Snow and ice put a halt to all sailing in The Netherlands and Belgium . Boats are stuck in frozen marina's and ice floes obstruct most of the lakes.

To alleviate sailors from their winter depression, Dutch magazine Zilt organizes the Zilt Ocean Race online 2010. This virtual event starts on Sunday February 7 at 14.00 UTC in IJmuiden. The common goal is the Zilt Sailors Party at Café Sport on the Azores . The race follows a free route of 1600 nautical miles to the finish at Faial, on the island of Horta . We sail in Volvo 70's. The route to the southwest is full of navigational and meteorological challenges.Strong February winds can make it a fast race, we expect most boats to finish in one week time.

In the January 28 issue of Zilt Magazine, you can read a lot more about the Zilt Ocean Race. Meteorologist Henk Huizinga will analyze the rough weather that you will encounter in this race.

Important: Readers of Zilt Magazine can sail in their own class, in the V70 for Zilt readers. Please choose for the right boat when you register for this race. The boattype can not be changed after you have registered.

No Zilt reader yet? Register for free at www.ziltmagazine.nl. (text in magazine is in Dutch only)