MARIGOT/ST.BARTS—After winning the first race of the 10th St. Barths Cata Cup the Greek sailors Iordanis Paschalidis and Konstantinos Trigkonis on Relwen never let their guard down, emerging on Sunday as overall winners of the regatta after profiting from an error from their main rival.
The fourth and last day of sailing should have identified the leaders and decided the podium but it was played out in an improbable scenario punctuated with many comebacks.
At one point it seemed as if glory of victory would go to Franck Cammas and Matthieu Vandame (ODP 1), who were at the top of the general classification on the morning of the last two races. Yet the glory finally went to winners Iordanis Paschalidis and Konstantinos Trigkonis (Relwen), as their competitors made an error on the course.
The Greeks however did not steal victory. These two sailors were consistently at the front of the pack and turned in a remarkably steady performance in spite of highly variable wind conditions. At the end of the day, they finished with a healthy lead, ahead of, in order, Argentineans Cruz Gonzales Smith and Mariano Heuser (Eden Rock Villa Rental) and Belgians Patrick Demesmaeker and Olivier Gagliani (Les Perles de Saint-Barth).
The final day of competition was already high-pressure due to the very narrow difference in points between the leaders at the start of the last races. The race committee decided to spice up the course a little by launching a tour of the island, a race that was the equivalent of two and could not be used as a discard.
“In this context, it was win all or lose all,” declared Franck Cammas before setting out on the course on Sunday morning. The helmsman from Aux was correct with his prediction. In the race while perfectly in control of his major adversaries, Iordanis Paschalidis and Konstantinos Trigkonis, Cammas made a fatal mistake, by missing a race marker a little before Pain de Sucre, in the last third of the race.
The jury decided on disqualification for Cammas as well as two other boats who also made the same error. This was a tough break for the winner of the 2013 edition of Cata Cup, who as a result lost not only lost first place but added a total 96 points putting him in 13th place overall.
“It’s the luck of the regatta and the rules are the rules. It was an unusual end to the race, but it worked out for us,” commented Iordanis Paschalidis. “Franck and Matthieu, had, I think sailed better generally speaking than we did this week as we made a fair amount of errors that stupidly cost us points. But we are happy with the victory. I had participated in St. Barth Cata-Cup twice with my friend Gustaf Dyrssen and both times we just missed the podium (editor’s note: they finished 4th in 2012 and 6th in 2016).
“Today, we reached our goal. I am extremely happy. It was a great pleasure to meet Franck Cammas and Patrick Demesmaeker, both incredible Vice World champions for the class in the past.”
St. Marten sailors Frits Bus (sponsored by Island Water World) and Bernard Sillem (sponsored by Budget Marine), the only team representing St. Maarten, finished 35th in the overall standings, their best race was a 24th place.
“We finished in a decent position given the level of this competition but in the last race we got T-boned and had to abandon,” Frits reported.
(photo by Rosemond Greaux).
