Sun and sea breeze, the battle in Scheveningen is on!!

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The Hague – Scheveningen, 27 May – 4 June 2017

Another sunny day in Scheveningen. Day 2 for the Worlds J22 and the first race day for the 120 yachts in all ORC and IRC classes on the North Course. All smaller boats sailed together on the South Course, seven classes in total including the Worlds J22. For the next two days of the regatta the forecast looks excellent, a little more wind than today and sunny sailing conditions. The battle on the Dutch North Sea is on!

Race director Arend van Bergeijk is happy with the races on the first day of the regatta: “Yesterday we started with the J22 Worlds and today was the first day all boats were out at sea at the same time. The conditions at sea were challenging but good! Yet another day with little wind in the morning, but after the sea breeze picked up we had enough to go sailing. We tried to get as many races in as possible and I think we succeeded. All 120 boats sailing in the ORC and IRC classes were sailing on the North Course, sun, wind, pretty good conditions!” Results are online and photos can be found on the North Sea Regatta Facebook page.

Room for talent at the North Sea Regatta

With help from the North Sea Regatta Crew Pool and Erik van Vuuren, Sjors van der Pol, only 14 years old, found a spot for the North Sea Regatta. Sjors is sailing in the Dutch Optimist Selection and this regatta, which he is sailing with Team GRIEL, is his first sailing experience at sea. Robert Jockin, the skipper of the Dehler 39 is really impressed: “Sjors a really keen sailor! We had quite a few tricky wind shifts, but Sjors picks them up immediately, we might give him a bigger role on tactics tomorrow. Although he’s also a star in trimming the main.”

“Erik van Vuuren, who was asked by ‘Gemeente The Hague’, the Dutch Watersports Federation and Yachtclub Scheveningen to play a role in connecting people and give young talent a chance to get sailing experience on bigger boats. It’s cool to see that this regatta several teams like the Rotterdam Offshore Sailing Team and the Team Heiner Talents have the same goal. Also the local youth sailing academy expands her program to make sure there’s a place where young sailors from The Hague and Scheveningen can start their sailing career.”

Why go to the Med? Scheveningen is the place to be!

Rob Schutte, skipper of Numero Uno, sailing in ORC3: “What a spectacular show on the North Course today, we had such a good time on the water! The first race was the best one really, our boat speed was really really good.” Erik van Vuuren, tactician on the boat ads to this: “It was a fun race, but the whole fleet sailed the wrong course, it could be all teams will get a DSQ. Crazy actually, I made a mistake by pointing out the wrong buoy, but the whole fleet followed us. In race 2 we were a little lucky. De Ondeugd made a mistake just before the finish and we took advantage of it. Race 3 was, apart from a messy start, a pretty neat race. A nice tactical game and we just nailed it! With great sailing conditions like we had today there’s really no reason to head to the Med, our Scheveningen really is the place to be!”

Busy day on the South Course

The smaller boats without engine like the SB20, ORC Sports Boats, Flying Dutchman, Javelin, J22, Finn, Contender, Olympiajol and efsix sail on he South Course. For all seven classes four races were scheduled for today although this seemed a little too ambitious this morning as we started the day without wind. All classes sailed two nice races, but after third start of the Open Sports Boats, SB20, FD and Javelin the wind dropped again and we had to cancel the rest of the races. There was just not enough wind and the current was so strong that many of the boats needed several attempts to round the mark.

Worlds J22 2017

On the second day of the Worlds J22 the fleet sailed two of the four scheduled races on the South Course at the North Sea. Lisanne Nijdam, sailing on the NED 1365, maintained her first position at the Worlds 2017, with one discard race she’s now leading with a gap of seven points to the Frenchman Reiner Brockerhoff and his crew on Jazzy, and nine points on Nic Bol – NED 1609.

SAP Sailing Analytics is providing the North Sea Regatta with the latest technology which makes it possible to follow the races online for friends and family. For sailors the SAP Sailing Technology is a perfect way to analyse their performance after the race. Follow the fleet during the Worlds 2017 with SAP Sailing Analytics.

Useful links during the North Sea Regatta Week 2017

The North Sea Regatta Week is a packed with offshore and inshore racing, social activities and sailing opportunities for the little ones with the Optimist on Tour in The Hague – Scheveningen.

* Results Vuurschepenrace
* Results North Sea Race
* Live Tracking SAP Sailing Analytics to follow Worlds J22 and SB20 Class
* Social Program
* Optimist on Tour The Hague (site in Dutch)