News
Reports from Taco Faber NED01. (translated from Dutch)
Sunday CONs 2026
The final day of the RC Laser Championship of Nations was dominated by a massive gust of wind of 18 knots, with gusts exceeding 20 knots.
The D rigs were pulled out of the bags and off we went! Nice waves again as the wind blew past the pontoon and across the lake. With Tjakko Keizer 8 points ahead of the number 2, this promised to be a very interesting final. Tjakko sailed very conservatively to defend and avoid taking risks. I sailed with him in the lead of the field a few times, but it was difficult to keep up with the leaders. However, overall, I didn't score bad points. Made a mistake in race 17; during an evasive maneuver for an approaching starboard boat, pushed sideways by a big wave and crashed into it, resulting in a lap. That cost me 4 places. Sometimes, when the boat sped down the leg between the waves, you could only see your rig, only to be able to see your boat again a few seconds later. Tjakko scored 1, 5, 4, 5 and thus narrowly beat the charging Jim with his 757 by 2 points. The German champion finished 10 points behind Jim. And all this in a field of 32 boats.
It was a fantastic week, truly top-notch organized by the Hannoversche Yachtclub with lunches, a captain's dinner, a boat tour, etc.; and all this in a very social and pleasant atmosphere!
If you would like to sail this abroad sometime, pick a race and take a bit of vacation around it, or better yet; plan your vacation around a race—a wonderful combination.
There are already ideas for a next CON or other major race with the RC Lasers; when, where, etc. is not yet known, but the plans are there.
Regards, Taco NED01
Sat Race of RC Laser Championship of Nations 2026
The unofficial World Championship for the RC Laser, the Championship of Nations (the CONs), was held this year at the Hannoversche Yachtclub on Lake Steinhude (GER). It is a large club, founded in 1906 and home to the FD class in Europe. The FD World Championship was sailed here a few years ago. They also do a lot of youth development (Pico, Opti, Laser, etc.). In addition, Steinhude is a very pleasant town with a nice promenade.
The opening ceremony was held on Tuesday evening by the club president; the mayors of both Steinhude and Hanover also spoke. Competing countries: Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Great Britain, and the Bahamas.
The weather pattern during the first 3 days was very varied: sun, cloudy with occasional heavy showers, wind predominantly from the southeast of 10 to 16 knots with gusts on Friday well over 20 knots.
Mostly C rigging was sailed, sometimes a run on B, but on Friday the last heat of the A pool was on D rigging during a heavy shower, a gust of wind with very high waves.
Tjakko still had some trouble finding his right trim and getting used to the (borrowed) boat again. Jim from the Bahamas sailed strongly, reasonably high, and at good speed. Andreas (GER326), Joerg (GER29), and Christel (BEL168), a few of the favourites, also did well. Peter also had to get used to the boat, had a few setbacks, but ultimately scored a few good places as well. I saw that Tjakko got back into the groove and sailed to 1st place overall on Friday, with a 1-point difference over Jim, the number 2. I had to Working my way up from the C group to the A group, and sailed from 15th place to 6th place. The standings after 13 races on Saturday morning: Tjakko in 1st, Taco in 6th, and Peter in 8th place. On Saturday morning, all the Dutch sailors are within the top ten. Two more days of sailing…
Taco NED01
Final Results and pic's
