www.roundtexel.comThe results are in :
ONLY 124 finishers out of 600 entries and about 2o0 starters !
As sjon wrote it was a battle field.
Two F16's stayed on the beach choosing to not risk damaging their boats
Pete and Dee McDowell on their Stealth F16 did succesfully negociate the surf and started the round. Sadly they were seen pulling in at the harbour of Oude Schild that is on the other side of the island (at about 60 % of the race). It is not known why they pulled out of the race. No major damage was seen from the distance, maybe they decided that enough was enough. Will get back on this if I learn more.
There were several spitfires at this years Round but only 1 finished the course. Probably, some crews decided to stay on shore or pull out along the way as was the general trend.
However the one spitfire that did finish won the open class :
1 | spitfire | Sproat (UK) / Burke (UK) | 2:39:50 | 2:32:13 | = (elapsed time | handicapped time)
2 | M20 | Kerstens (NL) / Smissaert (NL) | 2:37:30 | 2:49:21 | = (elapsed time | handicapped time)
3 | hobie fx one solo | Zwitser (NL) | 2:58:30 | 2:50:00 = (elapsed time | handicapped time)
Note how the difference in handicapped time between numbers 1 and 3 is no less than 18 minutes ! Also note that the Spitfire finished only 2 min 20 sec (elapsed time) behind the M20 after 2 and halve hours of sailing. Once again it is proven than M20's really don't like the Round Texel distance race as much as sloop rigged boats do. It appears that Texel just includes to much reaching and not enough pure upwind work.
Congratulations to Sproat and Burke on the Swell catamaran Spitfire ! (Grandfathered F16)
In the overall results this Spitfire crew scored a 19th place overall.
In the overal results the standing is
|1| 005 | F18 Tiger | Yes | Heemskerk (NL) / Boer (NL) | 2:16:35 | 2:13:54 | = (elapsed time | handicapped time)
|2| 003 | F18 Capricorn | Yes | Kenbeek (NL) / Brouwer (NL) | 2:20:57 | 2:18:11 | = (elapsed time | handicapped time)
|3| 009 | F18 Capricorn | Yes | Geijssen (NL) / Capelle (NL) | 2:21:46 | 2:18:59 = (elapsed time | handicapped time)
|4| 006 | tornado Spi | Yes | Samama (NL) / Leeuwen (NL) | 2:11:11 | 2:19:33 = (elapsed time | handicapped time)
19 | spitfire | Sproat (UK) / Burke (UK) | 2:39:50 | 2:32:13 | = (elapsed time | handicapped time)
And there is a NEW round Texel (elapsed time )record :
2 hours 11 min and 11 sec. (Old record was about 2 hours and 30 min)
Set by Samama (NL) / Leeuwen (NL) ; giving them a 4th place overall on handicap.
They were sailing the Olympic Tornado. (That is the version with the spinnaker and larger mainsail etc)
And remember, you heard it first on the F16 forum !

Wouter