The 2019 edition was sportive, sunny and a lot of fun
01.09.2019 | Full report of the Dutch nationals
A total of 41 sailors brought their OK-dinghies to Oosterzee for the sixth edition of the Eastersee Regatta and this year's Open Dutch Championship. One Frenchmen by the name of Remi Blandureau drove 600 kilometers to be there. One young gentleman from Germany, by the name of Jonas Kroner. was only 15 years of age and battled against men that have well over 15 years of experience in an OK-dinghy and grey hair. This year's only female competitor was Jo Andrew form Belgium. Next to the big and strong delegation from Germany there were Belgians and fourteen sailors from the home country. Half of the fleet arrved on friday. Some spend a little time on the water, but there was little wind to play with. Stephan Veldman took his newly bought NED 682 on the water for the first time and was pleased it floated. After some small adjustment his boat was ready for the championship. In the evening most of the sailors went to the cafe restaurant Tjeukemeer for some food and good conversations along with some cold beers.
Saturday morning started with clear blue skies and sunshine that would soon heat up the day. Sailor were informed that because of weather predictions the race officer would lke to get 5 races in today and all sailors agreed. The wind blew at around 6 knots when the fleet moved to the sailing area. At 11.30 the first warning signal sounded and the fleet took of for the first race. The wind was a bit tricky for both the sailors and the race committee. Up and down and a little shifty. The legs were long and in the end Wolfgang Hofener took the race. Stephan veldman showed his intentions with a second place. Gerd Breitbart took third. The second race had improved conditions. A bit more and steady wind. The course was shortened a little and racing was on for four more races of around 40 minutes with gradually builing wind from 8 to 11 knots. The second race was won by Dirk Dame, the Dutch champion of 2016. Wolfgang took a second and Ralf Mackmann took third place.
In race three Wolfgang showed he was here for the title, battling with 2014 and 2015 winner Frank Strelow. Frank was early over the line at the start so his best race of the weekend unfortunately ended in an OCS. Wolfang took the race. Ralf came in second and Dirk third. Then in race four the sailors showed even more eagerness with an OCS for Ralf and Wolfgang. With Stephan winning this race, the championship was open and tight. In the final race of the day Jorg Janhsen was in the front of the fleet after a 'black flag' start. And the first four sailors in the general ranking couldn't keep up with him. Jorg took the race win and Wolfgang sailed to second spot, just before Stephan. Five races is a lot, so everybody went in for the shore to pack up the boat and get something to drink. The warm weather made all sailors thirsty. After a quick shower and some rest we started the BBQ. Mark Wildenberg showed himself a master BBQ chef. Soon everyone, sailors, family and friends were enjoying the delicious food, salades and drinks. On top of that Rod Andrew took his guitar and sang with passion. Ingrid was put on the spot and with a 'happy birthday' song we celebrated her birthday. What a nice evening and for some a late evening...
Sunday again started with a blue sky and sunshine. Wind predictions were low, but there was some wind so the race officer and his crew layed down a course on the water and most of the fleet took their dinghies out. At 10 o'clock the warning signal sounded and we were up for a start. But within the starting procedure the wind dropped to zero. Racing wa spostponed. And after 45 minutes without steady knots and direction the decision was made to cancel racin for the day. The choice to sail an extra race on saturday proved a good one for the championship. The necessary five races needed for the championship, were sailed on saturday already. We had a new Dutch Champion, Wolfgang Hofener ! Stephan Veldman was the first Dutchman to sail to the podium of the Dutch nationals in the 21st century. A great achievement in this strong fleet. Ralf Mackmann, always racing in Oosterzee, needs to come back next year to again try and win his first Eastersee Regatta. Writer of the nice German report, Dirk Dame, came in fourth.
The Dutchmen
So the fastest Dutchman was Stephan in his new Synergy OK dinghy. But what about the others from the home country? Jan Siebe de Vries did really well on his home water. Wth a 6, two 9's and a 13 he reached the top 10 in the refitted Kjolhede NED 672. Sneekweek winner Peter van der Schaaf took a 4 in race 3 and with an added 14, 15 and 16 he ended up in place 15 as the third Dutchman. Johan Geenen sailed to 17 with a best score of 10 in race 4. Sipke Hoekstra reached to place 24. Siebe Gerritsma, Mark Wildenberg and Robert Bancken battled to the places 26 through 28 in that order. We find Lex Rijnink at place 31. Rob Ligtenberg at place 33. Jef Delhez in his east German OK dinghie managed to get to 35. The last three places in the ranking went to Lex Vogelenzang, Bart ter Haar and the unfortunate Mark Bosma. The last started the day sharp with an OCS and in race four he lost the rudder and went upside down. Mark is new to the OK, had a great weekend and we hope he will bring his proven Olympia dinghy skills to our class.
