- Kamer 2 Sailing Marathon
The Kamer 2 Sailing Marathon is an epic 50 kilometer
steeplechase typeregatta forsloops in the lake district betweenAmsterdam andLeiden in TheNetherlands . The race is held each year in September and attracts some 70 participants. Boats can be manned by a crew of three or, for all female teams, four. The race leads from theKaag Lake through Does and Wijde Aa to the Braassemermeer and from there through theRingvaart to the Westeinderplas. There a turning point is situated directly beneath the watertower ofAalsmeer from where the race goes back along theRingvaart to the Kaag Lake.A significant part of the route leads through narrow waterways with fixed bridges. As a result the competition is restricted to sloops with masts that can be lowered and raised easily. Some of the canals are too narrow to be negotiable upwind by sail. Therefore participants are allowed to paddle, punt or tow their sloops to overcome trajectories that offer prohibitive circumstances for sailing. When winds are strong the Kamer 2 Sailing Marathon is essentially a sailing race. In quiet weather, however, paddling and mast handling skills can become crucial for victory. Due to the length and difficulty of the route, it is not unusual that more than half of the participants do not reach the finish line in time (before dusk).
The Kamer 2 Race was first organized in 1992 by Hanz Zwart, the first non-Frisian winner of the Brio Race, a similar contest over 60 kilometers held each year in
Friesland in May. Since 2003 the race is organized by a group of sailing centres inKaag Village. From 1999 through 2003 the race was dominated by the Hoogenboom family team. The 2006 edition was won by Edmond Öffner, a Dutch mountaineer who climbedMount Everest in 1992.External links
* [http://www.kaagsezeilmarathon.nl/ Kamer 2 website]
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