The news page is in Dutch so I will (roughly) translate.

The fastest time around dates fro 1982 when Martin Warnaar en Wpo Rienks (on a supercat 20) rounded the Island in 2 hours and 9 minutes. Since a few years, the north east of the sea around Texel has been declared a protected wildlife area and therefor the shortest route around the Island is not possible anymore. Nowadays the sailors need to go around the VC bouy and that adds considerable mileage to the route. It is not expected that the 1982 record will ever be broken as that record was set on the shorter course under perfect conditions. The fastest time set on the new longer course is 2 hours, 30 minutes and 36 seconds as was achieved by Ron van teylingen en Paul Manuel in 1997 on a Tornado.

Today wednesday 18 june at 10:45 local time a new record is made by a Tornado and a M20

"second news item"

Record attemps nears end. (newsflash of 12:55)

Gunnar Larsen and Xander Pols are leading on their M20 in the attempt to break the old record of 2 hours 30 min and 36 secs from 1997. Quite a distance behind are Hand Bouscholte and Donald Kenbeek on their Tornado. With still 45 minutes to fo within the record attemp schedule it is clear that they are not going to make it. The wind, force 4 beaufort, comes from the west. An ideal record attempt wind would be one coming from northwest.

Wouter : I would like to add that for a sloop rig a beam reach is the best record attempt course. This is found on texel with a north east wind. I'm not so sure wether a uni-rig with spi prefers a predominantly a beam reach course. The current western wind does allow for a significant amount of hot spi sailing with I expect is the prefered course for a uni-rig spi boat. The returning leg is a somewhere between close hauled and a beam reach.


Another interest detail is the fact that no less than 5 M20 teams have entered the Texel race on saterday

Magnus L Roberg / John Schieffer
Göran Marström / Peter Brown
Gunnar Larsen / Xander Pols
Sven-Bertil Johansson / Thomas Persson
Jan Berghorst / Marines Uit Den Bosch

Both Goran and Gunnar teams are builder/dealor teams

Quite a number for a boat that costs as much as a M20 does.

No M18 this year.

Wouter
What would be a ballpark price for a M20?

Pure from memory and with a disclaimer to not hold me to this quote; I think the M20 was just a few thousants more expensive than a tornado. The last does 25K I think but I'm not sure wether that included the sails or not.

So ball park would be 25k - 30k inc sails.

Maybe someone else can be more accurate ?

Wouter

Wouter,
How does one 'set a record' when not in a race??? Records are set in official races; not in practice. One cannot set a record in Formula 1 racing except in an official race. One cannot win an Olympic Gold Medal or set an official record except in an official race/contest. In the Indy 500 Race or Lemans what goes on in practice counts for nothing officially. Setting a record on raceday is part of the contest. You have to work the traffic and the weather may not be perfect but that is all part of the contest. Setting a so called 'record' on a non raceday is strange. I have never heard of that. I sailed the Texel Race in 1981 and was the first boat across the finish line and the time was under 3 hours. I was told that was the E. T. record at that time. The race was held in white squall conditions, 30+ knot wonds, with no visibility at times. We could not find the second mark until we had sailed past it by about a mile so we had to sail back to it to windward. We were in a collision with a photo boat that got too close in the 6ft to 8ft seas. At one point we were trapped inside a dredge pipeline that went to shore so we had to turn around and sail back out of this dead end road and round the barge/dredge which was about a half mile out to sea. The jib halyard broke at the top of the downwind sailing legs and that made us slow tacking downwind. The second mark was also out of position and sent the boats sailing down the top of a mile long sandbar at the beginning of the third leg. We almost pitchpoled several times from running aground with the bows as we surfed down the face of the breaking 6ft to 8ft waves. The bows dug into the sand and shot sand up on the tramp deep enough to cover the sheets and blocks so that we had to feel for them and after that they didn't run well. The race instructions included rounding the VC bouy.
Things like this happen in real races and these are the conditions under which 'real official records' are set. These other record attempts you talk about in ideal conditions sound like 'let's pretend' to me.
Good Sailing,
Bill

What a ride you had around Texel! Quite some difference to my M18 race a couple of years ago, that one took hours!!!

