Round about Texel
The Ronde om Texel ( Dutch Round Texel ; English Round Texel for around [to] Texel , after the main sponsor also currently Zwitserleven Ronde om Texel ) is the largest catamaran - regatta in the world. The long-distance regatta over approx. 100 km takes place annually on a Sunday in June and runs clockwise around the Dutch North Sea island of Texel , an area that is characterized by currents as a result of ebb and flow and sometimes changeable winds.
The starting and finishing point for the regatta course is Paal 17 (post 17), a beach access in the south of De Koog on the west side of the island facing the open sea. There the regatta begins for all participants with a mass start one hour before high tide , so that the catamarans can get through the dry area in the northeast of Texel with enough water. The Sunday in June on which the regatta takes place, as well as the start time, are therefore determined every year according to the tides (ebb and flow).
The Ronde om Texel now attracts alongside sailors from the world's top class Catamaran a large and diversified in the performance of participants on. Thousands of visitors line the island's coast on this day. For example, the organizer expected a total of 15,000 visitors in 2008; the actual total was, also according to the organizer, with 20,000 visitors even more.
Participants and ratings
The regatta is open to participants who are at least 15 years old on the day of the regatta. Catamarans can be up to 27 feet (approx. 8.23 meters) long and have a draft of up to 0.30 meters (without rudder and sword ) (as of 2008).
The Ronde om Texel is held as a measurement formula regatta , which means that the journey times of all participating boats are corrected for their design (hull, sails) in order to make the times of different “fast” catamarans comparable. As a result, the fastest boat doesn't necessarily win the regatta. In 2007, for example, the boat with the fastest absolute time - 3 hours, 30 minutes and 20 seconds - only achieved 24th place in the corrected overall ranking, whereas the eighth overall winners in absolute time.
In addition to the prestigious overall victory and the honor of sailing the absolutely shortest time, other prizes will be given to the best single-handed sailors , women, young people (under 19 years of age) and residents of Texel, among others .
history
The regatta was held for the first time in 1978, at that time with 84 participating boats and as a pure leisure regatta. As the interest increased over the years, over 900 catamarans took part. For safety reasons, in order to avoid collisions, the number of participants was then limited. In the meantime, around 600 boats are allowed to start.
In addition to amateur sailors, catamaran professionals also increasingly took part in the regatta, who increasingly won the regatta. Each with a sailing partner, the Tornado Olympic champion Reg White 1994 (aged 59) and the Olympic runner-up and six-time world champion Darren Bundock were overall winners in 2003 and 2007. Since the anniversary year 2007, when the 30th edition of the regatta was celebrated (the canceled years 1991 and 2000 were not counted), the Ronde om Texel has also followed the separation of amateurs and professionals into a silver fleet, which is common in other regattas . Silberflotte) and a Gold Fleet (English: Gold Fleet ). While the amateurs in the Silver Fleet benefit from a simplified registration and slightly reduced participation fees, the Gold Fleet is more competitive and its participants can also sail a few days before the Ronde om Texel in the regatta Texel Dutch Open . The regatta will still start in a joint mass start.
Over the years, the times have shortened thanks to improved catamarans. However, they still depend much more on the wind conditions on the day of the regatta. The fastest lap - after correcting the time - was achieved by a duo with 2 hours, 16 minutes and 35 seconds in 2005, while the slowest overall victory, with 7 hours, 38 minutes and 4 seconds, was sailed only four years earlier - with one by more than an hour slower than the overall victory in the first regatta in 1978.
The single-handed sailors Pieter-Jan Dwarshuis (1984 and 1987) and Pieter Saarberg (1986 and 1989) as well as, with changing sailing partners, Darren Bundock (2003 and 2007), Remko Keenbek (1992 and 2006), Eric Cok ( 1993 and 1996) and Mischa Heemskerk (2002 and 2005).
Individual evidence
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Expectation: De Zwitserleven Ronde om Texel on roundtexel.com ( Memento of the original from April 3, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (ndl .; accessed March 20, 2008) - the information was no longer available later (March 24, 2009) on this page.
Actual number of visitors: 7-6-2008 :: 11:45:30 hrs (...) Onshore there were over 20,000 people on Texel enjoying the race. - News Flash (es) ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on roundtexel.com (accessed March 24, 2009)
- ↑ Notice of Race: 'ZwitserLeven Ronde om Texel' ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on roundtexel.com (accessed March 20, 2008)
- ^ Reginald White on databaseolympics.com (accessed March 21, 2008)
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↑ Profile: Darren Bundock at www.australiansailingteam.com.au (accessed March 21, 2008)
(no author details, March 1, 2008). Tornado World Championship: Darren Bundock claims 6th world title at Takapuna, from www.bymnews.com (accessed March 21, 2008) - ↑ Regulations, Notice of Race and Sailing Instructions on roundtexel.com ( Memento of the original from April 3, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (ndl .; accessed March 20, 2008)
- ↑ Overallwinnaars 1978 - heden on roundtexel.com ( Memento of the original from May 15, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed March 20, 2008)
Web links
- Official website (Dutch and English)
- Photo , another photo and another photo from the mass start of the regatta
