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I arrived on the beach Wednesday morning at around eleven, once there I noticed that quite a few people had already setup their boats to compete in the Texel Dutch Open (6 round-the-cans races) which would start at twelve. A beautiful day with sunshine, no surf, and light winds. After setting up the boat I went for a sail to see if I hadn't forgotten anything, apart from a few minor details everything was ready for action. After sailing I met up my fellow club members which had already setup their tents on a nice camping close to the beach.
On Thursday we went for a sail (The "Horstocht") to the south of the island for free fish and drinks, it gives you a good opportunity to scout the south of the island for the race on Saturday. Its a tricky place with shoals, sandbanks, currents and tides. As always people try to go as far outside the channel markers as possible which makes for the usual capsizes and groundings. Since there were no more than 8-10kts of wind there where no serious problems.
Friday was a cold day (12C/53F), to cold for me anyway! This gave me a good opportunity to take pictures and follow the racing. First stop was the Pit Lane's Hobie Europe stand with the very cool looking Hobie Fox Extreme, this all-carbon beast was built to take line honors and maybe more. Interesting was the "Made by Hobie Europe" sticker on the hulls, obviously they now have facilities to build carbon hulls. Also the rudder system was not standard Hobie style, ironically they didn't use carbon boards and rudders but standard GRPs. Opposite the Hobie Europe stand where the F18-Capricorns, a relative newcomer that seems to perform very well within the F18 field.
Saturday morning, race day. I set the alarm at 6am, had some breakfast, headed to the beach where everyone was preparing their boats for the start at 10am.
As soon as I got on the beach I noticed the big surf, since I normally sail on a lake any surf over 10" seems is big to me ;-), the wind was strong (W-NW 20kts) but nothing extreme. I rigged the boat, got dressed for the cold conditions (With off course my brave-shirt aka TheBeachCats.com sailing shirt!). About an hour before the start people where trying to go out to sea and that's when I though that maybe it would be better to stay onshore. After I saw a dozen capsizes, broken masts, and collisions I decided this just wasn't a good day for me going through that surf solo. The wind was blowing straight onto the beach, the waves frequency was short, and the wind was strong. After standing on the waterline for a while a fellow club member and Hobie FX-One sailor walked up to me and told me that he tried to go through the surf but just couldn't punch through, that's when we decided to go out on one boat and sail the race together. I volunteered as helmsman and of we went.
The first leg heads north towards the Lighthouse where we had to pass through a gate, the waves where steep (4M/13ft) so we only saw the windward mark and as it turned out half the fleet got disqualified for not seeing the leeward mark which was much to close inshore.
The second leg went towards the VC-mark was downwind across flat sheltered waters with a few shoals which kicked up the rudders a few times. We didn't bring a spinnaker so we lost some ground over the others, although not that much.
The first half of the third leg from the VC-mark towards the southern tip of the island was a windy one, 25-30kt winds and showers made us reach top speeds. The flat hulls of the FX-One where enjoying the beam reach with the boards humming for more;-)
The last part from the southern tip to the finish was upwind, the first part had to be sailed through the narrow channel between the island and a large sand bank. The waves where steep and high, luckily we didn't get hit by any breakers. About a 100M ahead of us a Hobie 16 had a wave break on their trampoline, all that was visible was white wash with a mainsail sticking out on top! Relieved to see the finish we found ourselves stuck to the windward side of a Inter 20, which IMHO was pointing too high above the finish line (Not on purpose though). We decided to pass underneath it and head for the finish line overtaking the I20 and another F18 in the process.
We did it! After 3 hours and 20 minutes we passed the finish line and headed towards the beach, this time the surf was no problem ;-) After changing into some warm clothes I went to see how we did. Since only 200 out of 600 boats started, our placing would be quite good only to see that half the fleet was disqualified for missing the first gate which IMHO was poorly placed. All-in-all a great week with good sailing...
Don't forget to checkout the pictures..
Click Here to See My 2005 Round Texel Pictures
Tony Mels
Hobie FX1
The Netherlands
First Person Account: What it's like to sail the Round Texel
I arrived on the beach Wednesday morning at around eleven, once there I noticed that quite a few people had already setup their boats to compete in the Texel Dutch Open (6 round-the-cans races) which would start at twelve. A beautiful day with sunshine, no surf, and light winds. After setting up the boat I went for a sail to see if I hadn't forgotten anything, apart from a few minor details everything was ready for action. After sailing I met up my fellow club members which had already setup their tents on a nice camping close to the beach.On Thursday we went for a sail (The "Horstocht") to the south of the island for free fish and drinks, it gives you a good opportunity to scout the south of the island for the race on Saturday. Its a tricky place with shoals, sandbanks, currents and tides. As always people try to go as far outside the channel markers as possible which makes for the usual capsizes and groundings. Since there were no more than 8-10kts of wind there where no serious problems.
Friday was a cold day (12C/53F), to cold for me anyway! This gave me a good opportunity to take pictures and follow the racing. First stop was the Pit Lane's Hobie Europe stand with the very cool looking Hobie Fox Extreme, this all-carbon beast was built to take line honors and maybe more. Interesting was the "Made by Hobie Europe" sticker on the hulls, obviously they now have facilities to build carbon hulls. Also the rudder system was not standard Hobie style, ironically they didn't use carbon boards and rudders but standard GRPs. Opposite the Hobie Europe stand where the F18-Capricorns, a relative newcomer that seems to perform very well within the F18 field.
Saturday morning, race day. I set the alarm at 6am, had some breakfast, headed to the beach where everyone was preparing their boats for the start at 10am.
The first leg heads north towards the Lighthouse where we had to pass through a gate, the waves where steep (4M/13ft) so we only saw the windward mark and as it turned out half the fleet got disqualified for not seeing the leeward mark which was much to close inshore.
The second leg went towards the VC-mark was downwind across flat sheltered waters with a few shoals which kicked up the rudders a few times. We didn't bring a spinnaker so we lost some ground over the others, although not that much.
The first half of the third leg from the VC-mark towards the southern tip of the island was a windy one, 25-30kt winds and showers made us reach top speeds. The flat hulls of the FX-One where enjoying the beam reach with the boards humming for more;-)
The last part from the southern tip to the finish was upwind, the first part had to be sailed through the narrow channel between the island and a large sand bank. The waves where steep and high, luckily we didn't get hit by any breakers. About a 100M ahead of us a Hobie 16 had a wave break on their trampoline, all that was visible was white wash with a mainsail sticking out on top! Relieved to see the finish we found ourselves stuck to the windward side of a Inter 20, which IMHO was pointing too high above the finish line (Not on purpose though). We decided to pass underneath it and head for the finish line overtaking the I20 and another F18 in the process.
We did it! After 3 hours and 20 minutes we passed the finish line and headed towards the beach, this time the surf was no problem ;-) After changing into some warm clothes I went to see how we did. Since only 200 out of 600 boats started, our placing would be quite good only to see that half the fleet was disqualified for missing the first gate which IMHO was poorly placed. All-in-all a great week with good sailing...
Don't forget to checkout the pictures..
Click Here to See My 2005 Round Texel Pictures
Tony Mels
Hobie FX1
The Netherlands
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