SIMPSON BAY--Light wind and swells in the channel between St. Martin and Anguilla prompted race organizers to just send three class on the tradition St. Maarten Heineken Regatta Around the Island Race.
Maxi, Offshore Racing and Multihull Classes sailed clockwise around the island while the rest of the 100-vessel fleet sailed shorter courses.Maxi
Camiranga a 65-foot Maxi with a Brazilian team was first to cross the finish line in 3-hours 22-minutes and 41 seconds. After the handicap was applied Kiaola III a Sparkman & Stephens design won the race.
Offshore Racing
Monster Project, a Volvo 70 with a crew from the Polish Yacht Club Sopot finished first in class with an elapsed time of 3-hours 42:48.
“The winds were light, and we could not go as fast as we like, said three-time Heineken veteran Rafa Sawicki.
“But the racing was good. All the way around the island and the boat behind us, (also with a crew from Poland on a Volvo 70, Green Dragon) finished like 15 seconds behind us.”
After corrected time Ambersail was first, Green dragon second and Monster project was third.
Akouavi took top honours in Ocean Racing 2 after corrected time. Loose Fish crossed the line first but dropped to second on correction.Offshore Multihull
Wow from Great Britain won the Offshore Multihull class.
The Regatta featured five Caribbean Sailing Association classes, a Melges Class and two Bareboat classes.
CSA 1
Sailing the shorter course, Tala from the United States won CSA 1 with an elapsed time of 2:34:26. Lazy Dog from Puerto Rico was second with an elapsed time of 2:56:27 and in fourth place was Kick ‘em Jenny 2 from St. Maarten with a time of 3:03:06.CSA 2
PYR Quokka took line honours and won corrected time in CSA 2 with an elapsed time of 3:15:15. Second also from Great Britain PYR EH01 was second with a time of 3:24:44CSA 3
CSA 3 is one of the bigger classes with 11 boats. The class was won by Apollo and followed by El Ocaso. Spike was third and in fourth place from Canada was Touch2Play Racing which is competing in pink shirts and supports Breast Cancer research.CSA 4
St. Maarten’s Jan vanden Eynde on Wanna B took line honours in CSA 4 with a time of 3:24:45 but was dropped to second place behind Whistler on correction.CSA 5
Great Britain’s Blue Fine won CSA 5 both across the line and after correction. Second place went to Avanti from the USA.Melges 24
Frits Bus Captaining Team Island Water World won the Melges 24 class. Second was Caribe Marine and third place went to Gill Race Team. Bareboat
KHS&S won the overall Bareboat class. Autoboat was second.
Light wind may have lulled visiting sailors into a false sense of security. As at least two bareboats misjudged the turnaround mark coming in to low, having to alter course at the last-minute duck behind a competitor and went into irons. A third boat hit the mark as it tried to round to close.
One bareboat was almost to Marigot before they realized they still had their anchor over the bow.Island Time
The Island Time fun class was won by Avocation.
Back at the docks after the race most sailors cleaned up and relaxed before heading to the Regatta Village.
The crew of Monster Project entertained a group of local children. The invited the age 10 and unders on board, showed the boys and girls how the grinders worked, let them roam below deck and try out the hammock style “beds” and even treated the group to sweeties.
“The children were told, “We love your Island and enjoy coming here,” said Sawicki. The crew then donated US $5,000 toward the reconstruction of the island.
Racing continues this morning.
