Texel Dutch Open at Zwitserleven Sailing Week - Day 1
by Diana Bogaards 7 Jun 2012 11:24 BST
6-9 June 2012
Wednesday June 6th, the first day of the Texel Dutch Open, part of the Zwitserleven Sailing Week, started calm, but rainy. At the briefing on Wednesday it seemed to be desolate, but during the day the skies cleared and finally the sun concluded the successful racing day. Oscar Zeekant with his crewmember Karel Begemann in the F18 leads after three races. For a moment it seemed that outsider Frits Jongepier won the first match, but he appeared to have skipped a full round and got disqualified after a protest.
After three races Oscar Zeekant and Karel Begemann (F18 C2) are one point ahead of Darren Bundock (AUS) and Jeroen van Leeuwen, also in the C2. Title defenders Mischa Heemskerk and Bastiaan Tentij (F18 Cirrus) are in third place, while former Olympic sailor Carolijn Brouwer with crewmember Wouter Samama is fourth in the competition. Begemann expresses the feeling of satisfaction of helmsman Zeekant and himself: 'Nice weather! Twice we became second and once we finished fourth. We were comfortably in the top three that kept a distance from the rest of the field. We were a bit surprised by the current, though. Because of that a lot of sailors started too early, but fortunately we didn't make any mistakes. In the last race we even pulled back and started in the rear. We wanted to start at the side of the committee boat. There was a good wind, upwind it was jumpy and downwind we dived a little. We got our basic elements back and we are happy with that, considering our bad results at the North Sea Regatta."
Increasing wind
After a calm start this morning, the southeaster picked up and the waves became higher. The circumstances got tougher for the sailors, but it appears to be the calmest day of the week. According to the weather forecast, the wind will increase during this week. At first the racing committee planned to sail as much races as possible, perhaps five, but in the end decided to stick to the original three races. Thursday the wind will increase and Friday it can be stormy. We have to see how many races there can be sailed in total.
Mixed duo Brouwer/Samama
Carolijn Brouwer sails the Zwitserleven Sailing Week again with crewmember Wouter Samama. They haven't sailed together since September. 'It was strange again for both of us", says Brouwer. 'Wouter normally is a helmsman, only while sailing with me he crews. He had to get used to it again. But it went okay. The waves got higher and higher during the day and that is not our cup of tea. The first race we finished second of all the F18's. The second and third race went worse, because the wind increased. Then other sailors overtake us. In the third race we sailed to far out for the buoy and that was stupid. But we fought back well. For us these days are a training for the real job on Saturday."
Nacra Infusion Worlds
Next to the Texel Dutch Open the World Championships Nacra Infusion take place from Wednesday till Friday. Delta Lloyd sailors Coen de Koning and Thijs Visser definitely want to extend their title. Today they made a good start, after three races they are in de lead. 'It went well today", says De Koning. 'We were sharper than two weeks ago and in a good mood. Sometimes it is not harder than that. We planned to do well here and it works. All three races we were far ahead of number two. The sea was smooth in the beginning, so we got good boat speed. Then the waves got higher, but I like a challenge. The results are there. We want to bring the cup home again on Friday of course."
Record attempts fail
Immediately on the first day of the Zwitserleven Sailing Week three teams tried to break the record of sailing around Texel. The fastest time of 2009 still stands though. William Sunnucks and Oliver Egan got closest to the 2009 record of Herbert Dercksen and Mark Bulkeley (2h07m02s). They finished after 2h20m. Ronald and Hans Bouscholte didn't come closer than 2h22m. At the VC mark their rudder grounded and broke.
'That sucked", says Hans Bouscholte. 'We were in the lead at that moment. It was an exciting battle with William and Oliver, but today the record wouldn't break anyway. The wind was not good enough for that. Normally it comes out of the west, today it was out of the southeast. But it was fun to try and strength wise the wind was good. Between the lighthouse and VC buoy the water was shallow and we were grounded several times, because we had to tack. Suddenly the rudder broke. Tomorrow there will be less wind and probably we won't succeed in another attempt."
In the lead
The British duo William Sunnucks and Oliver Egan were equal to the Bouscholte brothers. They also did an attempt last year and were only two minutes short, today more. 'We had to tack to the VC buoy", says Sunnucks. 'That didn't work out well. If the wind were a little more out of the south today, we could have reached to the VC buoy and had another reach leg to the finish. Then probably one of us would have succeeded. On the Waddenzee the wind was stronger though and the waves were choppy. Also it was foggy and the rain blew fiercely in our faces. Altogether it did not work out well. It was fun, but strenuous.
Record alone
Also Alfred de Jong tried to break a record sailing around Texel. On Tuesday he heard that a record alone around the island didn't yet exist and he decided to do something about it. Thus he set the first record today. He concluded his circle around the island in 3h31m in a Nacra F17. 'With this wind I can sail this F17 just about alone", De Jong explains. 'It was severe, especially on the Waddenzee. I have cramps in my hands. Twice I fell overboard and had to swim hard to my boat again. That was tough."
Live broadcast of the start of Round Texel Race
The Texel Dutch Open and World Championships Nacra Infusion are going on until Friday June 8th. On Saturday June 9th the 35th Zwitserleven Round Texel Race will start. The start is between 11 - 12h and will be broadcast live on the website www.roundtexel.com. Saturday morning it will be announced on the website and Twitter what time the live broadcasting begins.
Zwitserleven Sailing Week 2012
The Zwitserleven Sailing Week knows multiple championships and races. The whole event started yesterday June 6th with the Open Dutch Championships Catamaran Sailing and the official World Championships Nacra Infusion 2012. The recreational sailors will sail the Horstocht on Thursday and the Trip to the North on Friday. On Saturday June 9th hundreds of catamarans will participate in the biggest cat race of the world, the Round Texel Race.
The Zwitserleven Sailing Week can be followed through the website www.roundtexel.com, Facebook and Twitter.
Next to Zwitserleven are the sponsors of the Round Texel Race VVV Texel, Paal 17 Events, Treffers/Tenson, Teso, W&H Leibherr en Mondriaan Onderwijsgroep.