I'm so happy to be Dutch champion again! It was a really exciting battle between Ron Ruiter NED1111 and me for the overall title during the last tour weekend at Tjeukermeer (Friesland, the Netherlands) which started on Friday. During the second last weekend at Hargen aan Zee I injured myself in the first race and that followed me the whole weekend. After this event the gap between Ron and me were only 2 points while we sailed 18 races! So it all came up in the last weekend who should be the next champion. The first 2 days at Tjeukemeer we had no races, only a cancelled race on Saturday in really light and shifty conditions. But even though i did quite good. I rounded the mark in 2nd place behind Roy van Koolwijk NED97 and after this the race was cancelled. So the very last day of the tour(Sunday) the gap was still 2 points with Ron!

Race 1 - Finally the wind picked up and we did the first race. I was out with the TR-2 12.0. I didn't have a really good start but i made up a lot in the first upwind and rounded in 1st place with Roy and Adri Keet NED34 close behind. Roy passed me on the downwind, and i followed him to the downwind mark. We only went to the wrong mark so Adri was able to go into the upwind in 1st position, Roy in 2nd & me in 3th. Again i had a really good upwind and made it to the upwind mark in 1st position again. Roy passed Adri as well, so we went to the downwind mark again. This time straight to the correct one :) Roy managed a high board speed in the downwind again and took the 1st place in the 3th and last upwind. Little by little the wind was picking up more and more and through this i could go faster and higher and again i was 1st at the upwind mark. This time a had a bigger lead then the other times and i managed to keep the lead all the way to the finish. Finally the pressure was off!!! To start with a bullet was really good for me because this meant that i made a gap with Ron who came back strong finishing in 3th place just behind Roy who was 2nd. After this race the weather became really bad with lightning so we had to wait a while before we could do another race.

Race 2 - So after being recharged by Femke ;) we started the 2nd race. The wind was much stronger then the race before so I took the TR-2 11.0. Again my start wasn't so good, but my board speed was really high so i overtook a lot of the guy's again and rounded the upwind mark in 4th place. In the downwind a couple of guy's were having a hard time controlling their gear, also Ron so i was able to overtake Ron and went into the upwind in 3th place. After this the positions didn't change anymore, so i did good business for the overall title because Ron stayed behind me again and knowing that we had another discard made me really happy :D

Race 3 - This time i finally had a perfect start at the boat and i was flying. I couldn't point really high but my speed was super. Again it was a nice battle with Ron again, and in the last reach to the finish he was still in front of me, but because the angle wasn't good anymore he had to tack 2 times to go over the finish. I saw that it was really hard to go to the line but i tried as hard as I could and i made it with 1mm left! So that brought me a 2nd place.

This was the end of the day and it was a nice day. Strange conditions, but exciting racing made it really cool. Overall i won the title again and celebrated this at night with a big dinner. I want to thank all my sponsors who stayed supporting me while i had a hard time. Now i'm off to the worlds in South Korea to see if I can make something happen there.

1. Dennis Littel (F2 / MauiSails / ION)
2. Ron Ruiter (F2 / Fanatic)
3. Roy van Koolwijk (Fanatic)

Thanks again!

Dennis Littel NED 13
www.dennislittel.com
Maui Sails - F2 - Oxbow - Denmar Design - ION