A-Class Dutch Nats @Hellecat 2016: PJ Dwarshuis Champ

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All sailing images courtesy of  Helena Darvelid/Sailrocket sent by Arno Terra. Prize pic by Dutch Assoc. Full sailing gallery at Dutch A-Class Assoc Fb. —
having Dutch & Polish Nats in the same weekend made each event to have mostly locals sailors only, with Rashley attending at Sopot & Emmanuel Dodé and Paul Larsen racing at Hellecat. Pity cause it was a good chance to see how both fleets and designs can rank with Exploder & Dna camp without Mischa & Bundock.

PJ gave himself a Dutch Nats this weekend after the hard work done with the F1 development, hope to see Holland Composites continuing to pursue details,  high quality and customer support which is always the final tool any builder has to show its compromise with their customers.
Rutger Krijger sailing a 2015 Dna only pt behind PJ F1 and tied with Roeland F1 also, we have Mischa 2015 boat here, and I expect to keep performing against a pack of ‘Black Beasts’ coming soon.

Read below complete report sent by Arno Terra from the event, including comments on his proto Heru Soft  Wing and details on the D3 & Dna handling and performance.
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Back in the game

“I did not do any A-cat races since the Europeans in Maubuisson in 2014. Since then I only sailed a few days at Garda and decided to prepare myself the week before the Dutch  Nationals. I did train both with Rutger Krijger and Paul Larsen.

Initially I had problems to get stable flight and when Paul arrived Tuesday I found out why, I was sailing with way too much lift on the rudders and once we had set the rudder angle negative(!) at minus a half degree a new boat emerged and I finally got the prolonged flights I was looking for. No more pop-outs or falling off the foils. Unbelievable how critical the settings are nowadays.

Conditions were wonderful for mastering flying, nice sea breeze with gusts and big lulls. Learning how to survive the lulls and learning how to manage windward heel.  You get windward heel in a lull, if you loose attachment or if your sheet is too loose in a gust. In a moderate lull you have to luff to build up apparent wind, in a real lull you just fall in the water and have to come in, if you loose attachment you have to luff and in a gust you have to pull in your sheet.

The windward heel is risky as you easily slip out of the toe straps and when that happens you land near your forestay. The flying itself has different phases: Skimming, flying at moderate high, flying high and ‘crazy mode’.

You only go fast in the high mode which then easily gets into crazy mode when the boat really starts taking off. Pretty scary in the beginning as it is so fast and steering is so light that I could not believe it would last. Once you start doubting it will last you actually get into trouble.

Fortunately I was training with both Rutger and Paul who just went for it, and both showed that crazy mode can be a controlled mode too. If the boat starts flying too high you just lean and step forward to push the boat a bit down and if that is not enough you ease some sheet and bear off a little  to get some pitch moment out of the rig. And once the boat is more level you pull in the
sheet again tor prevent windward heel and then  boats starts accelerating again.

Once I build up enough confidence and started trusting the foils  I relaxed and started enjoying the fast and long flights. It takes a lot of energy though, not because it so physical but because it takes so much concentration and focus.

In the stronger breeze Paul and I started to practice upwind foiling, which is pretty amazing. At first you get in a skimming mode, then in occasional flying and then full flying. At a certain moment I was in crazy mode upwind and the boat just kept accelerating and I then I started doubting where that would end.

The doubt took away my focus, which immediately caused a big splash. In training the softwing performed really well especially upwind. I was quick and could sail a little bit higher than the others. I felt I could gain some end speed if I could flatten the top a bit more.

Downwind acceleration was good  and when I had prolonged flight I could steer pretty deep. Friday the races started and due to the bad weather forecast the committee run by Menno decided to plan
5! races to secure the championship on the first day.

The first three races were in really light wind without any foiling. The fourth race and fifth race we had finally some good foiling and the DNA gang started to dominate, with some good foiling of me and Paul too.

I was quite happy with my performance in race five where I battled with Roeland and PJ maintained top in the top three the first two rounds but screwed it up in round three by going to the wrong side of the course. Still quite happy I could battle in that race. I was slower in the light wind races than in training, as I used a second version of the softwing which has slightly stiffer battens in the backpanel and this cost me too much grunt in the light air.

Some valuable lessons learned Saturday the breeze was 16-20 kts and the foiling boats started to dominate. PJ, Emanuel, Roeland, Rutger and Paul were all really fast and Paul measured a topspeed of 28 kts. I could not compete as my boat sailed away from the beach by itself, sailed 500 meters full speed without capsizing and crashed into a wall, which damaged my bow. It was stupid to leave my boat unguarded for a few seconds but I think doing 5 races the day before had wore me out too much.

Racing is the best practice as I pushed myself more, Paul used the races to test himself and the equipment too. It was very clear to us that systems are crucial and have to work fine and that taking care of your foils is crucial.

