Race Reports - Texel 2009

Texel 2009 start with the Dutch open, a mix of winds in on the first day in very large chop made it very difficult to keep boat speed going up wind, especially when fighting through 90 boats, downwind was very fun however. A few clever gybes later White/Redfern managed to fight there way up the fleet to finish in a steady position, Hunt/White struggled on the first day as they had to carry a black flag from the second race. Day to saw must the same racing conditions, White/Redfern had a great days racing betting pro teams like Mitch Booth and Micha Heemskerk to the first mark after rounding it in 4th position but had to carry a black flag on the last race of the day. Hunt/White sailed a great last race of the day ending them on a high with boat speed that couldn't be matched by boats of a faster class!
As day three rolled on so did a big swell, large waves smashed the beach making it very hard launch after a few attempts and some broken parts and beaten bodies both teams joined the other 70 teams which gave up.

So on came Texel, the main event.
A light wind start made it very hard to fight against the 600 entries, but was a great sight to see as it was a downwind start! After fighting there way through, both teams where in good positions. Hunt/White had a great start a took the lead over the other team. White/Redfern managed to fight back downwind and at the first gate had a excellent position. A tricky leg of wind shifts ended up paying in both teams advantage, White/Redfern took a further 30 boats and Hunt/White extended their lead on the mass of boat behind them. A good next leg for each team, holding most the boats on the upwind leg in a nice breeze which managed to get them on the wire.
Starting the last downwind leg saw even bigger waves and both teams manage to get the Spitti clean out of the water after hitting massive waves! Both boats took more F18's downwind with great speed over the water, White/Redfern finished in 6:18:24 Hunt/White finished in 7:01:17

Thousands on people attended the price giving with a grand prix type ceremony

Results: Open Class:

Both great results in a very long a tuff race. This is definitely an event to put on your To Do List. Next year we will have a LodayWhite Pit lane and hope that more Spitfires will attend, Id would say this is possibly the best sailing event in the World