RX 2025: Rowing was fastest
Raban Stumme and his father Ralf-Peter took line honours with their 120-old Löwelies. In just 5 hours they completed the course.
Canoeists Bert and Ingo Müller came second, canoe sailor Koos made third, followed by Bert and his 20' feet catamaran and Josien with a Liteboat XP.
There were 24 boats including a Drascombe Lugger.
Both Friday and Sunday provided brilliant sailing, but on the day itself we had to be very patient in very light conditions. In the afternoon the wind picked up but for most competitors it was too late to make a difference.
However spirits were up and after the prize giving we had a barbecue, a singalong and good fun!
Friday 5 September
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The afternoon was perfect for sailing. Hubert and Joost went for a sail to test the water and met Herman and Steffie arriving after a long sailing trip from the easternmost part of Groningen.
The German contingent of Bert M, Ingo M and Ingo E arrived halfway the afternoon with a two-person canoe and a Europe dinghy that had been fitted with rowing oars.
Old hands Frits, Joost, Josien, Gerben, Bert, Rene and Jan brought the same boats as last year.
Bart brought a 20' cat 'Famke II', Marcel was sailing his Acorn skiff, while Koos had added a gennaker to his Artemis canoe, Daan, Jelle and Henk took turns in Henks Oughtred double-ender. Ladia arrived late in the evening with a sailing canoe with outriggers.
There were quite a few newcomers this year: Marlies with Creizic 'Meisje Loos', Henk and Heike with Arctic Tern 'Magnes', Diederik with Sooty Tern 'Flott', Herman and Steffie with a Drascombe Coaster, Michael with a Skerry, Stefan with a Lettmann canoe and Willem with a sailing canoe with single outrigger (isn't that a proa?).
Veterans Onno and Anneke could not compete but brought their yacht 'Zeeroos'.
Camping was challenging with most of the grass replaced by concrete tiles to make space for campervans. We used the remaining strips of grass as well as we could which result in a crowded but cosy raid-camp.
At the briefing Koos and Hubert revealed the 'Raid-man', a totem pole (or scarecrow?) with an end-date to signify that they will step back from non-organizing the Raid Extreme after 9 years.
Koos invited others to step in which started a few conversations between the old hands.
After the briefing we all went to Iterij bij de Mune and had an enjoyable meal.
Saturday 6 September
Bart's alarm clock woke us all at 0500 hours but most of us preferred to snooze for another hour.
Koos put on his wolf-hat and went to make coffee at the club house, helped by Hubert and Klarie.
At 0650 everybody assembled at the beach for the countdown. There was a S1 with a forecast for SW-2 in the afternoon.
After the start, half the fleet took the northern (clockwise) route starting at Hoek van de Bant.
The other half decided for the southern counterclockwise route and headed for Ezumazijl.
It was a bit chilly with just enough wind to keep going, so some rowing was required to help the boat speed. The Lauwersmeer was beautiful with strands of mist floating over the water.
Above: eventual winners Raban and Ralf-Peter took the clockwise route.
Below: runners-up Bert and Ingo on the clockwise route towards Hoek van de Bant.
During the first hours, the sun burnt off the mist and it became a beautiful sunny morning.
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Below:
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Jan and Nessie
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Burkhard crewing on Hatseflats
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Henk and Heike on Magnes
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Daan being zen on Henks Oughtred double-ender
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Stefan visiting Henk and Daan
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Ladia on sailing canoe Aurora. Nice outriggers
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By 1700 hours, Stefan and Ladia were still sailing while Koos and Hubert worked out the numbers for the prize giving.
At the prize giving there were gold medals for the seven boats with 6 points, silver medals for those with 5 points and bronze medals for the boats with 4 points or less.
Raban and Ralf-Peter won both the overall prize for the fastest boat to collect 6 points and the Dutch Cow Award for the first boat to Zoutkamp.
Unfortunately both prizes had gone missing so Koos and Hubert stood with empty hands.
As a consolation they gave Raban and Ralf-Peter the 'trophy for the most desillusioned sailor' and speedlimit road-signs (50+30) for their combined age.
At the prizegiving Onno stepped forward to congratulate Koos and Hubert with 9 years of non-organizing the Raid Extreme. Onno found it unthinkable that the event should stop here and had spoken to fellow participants to ensure that the Raid Extreme will continue to bring sailors together like no other event has done before!
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And then it was time to fire up the barbecues and talk about the past day. Hubert and his brother-in-law played shanties while the meat burned on the grill. After the barbecue the diehards had a singalong in the Omaho clubhouse with evergreens like the Wild Rover and 'Kleine Cafe aan de Haven'.
Sunday 7 September
Sunday morning started with making coffee at the clubhouse, doing the dishes and having a relaxed breakfast.
After the light winds of Saturday it was again a good sailing day with a fresh easterly breeze.
During the afternoon everybody made their way home, hopefully to return to a new Extreme Raid 2026!