Mini Worlds: F18 Dutch Nationals
Some big names for this Nationals: 2x World Champ de Koning, Heemskerk, Booth, Brouwer, Larsen , Casey, Bundy and other top world contenders will challenge each other for the local crown.
Caroljin replaces Gunnar in Team Boskalis too, read Diana Bogaards press release:
Team Boskalis enters Carolijn Brouwer (BEL) and Jeroen van Leeuwen (NED) as its occasional crew for the Dutch F18 nationals, to be started on Saturday September 18 in Medemblik/Netherlands. In 2007, Brouwer and Van Leeuwen already competed together in the F18 Worlds and finished seventh. As of tomorrow, the duo will race its Nacra Infusion in the strong battle for the Dutch F18 title. Last weekend, Van Leeuwen and his helmsman Gunnar Larsen (NED) won the North American F18 Nationals in Long Beach/USA. They beat their teammates and current F18 World Champions Coen de Koning and Thijs Visser. “I was very motivated for another Olympic campaign in the Tornado. Unfortunately that is not going to happen, but I still prefer to sail multihulls”, said Brouwer, who represented Belgium at last year’s Olympic Games in China. In 2007, she was the first female helmsman to take silver at the Tornado Worlds, but this spectacular class is no longer on the Olympic program for 2012. However, Brouwer can’t get enough of it. She teamed up with Van Leeuwen for the 2009 Tornado Worlds in Italy. They finished fourth and decided to try their luck at the Dutch F18 nationals as well. Brouwer about their chances: “Well, we are an occasional team of course, but I had my best result ever at the F18 Worlds with Jeroen. He is a very skilled crew and he has a lot of experience with the Nacra Infusion, of which I can certainly learn. And he is a former F18 World Champion, as he and Coen de Koning won the title in 2008.” Brouwer replaces Gunnar Larsen, who is abroad for business. Van Leeuwen is the long-term new crew of Larsen, since Stefan Dubbeldam is currently based in Barcelona for his study.