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On Friday June 22 2007, the British Fatface-team Styles/Crawford won the Texel Dutch Open after an exciting conclusion. In the end, the gap to Dutchmen Heemskerk and Tentij was only half a point. The British F18 Capricorn duo Gummer/Burke were third. The Open Class I showed new leaders, as both F18 Nacra Infusion teams Huntelman/Van der Kamp and De Koning/Van Leeuwen took a bullet. Thanks to a moderate south-western wind, the course was laid out along the coast, which gave a good view for the people on the Texel beach. They witnessed the battle against the current while beating upwind. The consideration whether to choose for less current or more pressure, made it an exciting game. In the very last race, Hans Primowees was finally beaten once in the Open Class II. He finished second after the British Nacra 500 of Luke and Adam Butler, but he won the overall series. Later in the afternoon, Heemskerk and Tentij won the TNG Short Track Races.
De Koog / Texel, June 21 2007 - On the second day of the Texel Dutch Open in the Netherlands, Hugh Styles and Ryan Crawford (UK) consolidated their lead in the Open Class I. They finished third and first on handicap, racing a F18 Nacra Infusion. Mischa Heemskerk and Bastiaan Tentij scored a first and fifth, which left them in second position overall. The Frenchmen Jean-Christophe Mourniac and Frank Citeau climbed on the leader board and are third overall, followed by their Nissan team-mates Jörg and Arne Gosche (GER). Father and son Gosche had a good day with a fourth and a third. Hans Primowees still leads the nine small cats. The participants in the Open Class II have completed only one race this afternoon, since they were not in time at the first upwind mark of the second one. After almost two hours of postponement, the breeze was strong enough to start racing, but later the wind died due to a front that moved across the North Sea.
Race 1 - Duel experimental M20’s
In the first race, the two experimental M20’s of Pols/Veenstra and Dercksen/Mcintosh battled for the line honours. Herbert Dercksen and Aaron Mcintosh had a good start, while Xander Pols and Tjiddo Veen had more problems in the middle of the line. Pols: “We closed the gap to Herbert and we could pass him in the last downwind.” According to Pols, the speed difference had to do with their custom made rig: “Mischa Heemskerk and Peter Vink made a beast of our M20. They worked together on the development of the sails, made of PBO-cloth, which is also used in the America’s Cup. PBO loses strength due to UV-radiation, but the material is stiff and therefore fast. The cut looks like an A-cat mainsail, but flatter. We added a jib as well. The acceleration is awesome. I have never had this feeling on a boat before.” Mischa Heemskerk and Bastiaan Tentij, sailing a F18 Nacra Infusion, won on handicap. They were even leading at the first top mark, but had to give up that position under spinnaker, as the M20 was the faster cat.
2007 'Round the Island Multihull Sailboat Race
Fort Walton Yacht Club
June 15- 17 2007
The 'Round the Island Race is a 100 mile circumnavigation of Santa Rosa Island located in Northwest Florida. Headquartered at the Fort Walton Yacht Club, the race begins off the point, through the East Pass and continues west to the Pensacola Pass where the northern turn is made for the return trip through the inter-coastal waterway.
A light but steady breeze and an early morning start made for a fantastic day to be on the water along the Emerald Coast. Not half and hour into the race, the fleet, heading east through Choctawhatchee Bay, was clipping along at 15 knots as they approached the East Pass and hit puffy wind and a 5 knot incoming tide. With more than half of the fleet flying spinnakers, the wind shifted and the made the approach to the Destin Bridge exciting as they maneuvered through the pass and into the Gulf of Mexico.