Hi All, This past weekend, over 130 IPSC shooters came together to compete in the 8th annual Dutch Open. This match traditionally attracts the local Dutch shooters, plus some internationals from Germany Belgium and some other close by regions. This year, we had competitors from as far away as Aruba, Israel and some Scandinavians as well. All is all - a real international event. It was a busy weekend for me, as I was offering a Double-Alpha Academy course during the weekend of the match. The course included a full day of technical training on Friday, and then match coaching during the 2 day event. The match organizes were cooperative as always, and arranged for my students to be squaded together with me. This allowed me to watch their every stage and coach them through the match. When I do this type of coaching in a match, I try to shoot all stages stages first on the squad, so I can then relax and watch my students. I don't believe that this hurts my shooting, but it does make for a long day on the range... After suffering gun problems at the Europeans just a few short weeks ago, I did have concerns that these problems would come again to plague me at this match. But happily, that was not the case. I shot a problem free match - and shot well too! I had only 2 D's the entire match , and shot consistently enough to win every stage, and the match by almost 22%! Needless to say I was happy with that result. The Dutch Open is shot on 2 indoor ranges, although one of them offers one open bay. So most of the match is shot indoors. But this does not make it a dull or boring match by any means! The NPSA organizes have a lot of experience in planning and building interesting indoor stages - and this match was no exception. With the help of portable bullet traps, they were able to build some indoor stages that were every bit as challenging as an outdoor assault stage! Plus you didn't get wet in the rain or burnt in the sun! And you don't loose your brass either... Indoor shooting is not all that bad - don't knock it till you try it. This match always has a relaxed and friendly feel to it. I think that is in no small part due to the fine work the excellent RO's do on the range. They go all-out to make the shooters feel welcome on their stage, and do all they can to help us safely through the stages. For that they deserve our thanks. There were a total of 5 DQs, but these, I guess, could not be helped. When all was said and done, these were the final results: Open results Match:
1 100.00 990.0000 57 Saul Kirsch
2 78.07 772.8835 36 Olivier Franquet
3 77.91 771.3577 64 Marcel van Laar
4 76.55 757.8864 86 Wolfgang Meyer
5 76.00 752.4341 87 Edwin Moesman
6 73.09 723.5417 61 Jackie van Koolwijk
7 69.66 689.6514 84 Patrick Meeusen
8 69.60 689.0479 91 Desiree van Noord
9 65.89 652.3017 3 Erwin Austermann
10 65.69 650.3137 19 Marcel Bus Standard results match:
1 100.00 891.5022 124 Michael Schutz
2 97.64 870.4582 74 Marijan Loch
3 96.28 858.3019 136 John van Uitert
4 95.94 855.2657 130 Joseph van Stokkum
5 91.98 820.0401 11 Adrie de Bot
6 91.93 819.5697 92 Ruud van Noord
7 90.10 803.2713 123 Peter Schouwink
8 87.88 783.4522 107 Horst Witmann
9 84.47 753.0869 134 David Thompson
10 82.83 738.4283 49 Hans Heppenhuis Dees van Noord won ladies (yet again) followed by Israel's Yael Dagan. Germany's Volker Loeffler outclassed the competition in Production, winning it by a 17% margin. And of course, revolver division was easily won by our new reigning European champion Bjorn Dietrich As always, I have my sponsors to thank for their support:
Drummen Custom Guns
Berry's Fmg
Competitive Edge Dynamics (CED)
Mpro-7
Arredondo accessories
Rescomp Handgun Technologies
Lapua/Vihtavuori
Aimpoint
BUL Transmark That is pretty much the end of the European shooting season for this year. I will be shooting the NRW trophy in Dusseldurf later this month, and the Area II in the USA next month. Hopefully, by then, with my new 38Scomp BUL guns! I wish you all great shooting! Saul Kirsch | 
