F18 Dutch Nats 2014: Van West, Dubbeldam & Larsen Champs

All Images Jasper van Staveren. Fer van West sailed some races with Stefan Dubbeldam and others with Gunnar Larsen, thus the 3 of them are crowned 2014 F18 Dutch Nats! Team racing. Glad to see Bas sailing his Wildcat again.

This weekend I raced here in BA a 2009 Infusion with daggers upgrade. With her owner as crew on his 3rd day on an F18, we sailed against 3 Arg champs crews , with 2 Phantoms and a MKII

7-8 knots , flat & 1 trap mixed conditions. The 2009 Infusion was sailing no speed handicap at all against these 3 2013 top boats & crews.
Another excellent proof of the F18 Rules working to perfection.

I told the owner that he had a boat to perform and the only thing left was training and learning.
Next year we will try to continue adding value to the F18 with a confirmed new project to be built in Europe aiming to lower costs

We need a ‘floating’ Class now and in the long term but we also need to accommodate price ranges against the newer carbon, epoxy flying machines. The F18 has still the fleets and numbers, we need to keep them growing, as the F18 is surely a Class where any sailor or even newbie can start with and experience a long term path of progress, to achieve top level or just enjoying weekend racing.

Full Results for the Dutch Nats 2014 at
https://www.deltalloydodc.org/results.asp?clid=61