F18s at the 16th Aruba Heineken Catamaran Regatta
by Gillian Power 24 Nov 2006 14:34 GMT
10-19 November 2006
F18s steal the Show
In the recent Aruba Heineken Regatta held in Aruba, Dutch Antilles, the F18s were dominant over the other classes. Out of the top 10 only 1 non-F18 managed to infiltrate the results, being Team Crewsaver of Sproat/Burke on their Spitfire finishing in a credible 5th place. The larger Tornados couldn't keep up with the 18-foot Formula 18s made up of Australian built Capricorns, French built Hobie Tigers and American built Nacra Infusions.
After a fabulous welcome dinner on the Saturday night with dancers and a live band, the event started on Sunday with clear skies and good offshore wind keeping the seas flat and clear. There were a lot of new crew combinations and everyone was keen to test out the competition. Team Power cracked the first 2 races of the event with 2 first places.
Day 2 dawned another sunny day and sailors were keen to get on the water, with such fantastic weather, who could resist. The morning's race was won by Team Gummer/Burke. Then it was time for lunch supplied by one of the event's sponsors. After lunch we were sent out to do some triangle/sausage courses as appose to our usual upwind/downwind courses. On top of this it was 3 laps of a massive course and all crews groaned at the idea of so many reaches and downwinds, not forgetting the upwind work. Off we shot after the start and very soon it became evident that Team Power enjoyed the reaching legs and slowly pulled out a comfortable lead on the other F18s. Team Allen/Farren on a Tornado kept us in check the whole way around the course. After a while we lost count of where we were and sailed past the finishing line without going through it. Allen/Farren behind us tacked for the finish line and then Booth/Nieuwenhuis tacked off at the last minute too. By this time we were too far to notice that they were going through the line. We went on to complete another sausage and watched the rest of the fleet finish the race. With the sun getting low in the sky, the wind dropped for the next race. As if the previous race wasn't bad enough, the next race we did exactly the same, throwing away another first place! Thank goodness that day was over, with the sun setting as the last few boats went through the finish line. Race 4 was won by Booth/Nieuwenhuis, Race 5 by Vink/Pols.
Day 3 and the wind was up again. Race 6 kicked off and Gummer/Burke were on form and had a close victory over Booth/Nieuwenhuis. Team Power were fighting hard to recover after a dismal day before. Unfortunately this all went wrong at the 2nd windward mark rounding with a spectacular pitchpole (bows in and stern over the top & crew flown clear of bows) when in 3rd place just after hoisting the spinnaker at the spreader mark. Of course, everyone on Pelican Pier got to see this as well as the rest of the fleet coming up to the mark !! Fortunately no damage to crew or boat and we managed to recover to 15th place on handicap. One race after another sponsored lunch and this time Team Power managed to keep the bows out of the water and lead the race until the last beat to the finish line where Booth/Nieuwenhuis took victory. The afternoon saw the VIP race where the sailors take the sponsors and press for them to experience the thrill of racing. This was won by Stuart Gummer with Event Communications officer, Diana Bogaards as his crew.
Day 4 was a rest day and many sailors and their families head for the beach to get in a bit of relaxing and sunshine. A few others decided it was the day to pack full of activities, learning to kite surf, snorkelling, windsurfing, crazy golf and then some sailing filming in the late afternoon.
Day 5, race 9 and another battle between Booth/Nieuwenhuis & Team Power with Booth taking the victory and Power in 2nd. Team Sproat/Burke sailed to a fantastic 3rd place on their Spitfire. In the afternoon we were introduced to this year's long distance. With the wind being light and variable the organisers chose to keep it local and not send us up the lagoon with the cruise ships and submarines. It was a cracking reach that went on for ever down to the town with the heavier crews managing to hold the spinnaker a little longer than the lighter crews. The Spitfire team of Sproat/Burke also seemed to enjoy the reaching leg as they were way up front with the leading F18s. Another reach after the mark at the lagoon back to the central rounding buoy off the holiday inn. Samama/Buyse (Nacra Infusion) were away and Booth/Nieuwenhuis were slowly catching them. With the tight reaches Pols/Veenstra struggled to keep their spinnaker up with it popping off the cleat every time they started double-trapezing. This gave Team Power an easy passage past them. The race was mostly reaching legs and the experience from Hobie 16 days helped us to fight our way up the fleet. Booth/Nieuwenhuis made an impressive comeback by winning the race. That evening saw many tired but happy faces.
Day 6 and last race for the event. Dutch team Booth/Nieuwenhuis had a pretty secured 1st place, British team Gummer/Burke were in a comfortable 2nd place not able to be caught by the next boat. The battle for 3rd, 4th, 5th & 6th was very close. Dutch team Samama/Buyse were in 3rd but had to beat British team Power to keep their place; Team Power needed to beat Samama/Buyse by 1 place but also had to finish in the top 6; British Team Crewsaver (Sproat/Burke) had to beat Dutch team Moret/Smissaert to claim 5th place. Samama/Buyse chose to match-race Team Power before the start which lead to some exciting manoeuvres to get to the start line and on the start. It was a good battle all the way up the first beat with cover tacking and luffing from both teams. We managed to get the upper hand and made it round the windward mark too far down the fleet for our liking but in front of the Dutch team. The race was 5 laps long and as the crew I was a bundle of nerves... 5 spinnaker hoists and drops to make a mistake plus I still had our pitchpole in the back of my mind. The first downwind we caught up to the middle of the fleet knowing we still had to get ourselves into 6th place. Each leg we caught a few boats and by the end of the nerve-racking race we finished 5th with Samama/Buyse in 9th. Team Lens Express of Pols/Veenstra had their first victory of the event.
Overall Results:
1st Booth/Nieuwenhuis (NED) - Hobie Tiger F18
2nd Gummer/Burke (GBR) - Capricorn F18
3rd Power/Power (GBR) - Capricorn F18
4th Samama/Buyse (NED) - Nacra Infusion F18
5th Sproat/Burke (GBR) - Spitfire