German A-Class Open: Photos & Results

By Marco Goetz / VDAC Press Release – Hoekstra, NLD wins International German A-CAT Championship ahead of Bob Baier and Thilo Keller, GER
The 2010 International German A-Cat Championship was held at Scharbeutz on the Baltic Sea on September 3-9, 2010. On the second and third day of competition, the 35 participants from five nations (GER, NLD, POL, SWE, AUT) were immersed into seven beautiful and challenging races with winds from 3 to nearly 5 on the Beaufort scale. Sailing had been cancelled on the first day, because of lots of wind holes and shifty winds.

The overall victory went to Sjoerd Hoekstra NLD 3 (on DNA, 8 pts., based on 4 first and 2 second place finishes) ahead of Bob Baier GER 14 (on NIKITA, 10 pts., based on 2 first and 4 second places) and Thilo Keller GER 45 (on Arrow, 22 pts.). After the second day of the competition – with somewhat more wind and longer wave periods – Bob Baier still held the lead with two first places, then the situation changed on the third day and Hoekstra took the series lead on his DNA with three first places. Thilo Keller was ranked third ahead of Jörg Horn GER 10.

The new Dutch boat design, the DNA, has won the last three national A-CAT championships (CH, NLD, GER) in moderate to strong wind conditions. A clear trend! The class is currently puzzling over whether broad changes are necessary in boat design. However, the new boat has not experienced widespread success in lighter winds.
In a side program to the event, VDAC announced that Utting am Ammersee in Bavaria will host the 2011 International German Championship. Once again, the championship will be held late in the season on October 2011.
Full Race results:
https://www.ycso.de/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=298&Itemid=230