From the texel page:
"Two teams have reported to the organization for an official record attempt on Wednesday June 18th."
You must report before doing the record attempt and there are rules to follow. Just like the guys trying to break the speed sailing record across the Atlantic.

/hakan

In answer to Bill Roberts:
There is no reason that a record time has to be set in a race.
The Round Ireland record is held by Steve Fossett in the trimaran "Lacota" at under 45 hours. This is a properly timed record attempt. It was set up when conditions were suitable.
The time for the Round Ireland Race (Held every two years )is something over 70 hours. (And held by a monohull )
A record time and a race time are two different things, both official.

Hi Dermot,
It sounds to me like youall do things differently in Europe than we do here in the US. I can understand when racing/sailing to cross one of the major obstacles/oceans on the surface of the earth that an effort should be allowed to be made and be official whenever a team is willing to try. Very few teams ever attempt this goal. But, to try to set an additional record to the actual race record for the largest catamaran race in the world seems puffed up. Racing across the Atlantic Ocean and racing around a little island off the coast of Holland are not equivalents.
Bill

I don't see anything wrong with it. Actually kind of interesting to see how fast somebody can complete a given course in ideal conditions without competition from other boats being a distraction. No reason why beach cats can't do, on a smaller scale, what the big boats do as far as setting records,like the 24-hour record and the Jules Verne. It's just a different kind of record than what is accomplished in race conditions.

Nascar keeps up with record "practice" laps and record "qualifying" laps. While I agree that it should't be considered the same as a race record, I think it still deserves merit and recognition.

Hello Bill,

I don't know much about sailboat racing (and from your experience and posts I know you do), but I know a lot about car racing. You mentioned Formula 1 in your post. There are distinct records in car racing that occur outside the context of an actual "race." And lets be clear, ANY record attempt is, of course, a race--a race against the clock. Other competitors may or may not be present. Making the record attempt (race against the clock) official requires certain standardized ways of measuring. In land speed records, for example (which can occur at any time, not just during the Bonneville Speed Week), the speed is taken by averaging the speed over a straight course of a specific length in 2 opposite directions on the course (to eliminate effects of wind or grade). Mark Donahue's speed record in a Porsche 917 at Talledaga in the 70s is one example of a very well-know landmark speed record set outside the context of a race (although once again, this was a race...a race against the clock).

So this is how things are done in the U.S. in car racing. Obviously, many of the most important records do occur during conventional races.

Over time, certain records become significant and others are meaningless. In my mind, the single most important factor that makes any record or record attempt relevant is whether or not it has integrity. If the round Texel record attempt has integrity, it may be relevant; if not, it's just a nice sail for a couple of guys. By integrity I mean proper and accepted timing, following of the course, and an accepted start/finish line. A Jules Verne trophy attempt from Sydney to Sydney by sailing around the world (crossing all longitudes) has no integrity and would not be accepted. The Jules Verne attempts have accepted, standardized requirements--like crossing the equator--that must be met.

So I think its great to see a couple guys trying to set a record; if the attempt has integrity and the achievement is noteworthy, then history will take note. It sounds like your Texel sail has earned you a place in Texel history already.

Fair winds,

Th ere have been 3 tries as of yet and teh closed to the record was the Tornado skippered by Hans Bouscholte. He reached 2 hours 39 minutes and 36 secs. Still 9 minutes short of the record.

He planned another try today but all sailing has been cancelled. However I just heard they are going to try anyway. Wind comes from more or less the right direction and is blowing very hard. There is also a huge surf.

THe 5 M20's on the beach look very good, but they have only done one record attempt. nearly all sailor are saving their equipment for tomorrow. It has been blowing 4 to 5+ in the past days. The surf was small but not it is huge.

