Last weekend the Open Dutch Championships were held in Medemblik – The Netherlands. 26 Formula 18 catamarans showed up at the start for two days sailing in very difficult conditions. Again the Dutch trophy was won by a Belgium team, this year by Francis & Michel Proot. Second place was for Patrick Demesmaeker & Gilles Tas who are on fire since 2015. Third place was for Dutchies Oscar Zeekant & Karel Begemann who had a tight fight with Demesmaeker/Tas till the end.
Some Belgium smiles on the podium could not be missed. Francis & Michel Proot had a top event with only one race they didn’t win. Quite an achievement given the circumstances with all kind of breeze during the weekend. On Saturday there was initially relatively little wind, but later there was a nice 4/5 bft during the 3rd race. Sunday seemed to be a day of champagne sailing, but after the first race the wind suddenly disappeared and the cats were floating around. Zeekant & Begemann had a nice battle with Demesmaeker/Tas, but could change this in their favor. The difference with the Belgians was only 1 point at the end of the day, but as they saved the honor to have at least one Dutch team on the podium. On Saturday the virtual podium was claimed by the Belgium teams.
“Especially on Sundays we had very difficult circumstances. The second race was a lottery. The next race had to be stopped halfway. I think it is time for some typical Delta Works for the Dutch F18 sailors. The hard work of our southern neighbors is really paying off into concrete results”, tells Ad Noordzij. Karel Begemann adds: “Too bad we were not scheduled in the morning, this could have been really spectaculair. In the afternoon we had a lot of trouble with the (typical) unstable wind in Medemblik. But, congrats to our Belgian friends, they defeated us again on quality!”
In two weeks, the Dutchies will have the opportunity for revenge during the Open Belgian Championship in Koksijde.
Top 10 results Delta Lloyd ODC 2016 (6 races):
- Francis Proot/Michel Proot (BEL 27) – 8 punten (1-4-(5)-1-1-1)
- Patrick Demesmaeker/Gilles Tas (BEL 1) – 17 punten (5-(11)-2-2-3-5)
- Oscar Zeekant/Karel Begemann (NED 2) – 18 punten (7-(12)-1-5-2-3)
- Philip Hendrickx/Filip Olys (BEL 111) – 20 punten (2-5-(6)-6-5-2)
- Hans van Dam/Marius van Dam (NED 77) – 29 punten (3-7-10-3-6-(23))
- Ad Noordzij/Maarten Noordzij (NED 15) – 30 punten (6-(16)-7-4-7-6)
- Elke Delnooz/Jeroen van Leeuwen (NED 1912) – 34 punten (8-(13)-4-7-11-4)
- Leon Van Dalfsen/Abel Blaauw (NED 112) – 42 punten ((14)-8-9-8-10-7)
- Hans H. Breur (NED 8) – 43 punten (9-1-14-11-(22)-8)
- Jorden Veenman/Frank de Waard (NED 4) – 51 punten (13-18-3-(dns)-8-9)
Full results can be found here. More info about the Open Dutch Championship can here. Pictures can be found in the Delta Lloyd ODC 2016 photo album on the Dutch F18 Facebook page.