2009 Vrijbuiterweekend (Siebe Ekels)

Vrijbuiter weekend 2009

It was a typical Loosdrecht weekend, starting with little wind and shifting a lot, the race committee had a hard time starting the first few classes.

I was almost afraid it would turn out to be another race like the dreaded Easter regatta of this year. But the committee decided to get out of the wind shadow and into a real racing area and managed a decent start. The first race was very shifty and hard. But Erik Bakker, Thierry van Viersen, Jan –Jaap Lamme, Luuk Kuijper and Albert Kroon managed to skip the gaps in the wind that absolutely grounded a large portion of the fleet. Too bad Erik Bakker had an OCS for this race. So Luuk took first place.

The second race was the same; light winds, only a little bit of hiking and a lot of shifts and gaps in the wind. Credit should be given where it is due. Erik Bakker came in first again, Thierry , Albert and Fred Richter close on his tail. Witch is quite impressive in this terribly confusing and tough on the mind weather at Loosdrecht. I think I’ve seen about ¾ of the fleet in this race. Every tack could take you up or cost you up to 10 places.
The next day the last race was a nice race until the first mark. In the reach the wind collapsed and everyone who was in the front of the field was anchored while the back of the field was catching up. A frustrating view if you are in front, trust me (my only good first leg). For a lot of people this was too much to handle, so they retired. So the final results are
1. Thierry van Viersen
2. Albert Kroon
3. Ewout Meijer
And me at the tenth place.
For the full results check; http://www.vrijbuiterweekend.nl/

Siebe, NED722