race sail three proper upwind legs, so that the races can be finished by a 2nd committee boat at the top of the course. Whilst Theo Smits (our excellent race officer) waits patiently for the fleet to gather again at the bottom of the 2ml course. A brilliant set-up and one I would highly recommend.
So can NED 316 hold off the Man, or will NED 300 add to his two 1st places… All will be revealed today as races 5 & 6 are scheduled for and 11.00am start. The forecast is good, but for Wouter and his successful “Wolly” crew, the beer was even Better 🙂 !!
Higher, Faster, Longer…………….. Stavros (NED 372)…