Big question

Hey all,

I've posted some things earlier, but i'm gonna make one big post to ask for help. My friend and I want to race Round Texel in the Netherlands. Neither of use have raced (hobie 16) before, but we both are quite good sailors in the keilboat area..., We've been practicing on the hobie 16 and are getting the hang of it (this is near Denver, CO). We've managed to right the boat after capsizing (intentionally), with some dificulty. What steps should we take to get ready for that race.

1: What should we focus on practicing to get the best use of our time. At the Boulder reservoir, our only real option for sailing (anywhere else would involve some kind of quarantine) the winds, are rarely decent enough to get a hull flying before they become so strong that a reef in the sail would be needed, and at that point we're trying to avoid capsizing and not fly a hull... (30mph +)

2: We both can go to either california or Texas to practice sailing in the surf over THanksgiving break (5 days of sailing), what would be the most useful use of our time there, and as that would be the first time in the surf, would sailing in the surf be a bad idea......ideas/help

3: assuming that we've trained enough to sail in ocean/sea conditions (Island Texel is north of holland in the North sea, with some strong currents), does anyone have any ideas of how we could obtain a hobie 16 without too much cost in the Netherlands or Europe? I've found boats, but the cost is too high at this point. Also!the race requires 1,000,000 euros of insurance per incident, how much would that cost for a race?

please give me some tips on the questions above, or comment on general feasibility of this plan

THanks!

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1985 Hobie 16 86068

You're more likely to get a reply over at Catsailor.com.

There are a couple of people that post there that have done Round Texel.

As a relative newbie, I would try some of the one-day distance races in the US first. Statue of Liberty Race would be good practice.