Tim,

The chance of me doing Round Texel has shrunk to 0.5 % now. The only way I will doing it is when I grap my own boat, put it on the trailer and drive north on one of the next evenings, pay about 200 Euro's in entry fee and transport costs (+something extra for lodging and food) and find a crew that I trust to do a High Winds distance race like Texel with. I have contacted all the crews I trust and either they are allready spoken for or won't do texel. I'm not going to do Texel solo.

So, I think that I can forget about this years Texel race. As a participant that is. So I should be able to hook up with you (barring any late developments in the coming days).

The weather conditions (long term ones) are as follows. :

Saterday : Sun 30 % chance; rain 30 % chance , wind direction NW, force 3, Temp about 14 degrees celsius (rather cold for the time of year.

So we can do two things.

-1- Hook up and go for some sailing at my own club (about 30 km north of the Hague = 20 miles). This is the most relaxed thing we can do and there is a direct train connection between The Hague and Heemstede (where I live) of about 25 minutes. I can pick you from the station and then about 15 min later we're at the coast and my sailing club. I can mostly likely bring you back to the Hague myself as I always go to a movie art house on saterday evening to see a late film. This coincides beautifully with a 9 PM return at your hotel.


-2- We can drive up to Den Helder (closest mainland town to the island of Texel) and jump on the ferry as pedestrians. Rent a couple of bicycles and peddle our way to the start of the round texel. If we are up to it we can cross the island by bike ahead of the leaders and follow the racing that way. Later in the day we cycle back to the ferry (passing a 7 km traffic jam of cars and boat trailers) ; ditch the bikes and get across the channel in about 30 minutes. Then I can drive you back and drop you at the hotel (same as option 1)


Pro and cons of both options.

-1- This is way more relaxed as option 2. I you are of a normal size (xl chest, 180 lbs and about 6 ft) then I have both a bouyancy aid for you and a harness. It is the best way to hang out and talk alot of boat (if that is your thing) and try out a homebuild Taipan F16 that Sam claims never existed and is fitted with incredibally dumb fittings. This can be an adventure in itself ! Con : you may have less to tell when you get home.

-2- You will probably be exhausted by the end of the day and rosy of being in the open air all day. It will be an eventful day. You will witness the biggest cat race in the world when counting participation. The sight of 550 boats (a forest of masts) on the beach is something to remember. Apart from that it feels much like a medium size festival with sand between your toes. We will witness only small parts of the actual race but following the race by bicycle will be fun (if we manage to rent these). The race starts very early : 10 am and therefor we need to go there very early, especially if we want to hook up with some F16 sailors etc. I estimate that we need to leave for Texel at 7 am (maybe even slightly earlier). This could be a problem for you. Besides it is not much fun arriving after the start. Getting you back in time should be easier.


I think that I personally favour the relaxed option. As I wrote in my other mails. I'm up to my neck in university work and a killer assignment. I think that I'll be ripe for some R&R this weekend. But indeed if things don't work out then I can point you in the right direction.

Ehhhm. wait a minute ... (looking up some data on getting to Texel)

If you go to Texel on your own than it will take 2 hours by train to get there. The ferry itself will take about 30 min (excl. waiting for it to leave); cycling to the event area will take another 30 minutes (if you know where you are going); I don't see anybody do it within 3 hours, probably 4 hours or more is a more dependable estimate. If you want to be experiencign the pre start rush than you must really leave Den Haag at about 6 am . And then all that in reverse to get back. That can be quite a trip. Sadly no intercity trains go to Den Helder only smaller local trains (=slow). An alternative would be to go to Den Helder only and look at the cats when they pass the 7 km channel between the town of Den Helder and the island of Texel. The boats will do that somewhere between midday and 2 pm. But you will not really get the full buzz that way.

So, how late are you really free on saterday morning ? I venture that you want to get settled into the Hotel first. Actually, I live less than 10 km (6 miles) from Schiphol airport. I guess that you "off work" time will pretty much determine whether option 2 is viable.

Wouter