PORT DE PLAISANCE—The small Surprise Archambault 24 from Martinique GFA-Caraïbes La Morrigane emerged the Most-Worthy Performance Overall winner of the 43rd Sint Maarten Heineken Regatta at the awards ceremony in Port de Plaisance last night.
The crew was presented with the trophy by Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication (TEATT) Leo Lambriex while Oris Sales Manager for the Caribbean, Mark Gurdus, presented the team with an Oris time piece. This was the fifth year for Oris as sponsor.
GFA Caraibes not only won CSA 7 with a near flawless performance but also made good on their promise to make amends for their second-place finish last year. Martinique dominated the class with sister boat J109 Sang Neuf finishing in second place overall.
CSA 1 saw Volvo 70 I love Poland win class and the Windward Islands Bank trophy for Fastest Monohull Spinnaker around the island. In CSA 3 Melges 32 Lazy Dog beat Frits Bus’s Island Water World Melges 24 by 27 seconds in the last race Sunday to win the class. Despite that Island Water World enjoyed an excellent regatta this year.
Lazy Dog crew member Gretchen Ortiz was presented with the FLOW Women in Sailing trophy, an award that was presented to Pamala Baldwin from Liquid last year. Liquid won CSA 5 and Most Worthy Performance on Friday. CSA 6 overall winner Panacea won Most Worthy Performance on Sunday.
Pierre Altier’s Diam 24 Cry Baby crew dominated the class and were awarded the Randy West Trophy. In Multihull 1 second placed Lodigroup was the fastest multihull around the island. The class was won by 2-2 Tango.
Bareboat 1 winner Phat Dolphin was the fastest bareboat around the island, receiving the Fuji Water trophy and Columbus Cup from St. Maarten Tourist Bureau’s Lisa Coffie. Hank Schmidt from Avocation won the Robbie Ferron Trophy for promoting the regatta and creating the Island Time Class.
Up and coming talent Jordan Pieterse was presented with the Youth Challenge Cup by yacht club Commodore Frits Bus. Youth sailor teams were also featured in the Next Generation regatta for the first time. The top three winners were first RS Zest 1 (Veronica Destin), second RS Zest 4 (Rio Stomp) and third RS Zest 5 (Emma Lennox)
