Last year's winning 470 duo Conti & Micol in action. Image copyright Sander van der Borch.
by Diana Bogaards
Two weeks prior to the Delta Lloyd Regatta 2011, the Dutch World Cup for Olympic and Paralympic sailing in Medemblik, the organization received 603 entries. Including six winners of 2010 and a new record of 61 nationalities. The debut of the Paralympic Sonar class takes a little longer, due to lack of registrations. Meanwhile, the match racing crews continue their training sessions on the IJsselmeer, despite the loss of Olympic status of their class in 2016.
'We obviously followed the ISAF Mid Year Meeting in St. Petersburg with great interest,' said Arjen Rahusen, Chairman of the Organizing Committee. 'We look forward to the return of the catamarans and to even more high performance spectacle with skiff sailors. On the other hand, we regret the loss of the keel boats. As an organization we will miss the audience-friendly action of the match racing.'
This week, the Olympic Dutch match racing squad trains in front of the Regatta Center Medemblik. Coach Mikael Lundh commented: 'The decision by the ISAF Council does not change anything for my team. They can be competitive in anything. We are focusing on this Olympic programand we already had all variations on the program, as that makes you a bettersailor. This means that a few girls will compete in the Round Texel Race and Annemiek Bekkering, reigning European Champion in the 29er and 29er XX, will dothe Kieler Woche in the 29er.'
Lundh also believes that investment in the four Dutch Elliots certainly remains important for the future: 'They can continue to sail those in the commercial market in the context of corporate events, as well as training boats. There is now a small shift towards high performance, but keelboat sailing should remain part of the Dutch federation. 'Next week, the Dutch match racing teams will line up against their Australian sparringpartners in Medemblik.
Title defenders
The current list of participants includes several big names, including the Brazilian golden helmsmen in the Star Torben Grael and Robert Scheidt. They will compete against the winners of last year, the Norwegian duo Melleby and Pedersen. The other defending champions are the Australians Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page in the 470 men, their fellow countrymen Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen in the 49er, the Croatian Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic in the Finn, Tom Slingsby (AUS) in the Laser and Marit Bouwmeester (NED) in the Laser Radial.
Tracing & Tracking & Live TV coverage
In the final weekend of May 29 and 28 all Medal Races will be broadcast live, both by direct television images as well as tracing and tracking. The system follows the positions of the boats and shows them on a map on the Delta Lloyd Regatta website by using 2D and 3D visualization. Therefore, ultramodern GPS technology is used. Not only the position is shown on the website but also speed, rankings, routings, buoy times and distance.
ARMA Rental Sailors Home
This year will be the first time that the Delta Lloyd Regatta offers a central location next to the Regatta office where sailors, crew and public can meet. This is the perfect location for sailors to have a drink and grab a bite, prior, between and after the races. Furthermore, free WIFI will be offered to all laptop users as well as ongoing news and updates concerning the progress of all matches. The highlight of this week will be 'Super Friday' 27th May with live performances on stage.
Medemblik Nautiek
On Saturday May 28, the Delta Lloyd Regatta will be part of Medemblik Nautiek, which combines water recreation and International sail-boat racing. During that dayit is possible to take part in various activities spread around the city. There is a boat show exhibiting new and used boats, a nautical market, water-games for children and live music the whole day. In short: International water sports combined with attractive and exciting water inspired entertainment situated in a historical city. Visit Medemblik for unique entertainment.
Delta Lloyd Regatta
