ST. BARTHS-- After three days of tight competition on the waters off the French West Indies island of St. Barths, many of the teams racing in Les Voiles headed into the final day with the hopes of either dismounting class leaders or fending off competitors that were climbing up in the rankings. However, due to lack of wind the Race Committee was forced to make the difficult decision to cancel the final day of racing.
Nevertheless, the eighth edition of the regatta didn't disappoint, with a week of fun and entertainment satisfying sailors both on and off the water. In the end, winners were crowned in all nine classes.
Island Water World had won class the first three days so had tied up the victory before the last race was cancelled.
“I've been a Melges 24 sailor for 20 years, said Water World skipper Frits Bus. “We've been coming here every year and have won a few times and have broken our mast twice when we were winning so we have a little bit of history here.”
Island water World won class in 2016.
“This year it was nice to win again and there was very good competition from the other islands. We come here to win and to have a great time with friends and we did just that.”
One of the teams unable to climb up in the standings was Kick ‘em Jenny also from St. Maarten. Skippered by former St. Maarten commodore, Ian Hope Ross, Jenny placed third.
“Les Voiles is becoming one of the most prestigious Caribbean Yachting events, attracting a wide variety of extraordinaire racing boats with many famous yachtsmen on board the top racing yachts,” said Bus.
In Maxi 1, the competition was tight between the eight boats, but George Sakellaris' Proteus shined throughout the week, defending its 2016 class win and finishing off the regatta with a solid three-point lead over second-place finisher Prospector. Also, for overall best performance among all Maxis competing, Sakellaris took home the regatta's most coveted prize, the Richard Mille 60-01 Regatta Flyback Chronograph timepiece.
Maxi 2 Class was won by Windfall. Sorcha won CSA 0 while Fortunata won CSA 1. Richard Mattews won CSA 2 with his Oystercatcher XXXI
Blitz owned and skippered by Peter Corrs won CSA 3 while Jaguar owned by Chris de Glanville took top honours in CSA 4 class.
Fujin skippered by Greg Slyngstad won the Multihull class.
Next in the Caribbean sailing circuit will be Antigua Sailing Week, April 29 to May 5, which will be celebrating their 50th edition.
