Eleven International teams ready for the Carlos Aguilar Match Race

(l to r) Murtha, Karen Loutzenheiser, Lotte Meldgaard Pedersen and Liz Bayliss - Team Denmark - attend the kick-off party for the Carlos Aguilar Match Race © Dean Barnes

Some of the world's top-ranked match racers will set sail in scenic Charlotte Amalie harbor, December 6-9, in the 5th Annual Carlos Aguilar Match Race (CAMR), presented by Ulysse Nardin/Trident Jewels & Time.

This marks the second year of an Open Division format featuring mixed teams of men and women and pitting both sex skippers head-to-head.

"I like sailing with both genders, it's more relaxed, less pressure," says Lotte Meldgaard Pedersen, who finished 10th in Women's Match Racing at the 2012 Summer Olympics and who is currently ranked 30th in the world.

Pedersen, who was delayed out of her native Denmark due to a snow storm, says she enjoyed the practice day in warm yet shifty breeze.

"This is my first time visiting the Virgin Islands and I'm excited to sightsee after the regatta," Pedersen says. "It's already been fun to translate some of the street names in town."

In addition to Pedersen, other top-seeded skippers include the USA's Sally Barkow (5th ranked Women), Brazil's Renata Decnop (15th ranked Women), and the USA's Stephanie Roble (26th ranked Women).

Rounding out the roster of impressive sailors is the USA's Chris Poole (63rd ranked Open), the USA's Dave Perry (66th ranked Open), Brazil's Henrique Haddad (130th ranked Open), the USVI's Tyler Rice (201st ranked Open), Germany's Sven-Eric Horsch (209th ranked Open), the USVI's Peter Holmberg (229th ranked Open), and the USA's Dave Dellenbaugh.

Holmberg, formerly the top-ranked match racer in the world and America's Cup-winning helmsman for Alinghi in 2007, won the CAMR in 2009.

"This will be our first match race event in two years so I would consider ourselves to be underdogs at this event," says Holmberg. "I am sailing with my same local boys, so hopefully the rust will shake off and we'll remember how to match race in the early rounds and be in fair shape come the later stages. I love match racing, so I will enjoy the competition no matter the outcome. And, having this event in my home waters, and taking place in town so that our sport of sailing can be seen and better understood, is a great thing that I will always support."

The winner receives a distinctive Ulysse Nardin precision timepiece.

Match racing pits one identical boat against another on a short course oftentimes near to shore. On-the-water umpires make instant calls and enforce the rules. The result is very exciting racing up and down the Charlotte Amalie waterfront. Sailors will compete in IC-24s, a local adaptation of a J/24.

The race format will be a double round robin where the top three teams move forward. The remaining teams enter a repechage event where the top two teams advance. This offers everybody two tries to make it into the finals, which will take place on Sunday and be broadcast live locally on WVWI (AM 1000). Spectators are invited to watch the racing under tented bleacher seating where there will be live narration. Viewers around the world can watch via a live webcast on www.carlosmatchrace.com. Racing starts at 9 a.m. (GMT – 4 hrs) daily.

A group of Virgin Island's youngsters will have an opportunity to try-on match racing during the Carlos Aguilar Match Race Youth Regatta, which will take place between 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. on Saturday December 8.

The St. Thomas Yacht Club (STYC) and the Virgin Islands Sailing Association (VISA) are organizing authorities for the CAMR, namesake for the late Carlos Aguilar, who was an avid sailor and match racer.

Satish Alwani, co-owner of Trident Jewels & Time, the exclusive Ulysse Nardin dealer on St. Thomas, says, "We welcome the competitors to St. Thomas. We are proud to make this event possible for the fifth year and invite our visitors to watch some great match racing off Charlotte Amalie, a town that is also known as the shopping capitol of the Caribbean."

Supporting sponsors of the CAMR are the U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Tourism; Heineken Beer and Captain Morgan, distributed in the U.S. Virgin Islands by Bellows International Ltd.; Bolongo Bay Beach Resort; Budget Marine; Yacht Haven Grande; Island Sol; Hooters; St. Thomas Yacht Club; Patron, distributed by Premier Wines & Spirits; Choice Communications; Budget Rent-A-Car and Gill.

www.carlosmatchrace.com