Young Teams Performing Well During the North Sea Race

Young teams performing well during the North Sea Race © Bolsius Bouscholte

The turn out has been great for both the Vuurschepen Race and the North Sea Race, the weather cooperated and we are happy to see many young faces on the starting line. Remarkable were the big boat teams Rotterdam Offshore Sailing Team(ROST) and Team Bolsius Bouscholte filled with young talents in training and furthermore, the double handed father and son duo on board the Salona 37 Silver. The boys and girls of ROST performed extremly well while clearing out the awards table. Other teams frequently passing the podium were "Gast Vrij" skippered by Anita Bakker and John van der Starre's "Ajeto".

After a great Vuurschepen Race and fun packed lay day in the UK competitors geared up on the morning of May 31st, 2019 for tthe North Sea Race hosted by RORC. In good spirits and somewhat rested teams paraded out to the starting area where the race committee got the starting sequence going on time. The teams raced through the night crossing back to the Dutch side and to the finish in Scheveningen. Boats finished all day on June 1st, the first boat crossed the line around 6am and the last one arrived one day later. Upon arrival in the harbour competitors were greeted by the North Sea Regatta RIB while being handed welcome home beers and had a real Dutch dinner and live music from Hopscotch waiting for them in 't Spuigat, the club house of Jachtclub Scheveningen. The offshore portion of the North Sea Regatta was concluded with the awards ceremony on a very warm and sunny Sunday afternoon at the team base home of the Dutch Americas Cup where the talents of team Bolsius Boudragon served bitterballen sponsored by Hagoort Sails.

After staying close to the fleet, the boys and girls from ROST decided to split and take a different route, while meeting up for a close finish with their opponents. While being a winner of multiple trophies, receiving the "Hans Horrevoets Memorial Trophy" was the most emotional moment of the award ceremony. Hans' two daughters came to Scheveningen to present the winners in person with their "Daddy's Trophy".

Il Corvo started out in the double handed division for the Vuurschepen Race and had the remaining crew arrive for the North Sea Race. Winds were favourable with 12 knots at the start in the last division. After the team reached the windward mark it was a smooth and fun downwind crossing. On the way the they had some exciting battles with Junique, Hubo and Visione who had started before them.

What started out a little rough with a late start on the Flyer, the fully restored Whitbread Round the World Race from the 1977/1978 edition, turned around quickly. The navigation was on point getting them where they wanted to be. The crew almost forgot that they were racing when they were accompanied by dolphins and almost thought they were on a pleasure cruise in the Mediterranean.

It was smooth sailing for the Rosetta until the wind dropped and they finally crawled over the finish with 0.3 knots sog.

The young talents on board of Boudragon were the first to reach the windward mark after a good start at the pin en of the line. Once they reached the windward mark it was the ideal course to hoist "Sharky" the 21 year old original Volvo Ocean Race spinnaker. Around midnight the talents received a surprise escort from dolphins which added to the excitement, but the adrenaline peaked during the last 20 miles of the race as they pushed the boat for speed during a tacking battle with Baraka and van Uden.

Event website: nsr.nl
Full results: www.manage2sail.com/e/event/NSR2019

Overal lResults and Perpetual Trophies:

ORC 1:
#1 Rotterdam Offshore Sailing Team; Van Uden
#2 OlympiX; OlympiX
#3 Team Bolsius Bouscholte; Boudragon

ORC 2:
#1 Rutger Krijger; Jack Rabbit
#2 Peter de Ridder; Checkmate
#3 Radboud Crul; Rosetta

ORC3:
#1 Anita Bakker; Gast Vrij
#2 Wolfgan Doczyck; Dicke Bank
#3 Pieter Hoog; Off Course

Double Handed:
#1 John van der Starre; Ajeto
#2 Erik van Vuuren; W36 Hubo
#3 Chris Revelman/Pascal Bakker; Junique

SW Class:
#1 Windfall Experience; Windfall
#2 Team Fingold; Fingold
#3 Team Germaine; Germane

Perpetual Trophies Vuurschepen Race:

All classes; Line Honours | "Golden Joris" Vuurschepen Line Honours Trophy | Van Uden ROST; Gerd-Jan Poortman
ORC 1; 1st place | "Dolfijn" Award | Van Uden ROST; Gerd-Jan Poortman
ORC 2; 1st place | 1938 Maas Wissel Beker | Jack Rabbit; Rutger Krijger
ORC 3; 1st place | AJH Dokkum 1964 | Gast-Vrij; Anita Bakker
IRC 1; 1st place | Maas-Vuurschepen Trophy | Van Uden ROST; Gerd-Jan Poortman
IRC 2; 1st trophy | Noordzee Week Trophy | Decatur; Arjen de Zeeuw
ORC 2H; 1st plaace | The Friendship Bowl | Ajeto; Robin Verhoef
SW; 1st place | Henk Kraan Trophy, IMS IV | Windfall Experience; JW van Gelder
All classes | YellowBrick Trophy | Fingold Christian van Eken
All classes | Hans Horrevoets Memorial Trophy | Van Uden ROST; Gerd-Jan Poortman