PHILIPSBURG--The 36th edition of the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta started with the need for foul weather gear. That is sailor speak for rain coats or in the absence of such umbrellas and trash bags and of course duct tape.
The regatta looked destined for trouble as early morning squalls moved through the area. At the bridge opening sailboats of all sizes raced for the narrow passage, causing some confusion and at least one boat brushed up against the bridge abutment.
By race time the clouds had started to thin. Wind was down to 25 knots and 193 boats headed around the island course of approximately 26 miles.
Two new records were established. Phaedo3, green trimaran, flew around the Friendly Island in 1 hour 19 minutes 59 seconds in the multi hull division and in the mono hull group Highland Fling XI circled the island in 2 hours 12 minutes 32 seconds.
Last year Phaedo3, a MOD 70 (Multi One Design 70-foot long 55-feet wide) circumnavigated the island in 1 hour 30 minutes.
Steve Fosset set the record on his 125-foot catamaran PlayStation back in March of 2003 at 2 hours 4 minutes 23 seconds.Melges 24
“Super race day,” said Island Water World skipper Frits bus. “Conditions were near perfect. The course was great. We got a great start and by the end of the day the weather had improved.”
“For the first time in a long time we actually sailed around the island,” noted Bus, who races in the Melges 24, one of the smaller boats in the regatta.
In the past the races started in either Simpson Bay or Cay Bay and featured an up-wind start toward Great Bay before heading downwind to round the island. This year the race started with a downwind spinnaker pop in race class in Simpson Bay and finished in Simpson Bay.
Island Water World finished second in the Melges 24 class with a time of 3:37:08. First place went to Nicolas Gillet of Martinique on Gfa Caraibes.
Gill Race team placed third in class.Multihull 1
Phaedo 3 won Multihull 1 class. Fujin, a Bieker 53 skippered by Greg Slyngstad was second at 2:02:47 and Soma was third.
Multihull 2
Selika, a Catana from Germany, won Multihull 2 with a time of 3:39:34. Jean Ricour of St. Martin’s Guimamalou was second at 3:49:34 and St. Maarten Carib Cat was third.Multihull 3
The Lagoon 380 Karla won Multihull 3. Russian Andrey Arbuzov finished in 4:33:44. Petr Kochnev on a Lagoon 450 Nala was second and followed by Blue Tooth.Gunboat
The Gunboat 62 Elvis dominated class with a time of 2:05:41. Second was Tribe at 2:15:05 and Coco de Mer was third.
Beachcats
Friendly Island sailor Bernard Sillem celebrated the return of the Beachcat class to the regatta with a first place finish at 2:21:16. Tradewind Aviation was second at 2:25:26 and third from St. Barths was Carib Cleaning at 2:28:05.Maxi 1
Highland Fling XI placed second in Maxi one on corrected time. After completing the course in 2:12:32 the handicap dropped the time to 3:11:54.
Sorcha sailed the course in 2:33:42 but on correction finished 3:04:45. Prospector, a Farr CM60 from the United States was third.Maxi 2
The Netherlands Lot66, a Swan won Maxi 2 with a corrected time of 3:27:37 and an actual time of 3:04:03.
Second place went to Varsovie. The Swam 100s finished in 2:43:01 and was corrected to 3:28:01.Volvo
Three sailboats competed in Volvo Class. Team Brunel sailed around the Island in 2:30:58 but was corrected to 3:28:38 and relegated to second place. Ambersail, a Farr design finished in 2:49:25 and corrected to 3:26:21.CSI 1
Mark Chapman from Trinidad raced Dingo and won CSA 1. The Ker design completed the course in3:15:18. Lazy Dog from Puerto Rico was second at 3:22:47 and Soca also from Puerto Rico was third.CSA 2
Scarlet Oyster won CSA 2. The Oyster lightwave 48 rounded the island in 3:32:19. Just seconds behind was Ventaneiro 3 from Brazil at 3:32:40.CSA 3
Lipton, an A40 from Guadeloupe won CSA 3 with a time of 3:34:31. El Ocaso was faster around the course at 3:32:20 but dropped to second on corrected time. Team Boston was third.CSA 4
Dark Star, a J105 from Puerto Rico, won CSA 4 with a time of 3:47:51. Solstice from the United States was second at 3:50:34. Wild T'ing from the Virgin Islands was third.CSA 5
Local sailor Bobby Velasquez on L’Esperance won CSA 5 with a time of 3:46:43. Robbie Ferron on Team Budget Martine Micron was second at 3:52:18. Avanti was third.CSA 6
CSA 6 featured three sailboats with student crews. Kids at Sea 2 finished sixth in class at 4:31:40 and Kidz at Sea 1 was seventh at 4:47:01.
Maelia won the group with a time of 4:01:176. Speedy Nemo was second at 4:04:50.Bareboats
There were four classes of bareboats with between 10 and 19 charterboats in each group. Winning Bareboat 1 was KHS&S Contractors from the US. The Belgium Ourios Sailing Team won Bareboat 2. Baltics from Germany won Bareboat 3 and Anna Maria won Bareboat 4. The regatta also features a lottery class for boats that do not have a formal rating. Earendil was first followed by Flying Penguin and Panache ii.
Sailing continues this morning.
