Zwitserleven Round Texel Race postponed

For the first time in history the Zwitserleven Round Texel Race will be sailed on Sunday. Due to the stormy conditions on Saturday the organisation decided to postpone the world's biggest cat race for one day. Sunday morning at 9 AM the briefing for the 35th Zwitserleven Round Texel Race will start at the regatta office. The weather forecast is very fortunate for tomorrow.

Immediately after the announcement of chairman Sidney van Zon there is a big applause. There is avery positive atmosphere at the beach at Paal 17. Everybody is happy that eventually the race will be sailed. Only a handful of sailors were forced to check out prematurely. Also Hans Bouscholte who is one of the favourites for the victory: 'This sucks big time, but I have to do an exam tomorrow", he explains disappointedly. 'This is very painful. With my brother Ronald I have trained very hard for this and we have a fast boat. We had a good change to win this race. That's why we sailed around the island twice this week and skipped the Texel Dutch Open. First to break the record of course, but also as a training. It would have been the 23rd time for me. Maybe Ronald will sail the Round Texel Race with somebody else, but then you are not sailing for victory anymore. For that it is a to serious game that's about experience and training. We have posted a call for crew and immediately got fifty reactions from all over the world, even from the Olympians in Weymouth."

Logistic challenge

Chairman Sidney van Zon: 'Thanks to many authorities and volunteers it is possible to sail the Zwitserleven Round of Texel on Sunday. Logistically it isn't easy to move a big race as this for just one day. Not only because of the sailing, but also to get everybody from this island in time again. We had to manage a lot of things, also for the safety of the sailors. But we did it and I'm proud of it. Tomorrow we are going to have a beautiful race."

Advantageous weather report

Margot Ribberink, weatherwoman for Dutch television, was present at the briefing and has an advantageous forecast for Sunday June 10th: 'Today we suffer from a low pressure area that moves towards Denmark. It will reach its climax at 8.00 PM with gusts up to 90km/ph. After that, the wind and waves will decrease fast. Tomorrow we have a very calm weather situation with a Southwestwind force 4. That will decrease until 2 or 3 Beaufort during the day, and shall turn to East/Northeast.

Price giving and evening programme

Tonight at 9.30 PM the price giving of the Texel Dutch Open and the World Championships Nacra Infusion will take place in the party tent. These championships were sailed on Wednesday June 6th and Thursday 7th. Before the prize giving, at 6.00 PM, the football match between Holland - Denmark will be shown on a big screen. After that there will be several performances, with as a climax the show of the Dutch famous singer Jeroen van der Boom.

Live broadcast start

The start is to be broadcast live on the website www.roundtexel.com