Pictures
A lot of sailors and a lot of pictures. Here are the image that were shot during the weekend of the Open Dutch Championship 2019 at the lake Tjeukemeer near Oosterzee in the Netherlands.
Photo album 2019 (Lizet en Wietze Huitema)
Wolfgang Höfener is the Dutch National Champion 2019
25.08.2019 | Very pleasant weekend and a new winner
In very hot and sunny conditions the 2019 title is won by Wolfgang Hofener from Germany. Allways staying out of trouble and making smart choices on the water he sailed to firsts and seconds with an OCS in race 4 within a series of 5 races. Because wind expectations for sunday weren't that hopeful, 5 races were sailed on saturday, just in case. Sunday morning looked not that bad, but with the starting procedure underway at around ten o' clock, the wind failed and the race officer had to suspend racing. An hour later the decision was made to abandone all racinf for the day because of weather predictions.
Stephan Veldman, was the first dutchman to get on the podium of the Dutch nationals OK-dinghy in the 21st century. A well deserved result after on the edge racing in his new Synergy boat he received only a few days earlier. In third place a man that has sailed many times at the Eastersee Regatta and is a familiar face on our podium, not winning the regatta yet though. Ralf Mackmann was pleased with his result and we are sure we will see him back next year.
Throughout the field there we saw battles, but all fiendly. The social side was for a large part covered by Rod Andrew who had a terrific non-acoustic set for the racers, family, friends, volunteers and a few locals. Good food, free beer and lots of conversations. As organisers we look back on a very nice sixth edition. Room for improvement, but very pleased with were we are at the moment enjoying this great class at a pleasant venue we make together. See you all and perhaps even more sailors and friends, next year somewhere in the end of August 2020 !
A larger report and all pictures will follow in a few days..
Full results
| # | Sailnumber | Name | T | N | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 |
| 1 | GER 3 | Wolfgang Höfener | 48 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 1 | (42) OCS | 2 |
| 2 | NED 682 | Stephan Veldman | 20 | 13 | 2 | (7) | 7 | 1 | 3 |
| 3 | GER 773 | Ralf Mackmann | 55 | 13 | 4 | 3 | 2 | (42) OCS | 4 |
| 4 | GER 75 | Dirk Dame | 59 | 17 | (42) OCS | 1 | 3 | 8 | 5 |
| 5 | GER 784 | Claus Stockhardt | 44 | 25 | 5 | 6 | 6 | (19) | 8 |
| 6 | GER 9 | Thorsten Schmidt | 50 | 27 | 10 | 8 | 5 | 4 | (23) |
| 7 | GER 59 | Jörg Janhsen | 44 | 31 | 11 | (13) | 8 | 11 | 1 |
| 8 | GER 10 | Christian Heinze | 48 | 32 | 8 | (16) | 9 | 3 | 12 |
| 9 | GER 607 | Gerd Breitbart | 76 | 34 | 3 | 17 | (42) OCS | 7 | 7 |
| 10 | NED 672 | Jan Siebe de Vries | 60 | 37 | 6 | 9 | 13 | (23) | 9 |
| 11 | GER 79 | Frank Strelow | 79 | 37 | 12 | 10 | (42) OCS | 9 | 6 |
| 12 | BEL 15 | Marc vande Ghinste | 66 | 39 | 14 | 5 | 14 | 6 | (27) |
| 13 | GER 13 | Frederik Roentgen | 59 | 40 | 7 | 11 | (19) | 5 | 17 |
| 14 | GER 66 | Christian Kirchner | 78 | 44 | (34) | 4 | 10 | 2 | 28 |
| 15 | NED 12 | Peter van der Schaaf | 72 | 49 | 15 | (23) | 4 | 16 | 14 |
| 16 | GER 821 | Jochen Lollert | 78 | 54 | 16 | 14 | 12 | 12 | (24) |
