Jörg Rademacher WINS ALLMOST WINDLESS REGATTA

28.08.2017 | Without good breeze but we have a winner

Arrival and friday evening

Fourty-six OK sailors from seven nations brought their dinghies to Oosterzee to race for the Open Dutch Championship 2017 that was combined with this years Eastersee Regatta. There were some countries we didn't receive entries from in previous editions. Tony Woods came all the way from Great Britain, Florent Delacourt and Remi Blandureau from France and Tomasz Gaj and Marek Bernat from Poland. Great they put in the effort to come to the lake Tjeukemeer. On friday evening more than half of the fleet already arrived and it looks the diner plates at the Cafe/Restaurant will become tradition. It was a wonderful evening and sitting outside we ate our plates. Some beers to go with that and then to bed.

Saturday

Saturday morning started sunny, warm and with a good breakfast, but unfortunately the wind forecast was not so great. The racing committee decided we would go on the water and hope the small breeze would grow to a steady wind. But all that happened was the temperature went up. And while the sun baked the sailors on their OK's, the wind didn't build up. To boost morale, the organisation handed out a 'broodje kroket' on the water. A Dutch traditional meat snack on bread. Half an hour after that, racing was postponed untill further notice and the fleet came to shore along with the racing committee. Then at half past four some breeze came in and the fleet went out for one race close to shore. At least we were racing, but still the wind was hard to find sometimes.

Claus Stockhardt (GER) took the win for Jörg Rademacher (GER) and Ralf Mackmann (GER). Stephan Veldman (NED) came in fourth which is really well in this fleet. Another surprise was that Rob Ligtenberg (NED) rounded the first mark in place six but he had a very hard time to stay up front. Nevertheless great sailing from him with his aluminium masted OK. Susanne Mackmann did great in the fleet and managed to take fifth place and be the best female sailor of the day. At half past seven, when everyone had taken a shower, it was time for BBQ, drinks and Rod Andrew (racing for Belgium but born British) to take the stage with his lovely music. He knows how to create the perfect ambiance and we all had a great time drinking, talking and listening to the music. Rob Ligtenberg showed his skills on the accordion. So an OK class band is in the making I guess ;)

Sunday

Sunday started again with breakfast and looking out the tent directly on the waterfront. Wind, not much but wind... The race officer and his crew ordered racing to start at 10.00 hours and they immediately started to put the course in. One race, very hard because of the windshifts and winddroppings. A race with boats out of the finishing time limit. The start was tight and hard. Two boats early over the line. Thorsten Schmidt (GER) and Christian Heinze (GER). Christian was the only one to returm and start again. So Thorsten got an OCS despite crossing the finish line second. Christian managed to finish seventh despite his double start. As always the best sailors are more in the front of the fleet. Both Polish sailors Tomasz Gaj and Marek Bernat found the best wind and finished first and second. Third was 'mister consistency' Ralf Mackmann (GER). After that the wind stayed shifty, so again postponement and back to the shore. At one o clock after phoning the meteorologist, the signal came there wasn't going to be any more racing this weekend. Very unfortunate but the wind is about the only thing we couldn't control this weekend.

Results

For a national championship four races were needed to constitute a series. So no Dutch national champion in 2017 and Dirk Dame stays raining Dutch champion for at least one more year. The final ranking based on both races was made and Jörg Rademacher took the win with a 2 and a 4. Just beating Ralf Mackmann with a 3 and 3. Third was Claus Stockhardt with 9 points. Best female sailor was Susanne Mackmann ranked 11th in the final ranking. Best Dutch sailor, like last year, Stephan Veldman ranking 6th. And some special prices. Best sailor with a wooden mast, not for the first time, Rod Andrew. And best sailor with an aluminum mast, Rob Ligtenberg. Two special prices (small frisian windbags to use in their home country), to thank them for their multiple hours long drive, went to Marek Bernat and Tomasz Gaj from Poland and to Tony Woods from Great Britain. We had a good time, with nice weather, meeting friends that share a love for the OK dinghy. We learned a lot from each other and we hope to see everyone back at the other regatta's and of course next year for the fifth Eastersee Regatta during the last weekend of August 2018 !

Final ranking

Ranking
Sailnumber
Name
Points
1
2
1
GER 775
Joerg Rademacher, Germany, Male
6,0
2
4
2
GER 773
Ralf Mackmann, Germany, Male
6,0
3
3
3
GER 784
Claus Stockhardt, Germany, Male
9,0
1
8
4
POL 7
Marek Bernat, Poland, Male
10,0
8
2
5
GER 10
Christian Heinze, Germany, Male
12,0
5
7
6
NED 673
Stephan Veldman, the Netherlands, Male
13,0
4
9
7
GER 5
Ralf Tietje, Germany, Male
15,0
9
6
8
POL 1
Tomasz Gaj, Poland, Male
18,0
17
1
9
GBR 2179
Tony Woods, Great Britain, Male
18,0
13
5
10
GER 791
Frank Strelow, Germany, Male
20,0
7
13
11
GER 771
Susanne Mackmann, Germany, Female
29,0
6
23
12
NED 667
Hessel Hoekstra, the Netherlands, Male
32,0
15
17
13
GER 651
Frederik Roentgen, Germany, Male
33,0
12
21
14
LUX 1
Michel Lesure, Luxembourg, Male
34,0
20
14
15
GER 799
Michael Wolf, Germany, Male
35,0
25
10
16
NED 652
Jan Siebe de Vries, the Netherlands, Male
36,0
11
25
17
GER 567
Jan Beckmann, Germany, Male
40,0
29
11
18
GER 607
Gerd Breitbart, Germany, Male
40,0
28
12
19
GER 793
Karsten Kath, Germany, Male
41,0
22
19
20
FRA 769
Florent Delacourt, France, Male
42,0
16
26
21
SWE 2786
Sipke Hoekstra, the Netherlands, Male
44,0
14
30
22
GER 75
Dirk Dame, Germany, Male
47,0
19
28
23
NED 473
Rob Ligtenberg, the Netherlands, Male
47,0
23
24
24
GER 1527
Peter Meyer, Germany, Male
54,0
36
18
25
BEL 1
Rod Andrew, Great Britain, Male
54,0
27
27
26
GER 9
Thorsten Schmidt, Germany, Male
57,0
10
ocs
27
GER 527
Birgit Meyer, Germany, Female
58,0
38
20
28
GER 73
Ronny Poelman, Belgium, Male
62,0
dnc
15
29
BEL 214
Paul Verrijdt, Belgium, Male
63,0
dnc
16
30
NED 566
Sjouke Bus, the Netherlands, Male
63,0
34
29
31
GER 678
Heinz Ridder, Germany, Male
65,0
18
dnf
32
GER 778
Soenke Behrens, Germany, Male
68,0
21
dnf
33
BEL 228
Joris van Baarle, Belgium, Male
69,0
dnc
22
34
NED 674
Bart ter Haar, the Netherlands, Male
71,0
24
dnf
35
NED 669
Sybren Hornstra, the Netherlands, Male
73,0
26
dnf
36
FRA 1769
Remi Blandureau, France, Male
77,0
30
dns
37
BEL 221
Philippe Cowez, Belgium, Male
78,0
31
dnf
38
NED 672
Harmen de Vries, the Netherlands, Male
79,0
32
dnf
39
NED 609
Willem Dijkstra, the Netherlands, Male
80,0
33
dnf
40
BEL 29
Jo Andrew - Becker, Germany, Female
82,0
35
dnf
41
NED 666
Koen Schelling, the Netherlands, Male
84,0
37
dnf
42
F 1053
Francois Podevyn, Belgium, Male
86,0
39
dnf
43
NED 665
Dick van der Zee, the Netherlands, Male
87,0
40
dnf
44
BEL 131
Samuel Podevyn, Belgium, Male
88,0
41
dnf
45
NED 671
Lex Vogelenzang, the Netherlands, Male
94,0
dnc
dnf
46
BEL 230
Jacques Pirenne, Belgium, Male
94,0
dnc
dnc