Just some small scratches can cause ventilation. The tape drive system of the DNA is the best system to adjust boar drake while sailing. Jacek is already using a similar system on his D3 too. I swapped from L rudders to T rudders. The T rudder boats are faster and easier not due to the new foils but because Jakub placed the rudders more inside and that way the rudders are no longer in the wake of the vertical.

Just a DNA placed the rudders more inside to keep the DNA rudders out of the wake of the DNA board.With the new position less ventilation and less drag. The 28 kt run was done by Paul with one L and one T rudder BTW. On the water the F1, D3 and DNA 2015 were all competitive. The F1 looks a bit more stable than the the DNA 2015. On the D3 you have to adjust the board rake between upwind
and downwind, which matters less on the F1 and the DNA 2015.

It was interesting to see two completely different board philosophies. The DNA
with the low drag section with deep drag bucket and the D3 with symmetrical verticals and the more linear section on the diagonal. The decksweepers and the better rudderfoils make current boats much better than the 2014 ones.It takes time and effort to master foiling though, but even that is great fun. After two days of racing PJ was leading, but the top four was really close. At the time of
this report I dd not not know if racing was possible at Sunday.

Arno Terra , Dutch Nats 2016 –

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Results Dutch Nats 2016: a-catned.nl/Media/ONK2016.htm

PosHelmNameClassSailNoClubR1R2R3R4R5R6R7R8R9TotalNett
1stPieterJan DwarshuisFoilingNED 28WV Flevo-11-912113443616
2ndRutger KrijgerFoilingNED 14WSVW3-631-731333017
3rdRoeland WentholtFoilingNED 95Hellecat-1042-16242214317
4thEmmanuel DodéFoilingFRA 2SR Vannes1-224(28 DNF)424126818
5thMathias DietzFoilingGER 3SLRV22(27 UFD)351157(28 DNC)9035
6thGertJan KosNon-foilingNed 096ZV Noordwijk7-105-8868866648
7thDavid AartNon-foilingNED 111ZV Noordwijk8-18117(28 OCS)79559852
8thCaroline BeelenNon-foilingNED 41Catclub Zeeland4371431312(28 DNC)(28 DNC)11256
9thPhillip MuyzersNon-foilingBEL 54Catclub Zeeland5-1610159566(28 DNC)10056
10thWim PlokkerFoilingNED 93Hellecat14510 RDGb10 RDGb10 RDGb12-1511(28 DNC)11572
11thFrank MauritzNon-foilingNED 85 61125615(28 OCS)(28 DNC)28 DNC12973
12thTheo van HiltenFoilingNED 8Hellecat-18146-1713101410911176
13thRene MulderNon-foilingNED 80WSV Bestevaer16-241318(28 OCS)879813179
14thPeter SpijkerNon-foilingNED 120ZV Noordwijk9896(28 OCS)913(28 DNC)28 DNC13882
15thBob Leim AhlerFoilingGER 56TO-21-21151316161113713391
16thYvonne NieboerNon-foilingNed 101WSV Bestevaer121927 UFD12101716(28 DNC)(28 DNC)169113
17thEric LampierFoilingNED 12Hellecat19231820(28 DNS)141012(28 DNF)172116
18thJaap StraakenbroekFoilingNED 21Catclub Zeeland131216915(28 DNC)(28 DNC)28 DNC28 DNC177121
19thJosje VerbeetenNon-foilingNED 100Hellecat(28 OCS)1581012(28 DNC)28 DNC28 DNC28 DNC185129
20thArno TerraFoilingNED 7WS Flevo2220141111(28 DNC)(28 DNC)28 DNC28 DNC190134
21stPaul LarsenFoilingAUS 51Club Kiwi171727 UFD414(28 OCS)(28 OCS)28 DNF28 DNC191135
22ndPiet SaarbergFoilingNed 1Hellecat(28 DNS)7192117(28 DNC)28 DNC28 DNC28 DNC204148
23rdGerard AlthofFoilingGER 49BHS 200020131719(28 DNC)(28 DNC)28 DNC28 DNC28 DNC209153
24thTjibbe VeeloFoilingNED 91Hellecat1511(28 DNC)(28 DNC)28 DNC28 DNC28 DNC28 DNC28 DNC222166
25thKlaus RochelNon-foilingGER 9LYC Lubecker Yachtclub(28 DNC)(28 DNC)28 DNC28 DNC28 DNC28 DNC28 DNC28 DNC28 DNC252196
25thJan GrootNon-foilingNED 117de Roerkoning(28 DNC)(28 DNC)28 DNC28 DNC28 DNC28 DNC28 DNC28 DNC28 DNC252196
25thRobbert KantNon-foilingNED 50Catclub Zeeland(28 DNC)(28 DNC)28 DNC28 DNC28 DNC28 DNC28 DNC28 DNC28 DNC252196

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