Thanks to John den Engelsman for this report: We had a record 24 boats at our Nationals from 1-3 November in the Netherlands. Teams from four countries were competing in challenging conditions on Lake Braassem, close to Amsterdam. The Race Committee of Yacht Club Braassem did an excellent job giving us 12 races over 2 ½ days in very different wind conditions. We had no generals recalls, which was primarily due to a fantastic start line and really good race management. Therefore, there were no delays or time wasted between races and starts. All sailors appreciated this professional race management. Friday started with medium wind conditions from a southerly direction, and it seemed that the left side of race course was slightly favored. Teams sticking to this game plan made some good results, and after one day, Team PRO4U (Sweden) was leading before Team Henrilloyd (skipper John den Engelsman) . The second day, we had more challenging conditions. The weather forecast was predicting 22-32 knots of wind, and the J/70 is always fun to sail in these reveling conditions. With top speeds of 21.6 knots, Team GER1377 won the speed prize of this day. Really big smiles on all crew members’ faces on every boat after this race day! The foreign teams proved to be excellent competitors, with the Swedish team (SWE 786) with Patrik Forsgren as helmsman still leading after the first two days of the regatta. And Team GER 13 with skipper Gordon Nickel in second position. The last day of the regatta proved to be totally different. The wind was dying, and the Race Committee gave us four good races in 4-8 knots of wind. The Swedish team started with an OCS, and this proofed to be expensive. The German team (Gordon Nickel) was very solid and scored top 10 results also in this very light wind conditions. The last race was abandoned in a dying breeze of 2 knots. The Race Committee proved once more to make proper decision. GER13 with Gordon Nickel from Cuxhaven finished at the top of the ranking and are winners of the Dutch national title. Team NED 936 (team Maarten Jamin) also sailed a fantastic Championship and just passed the Swedes by one point, climbing the ladder for second position. Team Patrik Forsgren finished third, and Team NED1117 finished just outside the medals in the fourth spot. There was a great prize ceremony every day including free drinks and Dutch ‘Bitterballen’ after racing and sailors’ dinner at the club. The social was well organized by the Dutch Class. This was a great finishing of a fantastic sailing year 2019. Thanks to all sailors who showed up at this event. For more details on the Dutch Class, visit www.keelboatacademy.com.