As often as I can access thr internet consoles I will present short updates

wouter

All record attemps with texel musr we made in the Texel week itself and zo were the others. The record attempt is independent from the race although you could set one during the race.

See it as teh fastest lap to determine pole position in carraces.

Wouter

Why don't you ask Steve Fossett what he thinks about only setting records while racing.

You can probably find him in Norfolk somewhere.

Hi Mary,
I don't see anything wrong with it either. What stands out so large to me is the difference in the race situation/environment between the two. Texel is the largest catamaran race in the world. The race is held with typically 500 to 1000 boats on the starting line at the same time. The onlooker crowd is at least a few thousand people. Sailors come from all over the world to participate. There are four different skippers meetings held in different places and using different languages all at the same time. There are race entry qualifications. Many entries/boats are turned away. With this as a starting point and getting a good start in a several hundred boat fleet on one starting line is quite a feat and something to see. Then setting the low ET record for the race; this acheivement has some true grit to it. Compare this to a couple of teams that come along and wait until the wind is just the right strength and is in just the right direction so that the long front side and back side of the island are reaches with very little upwind/downwind work across the ends of the island is very different situation from the real race. To me setting a low ET record in this environment has got alot of fluff in it.
Bill

Hey Jake,
How much does NASCAR pay for those fast practice laps and how many Winston Cup points do they get for them?
Bill

Hello MauganH17,
I don't think Fossett likes racing against other boats head to head. How did he do in his 'around the world race' effort against other boats? There are other races for these type boats 'against the clock' where the challanger takes on one of the major bodies of water on this earth and tries to see how quickly he can cross it. This also is a race that deserves much credit for attempt and success.
Bill

To my knowledge they don't get any formal rewards...but by the same metric; What are the Martsrom guys getting if they break it on a non-race day?

To Fossett's credit, his boat simply wasn't well tested when he attempted "The Race". The sails were admittedly known to be lacking and after several delays attempting to repair failures a dagger board broke after which they decided to withdraw. Speaking from my armchair, I don't think they failed from unwillingness but rather from a lack of preparation (and time). O.K., so he is taking on a bunch of solo record attempts but what else is he going to do with that boat? It's not a very popular class!

(I was going to say that it's not a large class - but that would contradictory!)

Hi Jake,
Of course NASCAR doesn't give any cash prises or recognition for fast laps during practice. Practice is just that, PRACTICE.
As far as Fossett's effort in the Round The World Race goes, his talked about advantage prior to the race was that his boat was the oldest and had the most sailing/testing hours on it and was supposed to be the most dependable. But, his boat was out the second day. That shows you what the experts now.
Playstation sails distance races against the clock because that is what it was built for; to try to better existing records over major distances in the oceans of this world.
Over at Texel the guys are attempting to break the elapsed time record for the rounding of the Isle of Texel, ~60 miles as I remember. If successful they are the record holder of the minimum ET that was set on a non raceday in ideal conditions. On raceday there is another record holder of minimum ET and this minimum ET is set during a real race with 500+ boats and with a real start in whatever sailing conditions the weather brings etc. racing around the Isle of Texel. Does this make alot of sense to you? It leaves me dizzy wondering which way is up and what's going on. How and why are there two record holders of minimum ET for sailing around the same island on the same course?
Bill

My comment about Playstation not being ready was in reference to the additional length they added to the bows. If I remember correctly, they had very little time to put the boat through it's paces with the additional hull prior to the race.

Like you, I wouldn't give the same kind of credit to a 'staged' record attempt for Texel as I would a record breaking run that occured, as you said it, "in a real race with 500+ boats and with a real start in whatever sailing conditions the weather brings". We need to remember also that we're both reacting off an admittedly "roughly translated" piece of documentation. I would find it difficult to believe if the Texel organizing authority considered these record attempts the same as a race day record. However, I simply think it's still a noteable and interesting attempt at speed sailing on a course that's familiar to a lot of cat sailors. I think we agree when you boil it down to that.