Saint Martin Heineken Regatta Overall
by Heineken Regatta Press 7 Mar 2000 07:17 GMT
The 20th annual Sint Maarten/Saint Martin Heineken Regatta
which took place March 3-5 broke at least two records. With 256
entries in 17 classes, it was the largest Caribbean regatta ever.
In addition, the 162 foot 360 ton steel schooner 'Blue Gold'
of Curacao was the largest Heineken entry ever.
Perhaps the most noteworthy aspect of the regatta was the
diversity of its fleet. Boats came from 24 different countries,
and there were maxis like 'Jaguar', modest beach cats like the
Hobie 17 'USS Interpoop', chunky mom-and-pop cruisers like the
Spencer 44 'Yellow Bird', and even a classic wooden 1937 six
meter racing sloop called 'St Kitts III' which helmed by offshore
racing legend (the Ostar, Around Britain race, etc) Phillip
Walwyn.
Over 120 of the entrants were bareboats, and many of them
were self-proclaimed 'Heineken Regatta Regulars.'
A good example of this group was a Centurion 37 named
'Fantasque,' chartered by an all women crew from Curacao, Dutch
Antilles.
"This is our third Heineken regatta," said tactician Popi
Verboom, "and we're ecstatic that we finally won our class.
There's ten of us ladies who regularly race against each other in
dinghies, and every year we do the Heineken together as well. At
first it was strictly for fun, but each year we've gotten a
little more serious... and this year our captain Emie Schuiling
did a particularly good job of steering... so we won!"
Weather conditions for the three day, four race Caribbean
Sailing Association (CSA) rated event were generally excellent,
with light to moderate winds and calm seas.
Of course, not everything was perfect. There was a collision
in the starting area between Larry Bulman's 'Javelin' of
Annapolis and Allard Stamm's 'Faith' of Sint Maarten. 'Javelin'
was not severely damaged and continued racing, but 'Faith' was
holed above the water and retired. Luckily, no one was injured. Both vessels were disqualified.
Undaunted if a tad scarred, 'Javelin' came back to win her
class during the Around the Island race on the final day.
The Big Boat class was taken by 'Ulysses', a Swan 60 owned
by Bruno Proveze of Italy. She had consistently good starts,
excellent tactics, and was amazingly weatherly.
The Carrol Marine 60 'Highland Fling' owned by Irvine
Laidlaw was second in the big boat class, with Bill Alcott's
Santa Cruz 70 'Equation' third.
The coveted Sint Maarten/St. Martin Cup for the 'most worthy
performance' went to 'Harrier', an S&S 48 sailed by Jeffery
Salzman of the US.
The Columbus Cup for the best bareboat overall went to
'Kalalou', a Dufour 45 helmed by Hans Kristian Wulff of Germany.
The NIE Cup for racing overall went to a Henderson 35 named
'Crash Test Dummies' of Trinidad. It was steered by Doug Fisher.
The Heineken Cup Trophy, for the overall winner of the
cruising/racing class, went to Ronald Robert's Dufour 39 named
'Flechette' of Antigua.
The Shell Cup for cruising overall went to 'Budget
Nautique', a Kelt 9m helmed by Hans Lammers of Antigua.
The Empress Cup went to the trimaran 'JP van Eesteren' for
having the best multihull elapsed time around the island.
The SHTA Cup for the fastest monohull spinnaker around the
island went to James Muldoon's Santa Cruz 72 'Donnybrook'.
The Xerox Cup for the fastest non-spinnaker around the
island went to Larry Bulman's Frers 77 'Javelin'.
The multihull racing class was a shocker: Hans Bouscholte's
'JP van Eesteren', an ultra hi-tech 40 foot trimaran (ex
'Primagas', ex 'Kelly Girl', and ex Route du Rhum winner) which
took this class last year, showed up to repeat. In addition, it
claimed that it would set the Around the Island course record on
Thursday, and then reshatter it on Sunday.
Alas, none of these things happened.
Instead a small plywood foiler from Martinique named Plan
D'Enfer (roughly, the 'Bat out of Hell') carried off the top spot.
Two elderly Newick trimarans, 'Ninth Charm' and 'Tryst' came
second and third respectively.
The multihull cruising class was dominated by an Outre Mer
catamaran called 'Trois Quatorze' of France. 'Witchcraft' was
second, 'Weekend' third.
The beach cats were 'Team Texas', 'Worrell Brothers
Restaurant' and 'New England Catamaran'
In the open (or 'fun') class it was 'BeMine','Blue', and
'Yellow Bird.'
The official motto of the event is 'Serious fun!' and there
was plenty of both at this year's Heineken. Thousands of people
attended the nightly parties, and the races took place on both
the Dutch and the French sides of the island.
As an added bonus this year four 'tall ships' participated
in a special race/parade on the final day of the Sint
Maarten/Saint Martin Heineken Regatta.
They were the 1.) The 248 foot POLYNESIA, a windjammer from
the United States built in Portugal in 1938, 2.) The IRENE, a 120
foot 1907 ketch from Great Britain, 3.) The 135 foot 1957 SIR
ROBERT BADEN POWELL from Holland and 4.) the 203 foot 1993 SWAAN
VAN MAKKUM, also from Holland.
More Information: www.heinekenregatta.com
Provisional results class by class:
Racing Overall Crash Test Dummies
Racing I: Crash Test Dummies
Twister
Mermaid II
Racing II: Girobank/Biolab
Caribbeanmatra
Rehab
Big Boats: Ulysses
Highland Fling
Equation
Cruising/racing overall Flechette
Cruising/Racing I Harrier
Neva
Anthem
Cruising/Racing II Flechette
Alibi
Morning Mist
Cruising/Racing III Nash Star
Scarlet Oger
Pissaro
Cruising Overall Budget Nautique
Cruising I Three 60
Javelin
Volador
Cruising II Budget Nautique
Pocho
Pretty Woman
Bareboat overall Kalalou
Bareboat I Fijnhout
Merienda
Veronese
Bareboat II Kalalou
Juluca
Rosco
Bareboat III Team Cape May
Z.V. Westergo
Vlaminck
Bareboat IV Milestone
Dai-Ichi
Airco-online
Bareboat V Fantasque
Sucking Delight
Brabo
Open Class BeMine
Blue
Yellowbird
Multihull racing Plan D'Enfer
Ninth Charm
Tryst
Multihull cruising Trois Quatorze
Witchcraft
Ti Lagoon
Beach cats Team Texas
Worrell Brothers Restaurant
New England Cat
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