3 D-Ones gathered in Bruinisse together with 50 other skiff boats for the Dutch Open Skiff Trophy. The event was hosted by Aquavitesse, in the marina of the town. They offered perfect launching conditions for the fleet, very good and clean facilities in the marina and a very good race officer in the form of Bob Wainwright (Arky) taking the right decisions. There was a friendly and relaxed atmosphere amongst the sailors showing no boundaries between the different classes. Like many times, the D-Ones caught a lot of attention with many people taking pictures while rigging.
After the skippers meeting, the fleet launched from the nearby beach and headed out of the marina to sail 3 races. The first 2 races, Al achieved good starts on a busy start line at the pin end which gave him free wind. Both times he made good gains at the left middle side of the course reading the wind very well. As everybody saw him going fast on the left, the 3rd race more people tried to start at the pin, but still Al showed the quickness of the D-One on upwind legs still arriving in top 5 position at the windward mark. This resulted in a tight battle with some ISO toppers and an incredibly quick RS Vareo (sailed by Nik Crickmore who has been seen in a D-One earlier this year at Lipno). After day 1, Al would end up 2nd in the provisional general ranking.
More in the back of the fleet, Vanessa and Philippe were fighting out a duel for 2nd and 3rd D-One. Vanessa managed to stay ahead of Philippe in 2 of 3 races but in the provisional ranking they ended up on equal points. In the evening, all sailors enjoyed a lovely meal at the sailors dinner in the marina restaurant.
On the next day in lighter airs, Al suffered a bad day having difficulties finding the pace he had showed the day before finishing with two 6th places. This resulted in him losing one place and dropping to 3rd overall. Philippe on the other hand seemed much quicker than he was on Saturday after he had some cracking starts. In the final ranking, Al took the bronze medal home to the UK. Philippe ended 16th, showing the small rig being competitive amongst the other skiffs. Vanessa took 18th place.
On Sunday afternoon, all sailors went back home after a beautiful event which was held on a fantastic location. Next year, we hope to welcome even more D-Ones at this great event with excellent value for money.
Full race results are available for download here.