| 17 | NED 678 | Johan Geenen | 87 | 63 | 13 | 19 | (24) | 10 | 21 |
| 18 | GER 697 | Jörg Posny | 84 | 64 | 18 | (20) | 16 | 15 | 15 |
| 19 | GER 673 | Volker Klinger | 86 | 64 | 19 | (22) | 11 | 21 | 13 |
| 20 | FRA 2306 | Remi Blandureau | 93 | 66 | 9 | (27) | 21 | 17 | 19 |
| 21 | GER 539 | Uli Borchers | 100 | 70 | 17 | 12 | 23 | (30) | 18 |
| 22 | BEL 227 | Massimo Angelino | 105 | 73 | 20 | 15 | 18 | 20 | (32) |
| 23 | GER 81 | Jan-Dietmar Dellas | 115 | 76 | 25 | (39) | 17 | 14 | 20 |
| 24 | SWE 2786 | Sipke Hoekstra | 109 | 84 | 21 | (25) | 20 | 18 | 25 |
| 25 | GER 829 | Bernd Schulz Stücher | 118 | 85 | 24 | 26 | 22 | 13 | (33) |
| 26 | NED 670 | Siebe Gerritsma | 124 | 92 | 27 | 30 | (32) | 25 | 10 |
| 27 | NED 652 | Mark Wildenberg | 139 | 97 | 31 | 29 | 15 | (42) OCS | 22 |
| 28 | NED 99 | Robert Bancken | 139 | 97 | (42) DNF | 24 | 35 | 27 | 11 |
| 29 | GER 820 | Heinz Ridder | 126 | 98 | (28) | 21 | 27 | 24 | 26 |
| 30 | GER 746 | Jonas Kroner | 129 | 99 | 26 | 18 | 29 | 26 | (30) |
| 31 | NED 668 | Lex Rijnink | 146 | 104 | 22 | 28 | 25 | (42) OCS | 29 |
| 32 | GER 14 | Wilhelm Kath | 146 | 104 | (42) OCS | 31 | 26 | 31 | 16 |
| 33 | NED 473 | Rob Ligtenberg | 143 | 107 | 23 | (36) | 31 | 22 | 31 |
| 34 | BEL 1 | Rod Andrew | 154 | 118 | 29 | 33 | 28 | 28 | (36) |
| 35 | NED 665 | Jef Delhez | 168 | 126 | 30 | 32 | 30 | (42) OCS | 34 |
| 36 | GER 24 | Karsten Kath | 174 | 132 | 32 | 37 | 34 | 29 | (42) DNF |
| 37 | BEL 29 | Jo Andrew-Becker | 174 | 136 | 33 | 34 | 37 | 32 | (38) |
| 38 | BEL 207 | Francois Podevyn | 176 | 139 | (37) | 35 | 36 | 33 | 35 |
| 39 | NED 671 | Lex Vogelenzang | 186 | 145 | 35 | (41) | 39 | 34 | 37 |
| 40 | NED 674 | Bart ter Haar | 188 | 148 | 36 | (40) | 38 | 35 | 39 |
| 41 | NED 680 | Mark Bosma | 195 | 153 | (42) OCS | 38 | 33 | 42 DNF | 40 |
last week before racing
19.08.2019 | Fourty sailors and weather predictions
With a few cancelled entries we now have fourty sailors on the list. A nice fleet for racing in our championship. And we are closely monitoring the weather. Predictions (don't pin us down on this) are we will have a hot and sunny weekend with a nice little breeze. 25+ degrees and 7-10 knots (3 bft) of windspeed. But we all now that's just predictions. In our earlier preview we looked at the international fleet and who to watch out for. But what about the Dutchmen, who is who and who will be up for the best ranked Dutch sailor in the championship. Stefan de Vries, who sailed to a 5th place in this years Europea championship couldn't make it. But we have Olympia dinghy racer, Mark Bosma, who will be sailing Stefan's boat. From the solo dinghy we have Mark Wildenberg. We are looking forward to their competition. A couple of weeks ago we had the famous Sneekweek in the Netherlands. Will Sneekweek winner Peter van der Schaaf maintain his flow for the championship? Or will he be challenged by Sneekweek race winners, Johan Geenen and Rob Ligtenberg? Last year Stephan Veldman was the best Dutch sailor in the championship. Can he sail to the podium this year? And what about local hero Jan Siebe de Vries on his home water. Lot's of questions, a lot to look forward to. Last preparations and we look forward to meeting you on thursday, friday or saturday morning !
