2003 St Maartens Heineken Regatta - Overall
by Dick Johnson 10 Mar 2003 10:14 GMT
Just another day in paradise
More blue sky, wind north east at 15 knots, warm water, little white fluffy clouds, stinking hangover from the previous night's ravin' on the Waterfront at Marigot to Onyon and Holland's Intwine: It must be St Maarten and it must be the 23rd Heineken Regatta.
One great thing about St Maarten's three day regatta format is that you can
just about - if you are little younger than your reporter - race your ears
off all day and party all night for the whole three days, and still be able
to be poured aboard the 'plane home on Monday. What you will be like back at
work on Wednesday, however, is anybody's guess.
But I suggest that, if you try it next year, and you should, you should go
into serious training. Your musculature needs honing to the normally
accepted athletic standards for sailing, as the winds are always moderate to
fresh, but most of all, the liver needs careful nurturing to the normally
accepted standards of the trainee dipsomaniac, as the partying is always
storm to hurricane force.
Of course the bareboat classes, the major partying classes, are given the
longest recovery time each morning, with Bareboat 1 starting after 10 am.
Today, like every other day, Bareboat 1 came to the line with the enthusiasm
of Labrador puppies and about the same knowledge of the racing rules. The
classic barging start - from outside the Committee boat on a reach - is
apparently the generally accepted form of start in Bareboat 1 and I have to
offer my sincere congratulations to Mr Jaap Koomen for the best example of
the genre that I have ever seen. He came in at speed with his crew yelling
for the other boats to get out of the way. And they did!
At the end of the race Douggie Brookes slotted in another win with Island
Flyer which gives him two wins and a 2nd - and the coveted overall prize.
Our friends in Heart for Kids dropped back from the dizzy heights of a 13th
yesterday to their regular 17th - they did that Friday too. But despite
their position, they were still happily raising money for the local hospital
and anyone who wants to contribute can email them at
heartforkids2003@hotmail.com
Pin end starts were the order of the day as for a change the committee had
biased the line that way, and a good example came from Coor van Aanholt at
the helm of the Melges 24 Slam in Spinnaker 5. Slam crossed the fleet and
ran away into the distance, winning by almost 12 minutes. She won by over 11
minutes on corrected time from Jamie Dobbs' Lost Horizon and trousered the
class overall.
Another port tack starter was Claude Thelier in the pocket rocket in
Multihull 1, the CDK28 catamaran An Nou Ay. They crossed the fleet with
masses of room - even with PlayStation coming down the line on starboard at
speed. The Newick 36 Tryst was overtaken to leeward by PlayStation, and for
a moment it looked as though Steve Fossett was playing with a little red
bath toy alongside his big cat.
Bharlin Blue has been having a good regatta and today put the icing on the
cake with a charging start and an even better win. That put her on top of
Spinnaker 2 overall too by just one point from Alex Thomson at the helm of
Formula 1 Sailing's Spirit of Juno. Early class leader, Justin Heap's
Tazani, had to count a retirement yesterday afternoon, which ruined her
chances overall, despite a 2nd today.
Throughout the week the Turner 56 Entrada, sailed by John Thompson from
Canage has been attracting attention, if only for the fact that they seem to
sail with just four crew - unless there's a crowd below that come on deck
when they are out of sight of the press. Racing in Non-Spinnaker class 1,
Entrada has had a bit of an up and down regatta in terms of results, but won
on the first and last days, though their poor mid day result gave them only
3rd overall.
Local wonderboat Synergy, a Frers 49 resurrected from a hurricane wreck by
Carl Vaughan at his St Maarten Shipyard, sneaked in another win in Spinnaker
3, giving them a 1, 2, 1, 1, series and, unsurprisingly the overall title.
Pity poor Peter von Danzig, she recorded an OCS on the first race yesterday,
dropping them to 6th overall when they might have recorded 2nd. The French
Open 50 ketch from Martinique, Florys, under the command of Luc Coquelin, is
not entirely suited to this round the buoys racing, she looked as though she
was always about to fall over every time she essayed a windward leg, but put
together a reasonable series to finish 5th overall.
Richard Matthews must leapt out of bed with a light heart this morning,
thinking that he was only a race away from a class win in his 50 footer
Flirt. But as is always the case in sailing, it ain't over 'till the fat
lady sings and this time the song she sung was for Graham Smith's Vellamo 2.
Vellamo 2, a Swan 56, held out Carlo Falcone's Caccia Alla Volpe, Jean-Marie
Vidal's IMX 40 Near Miss and Flirt today, dropping the British boat to 2nd
overall, two points behind Vellamo 2 and two ahead of Caccia.
A slightly more convincing win was in Spinnaker 6, where Tony Maidment's
Dehler 34 Tango Mike posted another win to add to her tally of three, a
clean sheet marred only by a 2nd on the first day. Interestingly, Tony is a
CSA measurer and measurers always have an eye for a fast sailing and faster
rating boat; the Dehler is clearly that. Visitor ARC-Belgium, Diederik
Demesel led Tango Mike home on the water, but slipped to 2nd by 2 minutes,
though held on to 2nd overall by just a point from Phillipe Herve's Beneteau
30 Vanille.
Yesterday, we reported a protest between two top boats in Bareboat 2,
Kipling and Brinks Movin' Money, a protest that resulted in a slightly less
than happy Kipling adding a DSQ to their tally. Today, still spitting tacks
in all directions, they won their class by three minutes on the water and by
almost six on corrected time, a result that availed them little overall.
Mark Duranty has been conducting the Beneteau 460 Carnival around the course
to great effect, getting a five minute win today in Bareboat 3, a win that
almost but not quite got them the overall prize in the Bareboat class. This
prize, on cumulative corrected time, went to Jan Soderberg in Lofoten 1 from
Bareboat 4, but interestingly, all three of the top boats were sailed by
sailors from the USA, despite being outnumbered to a vest scale by the
Dutch.
International relations between Antigua and St Maarten might plunge to
almost USA/Iraq levels in the near future thanks to Hugh Bailey winning the
battle of the marina owners between himself and Bobby Velasquez. Bobby,
from St Maarten, won today in L'Esperance, with Hugh 2nd ahead of his
Antigua playmate Bernie Evan-Wong in Huey Too, but Hugh's previous wins gave
him the overall win. Bobby shouldn't be too upset though, his new boat
seems to be going well and his skills, and those of his crew, seem to be
getting better too. Just don't wait until the first day of the regatta in
2003 to go sailing for the next time Bobby.
As just one final footnote to the regatta, Steve Fossett agreed to have an
attempt on a proper round the island record after today's racing. A special
line was set up as a transit due south from Pelican Rock, on the east side
of Great Bay. PlayStation wound up for the run after lunch and shot off
into the distance. Two hours, 4 minutes and 36 seconds later she crossed
the line again, not quite breaking the two hour barrier thanks to the dying
wind down the east coast. It's there for the taking if anyone else fancies a
go.
So to the finale of the regatta, the prize giving and tonight's party, is
all that remains before some 2,000 and more sailors, and hundreds more
friends and family, go back to their normal lives, left with just a glowing
memory of a great regatta sailed in a fine spirit - and an even finer beer.
Tonight's headline band is Carlos Santana's backing band, Puro Bandido,
keenly awaited by just about the whole Island population it seems. The venue
is the new cruise ship pier at the eastern end of Great Bay. There are still
thousands of cans of Heineken waiting to be consumed and just as many tall
tales to be told before the curtain finally comes down on a great regatta.
More Information: