September 20-21, the Open Dutch Championships F16 were held in Hellevoetsluis. Sixteen F16 teams were competing, of which 11 Dutch and 5 Belgian teams. Nine youth teams were present.
On Saturday the weather forecast showed light wind expectations. The day started foggy, but luckily this passed slowly so that the wind strength could build up to about 10 knots. Four races were sailed on Saturday. Froukje Feenstra and Sanne van Hek were on fire that day and finished with a 2nd place in the first race, continued by winning the other three races! This gave them a nice lead on the rest of the fleet.
Belgian teams were also pretty quick in the light breeze. Team Hendrickx / Olyslager were in 2nd place and Schoote / Baque on 3rd place at the end of the day. Followed by Erwin Kerstens / Jaap Straakenbroek on 4th and Robin & Sander Mineur on 5th place.
Sunday was a totally different day with stronger winds, about 18 average and gusts over 25knts. For some teams this meant a good opportunity to catch up in points and ranking, especially for Dutchies Sanne Wielenga / Thomas the Jong, who sailed really well and consistent, finishing four times in 3rd! The Belgian teams were also very fast in the breeze! Henri Demesmaeker / Emile van Holsbeke were unstoppable and Philip Hendrickx / Filip Olyslager defended their 2nd position. Froukje Feenstra and Sanne van Hek had a though day and definitely won the capsize challenge! Though day!
This resulted in a very well deserved win for Henri and Emile! Philip and Filip in second, followed by Froukje and Sanne who still had enough points from Saturday to represent the Netherlands on the podium.
Full results here: http://www.hellecat.nl/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/ONK-F-16-0141.htm
Report sent in by Froukje Feenstra, The Netherlands