14 days preview
10.08.2019 | The fleet of thirty-five and who to look out for
The lake Tjeukemeer is waiting. With two weeks till racing, let's take a look at the fleet. We have 35 entries. That already is a nice fleet. Looking at the names we see a lot of familiar sailors, but also new names who will be attending our regatta for the first time. You know we appreciate everyone and we see nice and fair battles throughout the fleet each year, but we are also curious who will become the 2019 champion. Could we finally get a non-German winner? And will it be a Dutch winner?
The july world ranking list shows that we have eight top 100 entries. Six German and one Dutchman. Ranked 99 we find the winner of the 2014 and 2015 edition Frank Strelow. Last year he coulnd't make it to the regatta but we are pleased he will be racing with us in 2019. Ranked 92 we see Ralf Mackmann, als a regular visitor of Eastersee. 78th Jan-Dietmar Dellas who came in third at the Warnemunde woche perhaps is in sailing on the flow from that. Then at 76, 2016 Champion and never missed an edition, Dirk Dame. Always sailing strong and consistent. At ranked 62 we find 2017 winner of the Eastersee Regatta Joerg Rademacher, glad he is with us. Then the only attending Dutchman from the world ranking top 100, ranked 48, Stephan Veldman. Our hopes for a Dutch victory will be on his shoulders and we know he is eager for a podium spot and winning one or mother races like he did last year battling on the front row. 2018 Dutch Champion, Andreas Pich, confirmed his entry. Ranked 40 in the world he will be hard to beat. But best ranked ranked sailor right now, at place 33, is Wolfgang Hofener. Wolfgang was the 2018 runner up. With two weeks to go, we are still looking for some new entries and OK dinghy racers from last year to enter for the 2019 championship. So spread the word and invite OK friends !!!
Twenty-six and counting
29.07.2019 | Fleet is growing with four weeks to go
With four weeks to go till the start of the Dutch Championship, entry numbers are growing. At the moment we have twenty-six entries form four nations. The Belgian sailors were the first to enter, then the Germans and some Dutch sailors. Remi Blandureau from France will defend French nation. Dutch sailors will sail at the traditional Sneekweek in the first week of August and we expect them to enter for the championship right after. With those regatta results incoming we can take a look at the Dutch aces and if one of them is up for challenging the always strong German delegation this year. We are looking forward to seeing all sailors, family and friends in the last weekend of august !!
Notice of race and sailing instructions 2019
12.07.2019 | NOR and SI and twenty-one entries
The notice of race (NOR) 2019 and the sailing instructions (SI) 2019 are available for download. At this moment we have twenty-one entries and the list is growing. We welcome sailors that have never before been sailing in our regatta and we see a lot of familiar names. We are looking forward to the event and are welcoming more entries...
Fleet builds up during the summer
29.06.2019 | fourteen entries from BEL, GER and NED
With the summer full present and the Europeans behind our back, the focus is on the races to come. Already fourteen sailors from Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands have entered for this years Dutch Nationals. With some new names on our list, and a growing Dutch homefleet, we are aiming for fifty OK sailors by the end of august. Chances for a Dutch win are increasing with Stephan and Stefan who showed good competition in Kiel. But it's all about fun and serious racing throughout the fleet like always. Hope to see you there !
Dutch Championship and the twothousandnineteen edition
06.05.2019 | sixth edition in the making
May and with the spring cup behind us, the organisation of the Eastersee Regatta is preparing for this years international OK-dinghy regatta on the large lake Tjeukemeer in the northern region of the Netherlands called Fryslan. The Dutch OK class association has, again, asked us to organise the 2019 Dutch National Championship. That means the sixth edition of the Eastersee regatta will be the National Championship just like last year and there are again world ranking points to earn. After the succes of previous editions with up to 48 OK-dinghies, we are looking for an even larger fleet from more countries competing for the title in this years 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 years. We are very pleased that we will organise this international OK-dinghy event for the sixth time in 2019. We are on our way to become a small traditional event perhaps. Please feel welcome to our province and the hospitality of the region.