TOUGH SAILING CONDITIONS ON SECOND DAY TEXEL DUTCH OPEN 2003

Bouscholte/Van Wieren nine minutes away from Round Texel record

Den Burg, June 19th 2003 – Tough sailing conditions characterized the second racing day of the Texel Dutch Open 2003. The south west wind, force five, and short waves caused problems on the water. Team Karsenbarg/Heemskerk from the Netherlands knew how to deal with the conditions and won both races today. As a result, they climbed to the second position overall, after the Australian team Bundock/Howden that sailed two second places today. Willem Geijssen from the Netherlands ended up in third position overall. Gert Roukema took over the lead of the small boats.

If the wind is tough, there is no keeping up with Karsenbarg/Heemskerk. Sven: “Every race we ran out more. Our target was to double the last Hobie 16 in the fleet and we succeeded. Great sailing today!” Darren Bundock and Will Howden did not have enough speed with their Hobie Tiger in comparison to the Tornado, but they finished twice in second position. Cavin Colby and Cori Camenish dropped back to a tenth position, because they missed the first race. Willem Geijssen sailed two steady races, which brought him on medal course. On Friday June 20th, two more races are scheduled. The first start is at 9:55 hours.

Today's attempt on the record failed. With a south west wind the four Tornado teams had to beat up the wind on the Wadden Sea. Finally, team Bouscholte/Van Wieren crossed the finish line nine minutes after the record time. Bouscholte: "I have never been that close, so we will try again tomorrow". Team Bouscholte/Van Wieren rounded the island in 02:29:32 hours, team Ruiters/Ruiters in 02:49:48 hours, team Klaassen/Ten Hoven in 02:56:30 hours and team Moret/Jannink gave up.

The other sponsors of the Zwitserleven Round Texel are: Amstel, Holkema Group, Komatsu, de Kolonist, MagicMinds Media, Nissan, TNG Swiss Watches, Teso, VVV Texel and the Mondriaan Onderwijsgroep.

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