Report from Chris Field about the 2012 Dutch Nationals


2012 Dutch National Championships
From the 24th to 26th August Hellecat sailing club in Hellevoetsluis, Holland hosted the 2012 Dutch National Championships.
As I was using the same kit as the Europeans (Vision platform, Hammer Sail and Saarberg Mast) I was confident with my speed for this event so the focus, as usual, was to sail a clean and consistent series.
The intention was for 10 races to be sailed however in the end only 6 races were completed, 3 on Friday and 3 on Saturday. The conditions on the Sunday were to extreme to venture out onto the race course.

Day 1
The planned start was 12:00 however racing only got under way around 2pm due to a flat calm start to the day. Three races were completed with the wind ranging between 6 to 10 knots. The direction of the breeze was coming directly over the dam which meant it was a very tricky course to sail on with varying shifts and pressure all over the race course.
In race 1 I reached the first mark in 1st place with a good start and picking the correct way up the course. It paid to tack more often than is usual in the A-Cat up the beat to keep in the pressure. On the downwind it was best to take a conservative approach and sail the boat flat to minimise risk. This being said Sjoerd Hoekstra did well to find some extra pressure downwind on the 1st lap to get into the lead which he maintained to the finish where I came in second and Jaap Straakenbroek 3rd.
The second race I again lead to the 1st mark and indeed all the way round until 300m to the finish where, again, Sjoerd found a knot or two more breeze and sailed hull up to the finish with me coming in second. I was a little disappointed in this however, as consistency was the goal I was sticking to the overall plan.
Race 3 saw a lot of confusion! With the breeze decreasing we were sent around the course for 3 laps where as the previous races had only been 2 lappers. A lot of sailors missed this and went for the finish on lap 2! I was one of those sailors and when I realised I found myself on 7th spot. On the final lap I hit a hard left shift upwind dragging me up to 4th and by the finish I had passed another 2 boats ending up 2nd again! Jaap sailed a superb race getting 1st by more than 10 minutes and with my main rival Sjoerd scoring a 6th I was leading after day 1.

Day 2
The complete opposite to Friday! After a night in my tent worrying whether I would be blown away in the night I got to the club with a good breeze blowing. It was a stable breeze however due to the surroundings there were definite lines of breeze over the course gusting up to 18 knots, averaging 15.
All three races this day followed a similar pattern where both Thilo Keller and I were battling at the front of the race with a fair gap to the 3rd spot. Thilo showed very good pace upwind in the stronger breeze and I had the legs on him downwind. This resulted in very close racing between us where Thilo scored 2x1st place and an OCS. I scored 2 x 2nd place and a 1st. Once again my game plan held and my consistency was rewarded with the overnight lead once again, especially as Sjoerd was behind me in all 3 of the races that day.
As it turned out Day 3 was cancelled and the overnight standings held which gave me the Dutch National Championship title for the second time.

As always I would like to thank Hammer Sails.com, Catamaranparts.nl and The Marine Travel Company for their support with this event and indeed for a very successful 2012 season. Now it is time to focus on the final event of the year which is the World Championships in the middle of October.

Chris GBR007

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