2003 Round Texel Race

Action from the 2003 Round Texel Race © Annemiek van Kinderen Photography

Action from the 2003 Round Texel Race © Annemiek van Kinderen Photography

7 Uk Teams made the trip to Texel for the worlds largest catrace, 540 teams started in near perfect catracing conditions a westerly force 4 with bright sunshine, the start was crucial to the race and if you got it wrong clear air was extremely hard to come by.

The best of the British starters Olympic hopefuls Leigh McMillan and Mark Bulkely sailing their Tornado started at the outboard end of the line and powered away to lead the fleet, Simon Northrop and Chris Field sailing there new Tornado for the first time opted for a safer mid line start which also paid handsomely as on the first reaching leg to the Lighthouse at the north end of the island they were also in the top 5, Tim Swinburn sailing his Shadow had been hit on the start line by a Nacra which had resulted in a broken tiller bar and after stopping to bodge it back together with a paddle found himself way back. Hugh Styles and Marcus Lynch sailing a works Nacra F18 was also right up there with the leaders and was having a good battle with the other works Teams from Hobie who had turned up with Guns blazing in the form of Mitch Booth, Gavin Colby and Darren Bundock (sailing with Will Howden).

The second leg from the lighthouse to the VC buoy allowed a downwind slalom with kites set and McMillan still leading from the M20 of Gunnar Larsen, Northrop had dropped to about 10th due to a large nosedive just before the lighthouse which had seen him damage his leg and good work from his crew had stopped the boat going over. After the VC buoy the course turns south allowing a close fetch around the back of the island perfect conditions to get close to the record of 2 hrs 30 mins. McMillan still setting the pace from the M20 of Larsen and the Tornado of Dutch Sailmaker Peter Vink, Styles still right on the heels of the 3 hobie works teams and Northrop Clawing his way up the field to 6th just behind Booth and Bundock.

Once through the gate at Oudeschild the course follows the coast until the southern end where it turns west up into a narrow channel with a heavy tide against and the wind on the nose, tactics for this part kept everyone close inshore although Northrop struggling with his injury kept the tacks down to a minimum and although having overtaken Booth and Bundock earlier to get up to 4th the Hobies were tacking quicker and eventually passed him on this leg. Once through the channel the fleet could crack off for the finish and this allowed some spectacular sailing through the Legendary Texel surf. McMillan and Bulkely by this time were leading the fleet by about a minute and looking good for line honours but as they crossed the finish line no gun, once they got ashore they found that they had been OCS and after appeal video evidence showed them to be 10 seconds over. This left the prestigious line honours to be decided by either the M20 of Larsen or the Tornado of Vink and how close this was to be as within metres of the finish Vink passed Larsen to take the honours with a finish time of 2.37.19 only 7 minutes of record pace.

Northrop and Field finished 1st uk boat on the water and 6th across the line with a time of 2.41.51 coming 2nd in class beating many Olympic Tornado Teams in the process and were Elated with there race. Styles and Lynch finished in a time of 2.45.59 and came 4th Overall and 4th in class. The Unicorn of Dan Jarman also had a good day to come 2nd singlehander and 37th overall.Tim Swinburn recovered well to finish 80th Overall.

More Information:

• Round Texel website