| PAAL 7, NETHERLANDS-(4-6-2004) On Friday June 3rd, team Styles/Lynch won the Texel Dutch Open for big cats. Dirk Pool from Texel defended his lead of the small boats successfully and ended in first position. The number of registrations is 602, representing 13 countries.
After the last two Texel Dutch Open races, the excitement on the beach was still in force. Three teams were favorite for the victory. “It is really exciting”, says Eddy Pool. Sitting on a dustbin, Hugh Styles explains his great bootspeed of today: “We changed some settings and we talked to sailmaker Peter Vink”. Styles and Lynch got a second and a first place and won the Texel Dutch Open. Team Van der Plas jr. and Eddy Pool jr. ended up in second position, followed by Figuero/Hernandez from Puerto Rico.
TNG girls
Hugh Styles with a smile: “I also like to be helped out of the water by ten ladies”. He refers to team Figueroa/Hernandez. They were accompanied by the TNG promotion team while bringing up their Tornado. Hernandez with a big grin: “It was the highlight of the week. It should be a standard procedure.” Regardless the cold weather, the olympic sailors enjoy their time on Texel. “It is good to race against other types of boats, because you can see the differences”. Dirk Pool had another good day in the small boat fleet: “In the first race, I crossed the starting line too early, so I had to go back. I managed to finish first. It was real racing in the second one.” Hans Primowees got a second position, followed by Ron Brouwer.
Favorites Zwitserleven Round Texel
At the moment, the score is 602 inscriptions, among which ten female team. The fleet represents thirteen nationalities. Last year’s winner, Australier Darren Bundock, is also present with a brand new Hobie Tiger. He sails with A-cat world champion Glenn Ashby. Peter Vink and Sven de Laaf, line-honours in 2003, will go for the overall title on a Nacra F18. All week long, the silver grey M20 of Gunnar Larsen and Xander Pols has been gleaming in the promo area.
“Now we really want the line-honours.” The guys from Puerto Rico are also seen as favorites. “The Tornado from last year set the tone, so we can do that too.” Finally, insiders say Wouter Samama and Jeroen van Leeuwen with their Nacra F18 can also win.
Pro-Am race
This afternoon twenty occasional teams appeared at the start of the Pro-Am race. The wind force was three to four, so it was good for getting the real catamaran feeling. Mitch Booth with Marco Keim, president of Zwitserleven, won this race. Arie van der Plas junior with Bart Zuidgeest from Mondriaan ended in second position. Zuidgeest enthusiastically: “In one word: great! You’re sailing with someone who’s one of the favorites tomorrow at the Round Texel. I’ve been in trapeze and we sailed on one hull. Fantastic!” Mischa Heemskerk ended third with Margreet Walvoort from Zwitserleven.
Live spectacle
The Zwitserleven Round Texel starts on Saturday morning around 10:00 hrs. You can follow the race live on www.roundtexel.com an on the big TNG-screen at the beach. The positions of the cats are displayed at www.sport-track.com. TROS broadcasts live whole day long from the beach at Paal 17 with performances of, among others, Idols-winner Boris.
Next to Zwitserleven, the Round Texel is also sponsored by Repeat Sales Promotions B.V., TNG Swiss watches, Komatsu, Holkema Group, Tros, Mondriaan Onderwijsgroep, SportLive.nl, Sport-Track.com, Nissan, Teso and VVV Texel.
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