De Koning/Visser take the lead

As the cats take to the water in the Texel Dutch Open at Zwitserleven Sailing Week

The Texel Dutch Open, the official Dutch Catamaran Sailing Championship, started on the second day of the Zwitserleven Sailing week. The fleet of 70 cats sailed two challenging races. At the end of the day, Team Boskalis De Koning/Visser is in the lead, followed by their team mates Styles/Van West.

The windsurfers did not sail any races, because of the unfavourable conditions. In the morning, the onshore wind was so strong, that team De Koning/Visser, sailing a F18 Nacra Infusion, tried to break the Round Texel Record, but by the end of the day, the breeze weakened to a meagre five knots.

Once the waves had diminished, the cats started their first race with about eight knots. Team Heemskerk/Tentij won the first race in the F18 class. Helmsman Mischa Heemskerk said: "The communication went very well, and we were focused." Although the sea surf was still choppy, this didn't give them too much trouble in their Hobie Wild Cat. "Our cat pierces through the waves, because of our original bow shape."

According to the reigning F18 World champion, Coen de Koning, it was extremely important to keep pressure on steering over the waves: "If you don't control that technique, you easily lie still." It turned out that the seaward-side was favourable during the upwind leg. Christa van Helden, who crews for Sasha Larsen on the Boskalis Nacra Infusion, said: "The first race we had a bad start, but we managed to get free wind and sail towards the sea. There, we caught a lot of wind, so we could overtake quite a few boats."

Due to the light conditions, the distances between the catamarans were huge. On the second race, the last boats finished more than twenty minutes after the first. Unfortunately this means they scored a DNF.

Line honours for M20s

In the competition for the Zwitserleven Round Texel line honours, Will Sunnucks is an important player. Even though it was on another boat and with a different crew, he won line honours in 1997 and has come to Texel for a repeat winning performance. The Swede Göran Marström built him an extra wide M20 for him this year. Although it's heavier, the boat can handle more power. That's why it should perform well under heavy conditions. Today Sunnucks was pleasantly surprised: "In the first race we still had to get used to the big waves, but the second race we finished miles ahead of Herbie [Herbert Dercksen]." And that under these light conditions. Sunnucks continued: "I'm very pleased. The gap only grew wider, which proves that our boat is pretty fast." The M20 of team Sunnucks/Farren has the same handicap rating as Dercksen's Extreme 20, which won the first race. So the two rivals will have fierce competition.



Smaller cats

Apart from the enormous F18 fleet and a few 20ft cats, a number of smaller multihulls are competing. These Hobie 16s, Darts and Prindles make up the second starting group. Alfred de Jong is surprised about his performance during the second race. "First Finisher! That never happened to me before!" The solo sailor has never been sailing on Texel before, but came well-prepared. "I bought a book with all the currents, and learnt them by heart." That's how he managed to arrive straight at the upwind mark. He finished third overall in his fleet today. Dirk Pool was first, and team Rovers/Meijers second.

Record challenge

Coen de Koning and Thijs Visser tried to break the Round Texel record this morning. They started at 8:30 with a westerly wind of about 25 knots. Wouter Samama and Jeroen van Leeuwen set the record in 2005 at 2 hours, 11 minutes and 11 seconds. Back then, the wind was a little more favourable than today. As a result, De Koning and Visser couldn't sail their Nacra Infusion at full speed. They even had to sail upwind for a while. Eventually, they finished almost half an hour later than required to break the record.

Surfing: no racing

Unfortunately the windsurfers couldn't follow up their good start of yesterday. In the morning the break was too rough to start. Later on, the waves got smaller, but the wind died out as well. Windsurfers need 11 knots to start in this discipline. At around 14.00 the organizers cancelled the event for today. The contenders had some time to rest and prepare for the next days. According to the wind forecast, some exciting competitions are coming up.

On the beach

Meanwhile the beach is getting packed with catamarans who will compete in the Zwitserleven Round Texel. The pit lane is filled with topteams and catamaran dealers. They have opened the terrace of the 'Zeilerscafe' to relax and get that 'Zwitserleven' touch and feel. The local DJ Trappetoni will be the first to get the party started. Tomorrow Wad Zou't and Booming Piano's will perform on the podium of the big tent.

In addition to Zwitserleven, the following sponsors support the Zwitserleven Sailing Week as well: VVV Texel, TNG, Treffers & Kappa, Nissan, Paal 17 events, ROC Mondriaan, TESO and Liebherr het evenement.