First sailors arrive in Oosterzee

24.08.2017 | Arriving, sightseeing, skûtsjes and getting to now the conditions

With just two nights sleep to go it's almost regatta time. Today the first sailors and their family and friends arrived in Oosterzee. The regatta tents are in place and tomorrow the rest of the regatta terrain will be build up. Still entries keep coming in. Wolfgang Hofener, Ralph Grieger and Birgit Meyer all from Germany make 48 entries. The goal of 50 OK sailors is in sight, but eitherway we think this is a great fleet already. Today the big old Skûtsjes raced the lake Tjeukemeer from Echtenerbrug, right next to Oosterzee. Tomorrow there will be time for sightseeing in Lemmer or other Frisian towns. And we think tomorrow we will see OK dinghy sails on the lake from competitors that will try and get to know the conditions of the Tjeukemeer. We expect a lot of sailors will arrive on friday. Let's meet eachother friday evening at the cafe restaurant Tjeukemeer for dinner...



Record number of entries from seven nations

22.08.2017 | Fourty-five entries from seven nations

With fourty-six entries from Poland, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium, Great Brittain and the Netherlands the Dutch Championship / Eastersee Regatta looks to be bigger then ever before. The number of entries is even slightly higher than at the Spring Cup. And looking at the entry list we see 4 sailors from the just released world ranking top 20. Soenke Behrens placed 17, Joerg Rademacher placed 16 and Ralf Tietje placed 11, all from Germany will have a hard time with Poland's Tomasz Gaj placed second at the world ranking OK dinghy. For sure men to look out for. But the list is not everything. Two men to also look out for will be Dirk Dame (winner 2016) and Frank Strelow (winner 2015 and 2014). And all the other fast sailors that are a little lower on the list but have winning speed like Marek Bernat (POL), Tony Woods (GBR) and Ralf Mackmann (GER). We are sure everyone will have their opponents to race and make for a great weekend. And of course there's the question who will be the best Dutch sailor and where will he or she end up in the final results. Bring it on!



Francois and Samuel Podevyn are back for the 2017 edition

14.08.2017 | the fleet builds up as the championship weekend approaches

The past years Francois raced his wooden entirely varnished oldskool OK-dinghy with wooden mast at the regatta. Last year his son Samuel also took an OK-dinghy and joined the fleet. He even won a special 'rookie' award being the youngest competitor. This morning we received their entry for the 2017 edition. We welcome them both back to our regatta. In some way they belong to it. Like most sailors keep coming back after their first visit. They make a fleet of 33 entries with one week of pre-entering to go till August 20th. After the 20th the entry fee will be 55 euro's. Still not a lot for entering the Dutch nationals and a free BBQ.



Twenty-nine sailors from five nations and two weeks to go

11.08.2017 | the fleet builds up as the championship weekend approaches

Last week we received ten new entries now that the regatta is approaching. Earlier on we mentioned Remi Blandureau as the first Frenchman. Well he's not coming alone. His countryman, Florent Delacourt, is also on the starting list. Next to them from Germany two strong sailors, Michael Wolf and Ralf Tietje. From Belgium Joris van Baarle and the international family officialy sailing for Belgium, Rod and Jo Andrews. Also more and more Dutch are entering, with Rob Ligtenberg, Harmen de Vries and Bart ter Haar. In the next few days we are counting on more Dutch sailors now that the famous Sneekweek regatta week, where Peter van der Schaaf took the trophy, has been sailed. Right now we have twenty-nine entries with two weeks to go. Promising numbers for an inland regatta !



