Round Texel is the biggest catamaran race in the world, with an annual average of 600 participants. The ''Ronde om Texel'' (Round Texel) is a

regatta Boat racing is a sport in which boats, or other types of watercraft, race on water. Boat racing powered by oars is recorded as having occurred in ancient Egypt, and it is likely that people have engaged in races involving boats and other wate ...

for

catamaran A Formula 16 beachable catamaran Powered catamaran passenger ferry at Salem, Massachusetts, United States A catamaran () (informally, a "cat") is a multi-hulled watercraft featuring two parallel hulls of equal size. It is a geometry-stab ...

s around the island of

Texel Texel (; Texels dialect: ) is a municipality and an island with a population of 13,643 in North Holland, Netherlands. It is the largest and most populated island of the West Frisian Islands in the Wadden Sea. The island is situated north of De ...

The Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. Round Texel was first organized in 1978. In that year, Sigi Lach (from

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

) won in a

Hobie 14 The Hobie 14 is an American catamaran sailing dinghy that was designed by Hobie Alter and first built in 1967.Sherwood, Richard M.: ''A Field Guide to Sailboats of North America, Second Edition'', pages 38-39. Houghton Mifflin Company, 1994. ...

in a field of 84 participants. Since then the race grown into the biggest catamaran race in the world with an annual average of 600 cats participating. The race has its start and finish near Paal 17 on the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

and is approximately 100 kilometers long. It is organized once a year on a Saturday in June. The race starts an hour before high tide to ensure that there is enough water to pass the high mud flats northeast of the island. This tidal prerequisite determines the date that is chosen each year for the event. Strong tidal currents and variable winds around the island make ''Round Texel'' a highly tactical race that has been won alternately by professional sportsmen and skilled outsiders. Notable winners have been Reginald White, the first

multihull A multihull is a boat or ship with more than one hull, whereas a vessel with a single hull is a monohull. The most common multihulls are catamarans (with two hulls), and trimarans (with three hulls). There are other types, with four or more h ...

Olympic champion, who won Round Texel in 1994 at the age of 59. In 2003, the trophy went to

Darren Bundock Darren Bundock (born 21 March 1971) is an Australian sailor from Gosford, New South Wales. He won a silver medal in the Tornado class at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. Bundock and current crewmate Glenn Ashby are the 2007 world champions i ...

and Glen Ashby, world champion in several multihull classes in 2003, 2004 and 2005. The 30th anniversary race on June 23, 2007, was won by Darren Bundock and

Glenn Ashby Glenn Thomas Ashby (born 1 September 1977) is an Australian sailor from Strathfieldsaye, a suburb of Bendigo, Victoria. He is a multiple multihull world champion. He has been part of Team New Zealand as the wing trimmer for the 2013 America's ...

from Australia in a F18 Hobie Tiger.

Line honours Line honours is the term given to the first boat to cross the finish line of a yacht race. This is in comparison to the handicap honours or corrected time winner, which is theoretically equally accessible to all boats as slower boats have a lower h ...

were won in 2007 and 2008 by

Xander Pols Xander is an abbreviated form of the name Alexander and pronounced like "Zander". Alexander is the Latin form of the Greek name "Alexandros". The name's meaning is interpreted from "alexein" which means "to defend" plus "andros" which translates to ...

and Tjiddo Veenstra. In 2009, they took a second place in the line honours ranking. The female helm Carolijn Brouwer and her crew Wouter Samama made history after becoming the first female helmsman to win. This was also the first edition, which was held on Sunday (as a result of heavy winds' om Saturday).

External links

Round Texel website
1978 establishments in the Netherlands Annual sporting events in the Netherlands Recurring sporting events established in 1978 Sailing competitions in the Netherlands Sports competitions in North Holland Sport in Texel {{sailing-stub