On Sunday August 3rd, Coen de Koning and Jeroen van Leeuwen won the 2008 Nacra Championships. The flying Dutchmen took the last three bullets on the final racing day. Xander Pols and Tjiddo Veenstra (NED) won silver, followed by Team Boskalis Sascha Larsen and Christa van Helden (NED). Their battle for podium positions was full on, as they were on equal points going into the last race. A fleet of 29 competing teams enjoyed three days of medium to strong wind conditions off the Belgian coast of Duinbergen at the Royal Belgian Sailing Club.

“It was great”, said helmsman Coen de Koning while rigging down their Nacra Infusion. Today, they had a perfect second start on port tack and took the lead by far. De Koning: “Sascha wanted to do the same in the third race and we tried to avoid that by closing the gap, but we hit the pin end and had to take a penalty turn.” Meanwhile, Pols and Veenstra were smoking to the top mark. De Koning and Van Leeuwen went to the left to make up for their loss: “I saw a wind shift to the left and decided to tack earlier to anticipate, which worked out well. Also because many people over stood the mark.” The Dutchmen rounded the upwind buoy in second position and overtook Pols and Veenstra on the second run. De Koning: “We are absolutely happy with our results. This season’s focus was on the F18 Worlds. After winning the title, the pressure was off and it was mentally hard to stay focussed on other events.” According to Jeroen van Leeuwen, they are now aiming for the highest podium finish at the Dutch F18 Nationals in September.

Duinbergen / Belgium, July 31 2008 -- With one day to go, the organization of the 2008 Nacra Championships expects about forty to fifty entries. Twenty-six teams, representing seven countries, signed up so far. The newly crowned F18 World Champions Coen de Koning and Jeroen van Leeuwen (NED) will be present as well. From Friday August 1st until Sunday Augustus 3rd, the catamaran sailors will compete for the Nacra titles in three classes based on the ISAF rating. Racing takes place on the North Sea along the Belgian coast of Duinbergen (Knokke), with the Royal Belgian Sailing Club as host. A maximum of twelve races are scheduled. The weather forecast looks promising with a breeze of 13-17 knots from the southwest.

“I am happy with the process”, said Gunnar Larsen from Nacra Europe. “Our goal is to revive the ‘Nacra feeling’ of the nineties. In those days, you really did not want to miss any Nacra event.” Although it is about the competition on the water, Larsen emphasizes the significance of the pleasure onshore: “We like people to enjoy their time on the beach and on the course. Drinking a beer in the evening is as important as the battle around the cans next day.”

Last week, Dutch Team Zwitserleven Booth/Nieuwenhuis revealed its revolutionary sail for the Olympic competition in China. Because of the expected light winds in Qingdao, the Tornado duo focused on developing a special gennaker. It is a lot flatter and smaller then the regular gennakers used on the Tornado. That allows the team to use this sail upwind in anything under 12 knots, something which is impossible with the traditional gennaker. Mitch Booth and Pim Nieuwenhuis believe that this will give them a big edge over the other competitors in the predominant light breezes of Qingdao.

”This afternoon, we were able to show its potential for the first time”, said helmsman Mitch Booth on Monday evening. After several days of unusual strong winds, today the conditions were perfect for the new sail, 5-10 knots with plenty of chop and current. These are the normal conditions for Qingdao and Mitch Booth commented: “We sailed laps around the other five boats that joined us on the water and I think they will be scratching their heads tonight. We are fully stretched on the wire in 5-7 knots of breeze, while the other crews are still sitting on the hull.” For months Booth and Nieuwenhuis kept their sail secret while developing it with designer Jay Glaser (USA) and sailmaker Ullman Sails Italy. They worked together with the teams from the USA and Puerto Rico to test and develop. No other competitors where allowed near the training facilities to keep the sail secret as long as possible.

It looks like a long-time catamaran regatta normally held at the Lake Charles Yacht Club in Lake Charles, LA has folded it's tents. I was told by a club officer that the regatta was cancelled by the yacht club board last week.

I had called to get a correct date since there were various reports that the regatta would be held the same weekend as the Hobie Midwinters East at Panama City and I was trying to decide which way to go. Now it seems there is no date conflicts on the gulf coast, so all Hobie sailors are free to head to Panama City for a great event.

Gulf Coast catamaran sailors will no doubt miss the Deep South regatta, which was well known for hospitality and a giant crawfish boil on Saturday night. reminisce about past Deep South Regattas in the Event Forum.

A month prior to the start of the 6th Hobie Tiger and 3rd Hobie Dragoon Worlds in 2008, the South African organization received 74 pre-entries representing fourteen countries. Seventeen youth teams (soon 25 in total) will battle it out on the Hobie Dragoons. The rest of the fleet will line up on Hobie Tiger catamarans (F18). Among them are top ranked sailors, like multiple Tornado World Champion and current F18 World Champion Darren Bundock (AUS) and silver medallist of the 2007 Tornado Worlds Carolijn Brouwer (BEL). The local youth squad is well prepared for an exciting competition in the Langebaan Lagoon on the West Coast of South Africa. The championships will start on Monday March 3rd and finish on Saturday March 9th. For both classes, a maximum of ten races are scheduled.

Langebaan is well-known for its strong winds and flat water. These are not only perfect conditions for the performance of Hobie Tigers and Hobie Dragoons, but also a pleasure for the competitors. Heavy weather specialist Mitch Booth (NED), Olympic medallist and Hobie Tiger World Champion 2003, will be eager to win the title again. But the competition will be full on, as current F18 European Champions Mischa Heemskerk and Bastiaan Tentij (NED) returned to the Hobie Tiger class in which also the local Hobie 16 heroes will try their luck. Among them are three past Hobie 16 Worlds Champions: Blaine Dodds (1998 and current Master World Champion), Shaun Ferry (1993, 1998 and 2005) and Colin Whitehead (1978). And South African most adventurous cat sailor Duncan Ross, he crossed the Drake Passage on a 20-foot multihull, grabs the opportunity to race once more on the highest level. Mixed crew Allan Lawrence (past Hobie 14 World Champ and placed 2nd at the inaugural Tiger Worlds in Italy) and Inge Schabort (past ISAF Ladies World Champ) will join forces in their attempt to win the event.