UPDATED Notice of Race (NOR) and Sailing Instructions (SI)

11.08.2017 | Document updates

With entries growing and numbers looking promising, the official documents have a little update to correct some minor things. Here you'll find the latest versions:

Notice of race 2017 update 01
Sailing instructions 2017 update 01



The French are coming

09.08.2017 | Remi Blandureau, FRA 1769, first Frenchman to sail at Eastersee Regatta

Last week we received an entry from Remi Blandureau from France. It has been a while since the French sailed at an Ok-dinghy regatta in the Netherlands. We are really pleased Remi will race with us. Here Remi is in action at the tour de lacs last april. The word is there will be another Frenchman coming too, but we are awaiting his entry. Right now we have 26 entries from 5 different nations and are expecting approximately 40 to 50 entries by the time the regatta starts, in line with the 42 entries from last year.



Numbers are rising, but who to look out for

17.07.2017 | Eighteen and counting with six weeks to go

With six weeks to go the number of entries is rising and somewhat like last year when we ended up with 42 OK's on the water. As always the number of Germans is large and they are very strong so will there be someone from another country who can take the title this year? Could be, because there's competition form Poland. Marek Bernat, a strong OK dinghy sailor from Poland has entered the competition. Furthermore the Dutch have raised their game. Hessel Hoekstra has been sailing a lot abroad. Kieler Woche, Warnemundr Woche, Lac de Der, etc. Not a lot of Dutch regatta's for him so we don't know if the other dutchmen can keep up. Jan Siebe de Vries (who unfortuantely couldn't race last year) battled Peter van der Schaaf for the Northern district title last week, so they are a match and both fast. And then there is Stephan Veldman who couldn't race a lot this year but we have good hopes he will be on the starting line to defend the honour of being the first Dutch sailor like he was last year. Willem Dijkstra and Sybren Hornstra also proved last year to be able to come close to the front of the fleet, so keep an eye on them too. Rumours are there's a very fast Dutch sailor from another dinghy class moving towards the OK. So perhaps there's a jack in the box for everyone. Six weeks, preparing and counting...



Notice of race and Sailing instructions 2017 are available

01.07.2017 | NOR and SI 2017 available

Preparations are taking shape and entries can be made for the 2017 edition of the Eastersee Regatta / Dutch nationals. The Notice of race and the sailing instructions are available in PDF format to inform you about all the racing details.

Notice of race 2017
Sailing instructions 2017

Please register for the regatta. Entries can be made through the website. The organisation would like to know how much sailors will attend the regatta to ensure a good event, so please registrer in advance if you are going to race with us.



Dutch Championship and the twothousandseventeen edition

19.03.2017 | Preparing for this years edition

Almost april and the organisation of the Eastersee Regatta is already preparing for this international OK-dinghy regatta on the large lake Tjeukemeer in the northern region of the Netherlands called Fryslan. The Dutch OK class association has asked us to organise the 2017 Dutch National Championship. That means this years edition of the Eastersee regatta will be the National Championship just like last year and there are world ranking points to earn. After the succes of Dirk Dame (GER) winning the 2016 Dutch National Championship in an international fleet of 42 OK-dinghies, we are looking for an even larger fleet from more countries competing for the title in this years fourth edition of the Eastersee Regatta.

The racing will again be organised by the 'WSV Zevenwolden'. This local sailing authority is famous for it's skutsjesilen and small boat races and did a marvelous job last year with clean racing lanes on the water. In 1971 they organised an international OK dinghy regatta on the ijsselmeer of the coast of Lemmer. That regatta was a week prior to the 1971 Europeans that were held in Almere. With lots of experience from 1971 to 2017 and the cooperation with OK enthousiast from Fryslan we believe the future of the Eastersee Regatta is in good hands. So we are aiming to organise the Eastersee Regatta as a longlasting yearly event in the forthcoming years, with perhaps even an inland European Championship edition if the OK scene is interested...