F18 Worlds 2009: Match Race

I followed the last three races through the live gps provided by the RBSC I had the impression that Coen and Mischa were having a match race in the 7th while both leading, imagine defining a championship and match racing your closest oponent but both being 1st and 2nd and maintaining lead thorugh the finsih line. This says a lot for the level of these two crews, it was a close call between them that could had benefit Rob and Marcus at any error leaving them empty handed.

Coen tells the story at NacraEurope site:
De Koning yesterday: “We were able to focus well until Thursday evening. Then we realized that I could win for the second time in row, against my own expectation.” Before the first start of the last day, the two favourite teams were already close together. De Koning: “We were just above Mischa on the line. After the gun, we were match racing each other till the finish. By doing so, we ran away from the rest of the fleet. It was fantastic. However, we missed the gate in the l ast downwind, as we were probably too busy with positions, so we lost the lead and came second.” At the second start, the Dutchmen didn’t got off the line well and finished eleventh and Heemskerk/Tentij capsized downwind by pitchpoling.
Exciting Stuff:
Meanwhile, it was blowing over thirty knots with squalls coming through. De Koning: “The last race was chaos. A few boats were early over the line at the pin, which gave us bad air. Many teams were pinching, where we decided to loosen the traveller and jib. We were sailing lower, but much faster. At the last gate, we were in third or fourth position, but we capsized. We did extremely careful and we still got blown over. That really annoyed me, as we finished thirteenth.” After the concluding race, De Koning and Visser learned that their rivals Heemskerk and Tentij had a black flag. However, the Englishmen Rob Wilson and Marcus Lynch sailed strongly in the big breeze and gained a few places. After nine races, they were on equal points with De Koning/Visser, but the Dutchmen scored more bullets and won the series and therefore the F18 World Title 2009.
Nacraeurope.com