Texel Dutch Open at Zwitserleven Sailing Week - Day 1

Texel Dutch Open day 1 © Thom Touw

On Wednesday, June 22, 2011 the Texel Dutch Open, part of the Zwitserleven Sailing Week, had a rough start along the Texel coast in the north of the Netherlands. The southwesterly wind freshened to force five/six with high waves. Only 36 teams out of the 93 registered boats faced the elements on the race course. The British duo Northrop / Willett is in the lead of the Open Class 1, on equal points with the Dutchmen Mischa Heemskerk and Bastiaan Tentij. Jorden Veenman and Frank de Waard from the Netherlands are third overall.

Flying start for Northrop/Willett

'This is the highlight of the week,' laughs Simon Northrop (GBR). The Englishman and his crew Charles Willett made a flying start at the Texel Dutch Open, the official Open Dutch Championship Cat sailing. The duo commenced the competition in the Open Class I (< 105 rating) in third place and finished the day with a bullet. They are on equal points with favorites Mischa Heemskerk and Bastiaan Tentij from the Netherlands, who scored a 1 and 3. Northrop: 'We were really pleased with the 3rd place in the first race. We are going well upwind. We are quite heavy, so this breeze suits us. In the second race we just did everything right, certainly upwind and we held it downwind. Coen over stood slightly the lay line and we tacked early on him, so we got him."

Fresh World Champions submerged

The fresh Nacra Infusion World Champions Coen de Koning en Thijs Visser didn't get as well off the starting blocks as earlier today. The golden boys of this morning submerged twice in the afternoon at the Open Dutch championships. They sailed to a ninth and second place and are fifth overall at the moment. De Koning: 'It wasn't exhaustion, but we just made stupid mistakes."

Girl power in Open class 2

'Almost everyone dropped out," says Ingrid Bakker (NED). She refers to the Open class 2, the boats with a rating over 105 (the smaller cats). Finally only three of the ten registered teams did start. Bakker and her helmsman Dominique van Asselt did fight the elements boldly. "We also capsized three times. The third time the rudder cam flipped, so we sometimes had to both hang onto the rudder when we were bearing away", she laughs. The two girls are third overall. Alfred de Jong is in the lead with his Nacra 17, followed by the local favorites Dirk Pool with Anna van der Duim.

Slalom windsurfing Worlds: Bernd Flessner in the lead

The 45 slalom windsurfers had again perfect conditions for exciting racing. Three elimination rounds were sailed, instead of the scheduled four series. Bernd Flessner from Germany won three of them and leads by seven points already. Damien Le Guen (FRA) and local Adriaan van Rijsselberghe are respectively second and third on equal points. Van Rijsselberghe: 'It was great. I have two seconds and a fifth. At the end of the day there was more wind, so fortunately we had three and not four eliminations. You can also see everyone with red, tired heads around. It was hard.'

Texel Dutch Open after Day 1: (top 5, 2 races)

1. GBR - Northrop/Willett, 4pts
2. NED - Heemskerk/Tentij, 4pts
3. NED - Veenman/De Waard, 6pts
4. GBR - Piggott/Garcka, 10pts
5. NED - De Koning/Visser, 11pts

Zwitserleven Sailing Week 2011

The Zwitserleven Sailing Week brings together multiple championships and races. The entire event commenced on Monday, June 20 with the Nacra Championships, including the official 2011 Nacra Infusion Worlds. The Nacra races lasted until Wednesday morning, because that afternoon the Dutch Open Catamaran Championship begins. The Dutch Catamaran Champions will be crowned on Friday, June 24. In addition, the Shorttrack Races will take place on Friday. For the recreational sailors there are tours on Thursday and Friday. The Slalom Windsurfing Worlds have their finals on Saturday, June 25, the day on which hundreds of catamarans sail around Texel.

The entire Zwitserleven Sailing Week is to be followed via the website www.roundtexel.com, Facebook and Twitter.

Besides the title sponsor Zwitserleven, the Round Texel race is also made possible by the following sub sponsors VVV Texel, Paal 17 events, Treffers / Kappa, Teso, W&H Leibherr, TNG Watches and Mondriaan Onderwijsgroep.