SIMPSON BAY—Ross Appelbey’s Oyster Lightwave 48 Scarlet Oyster won the St. Maarten/St. Martin Cup for Most Worthy Performance Overall in the 37th St. Maarten Heineken Regatta as the curtain came down on the event at Kim Sha Beach for another year. The trophy was presented by Minister of Tourism Rolando Brison.
Sunday saw a much lighter day for the fleet with winds averaging 15-18 knots. At least three minor injuries were reported on Saturday.
It was a fitting reward for Scarlet Oyster whose crew have proved to be superbly consistent at this regatta, and this was icing on the cake added to their class win last year.
Adding even more kudos to their success, one of their crew, Philip Hess, wake boarded in through the Simpson Bay Bridge hanging onto a stay from the mast, surely a first for the Heineken Regatta.
Scarlet Oyster took three bullets and two second places to win CSA 1. EHO1 was second and Affinity third.
Sir Richard Mathews’s new boat Oyster Catcher XXX 1won CSA 2 beating Segio Sagarmoso’s Lazy Dog into second place. Taz was third and St. Maarten’s Kick ‘em Jenny finished in fourth place.
“We won by default as Lazy Dog unfortunately made a mistake at the last but one mark and got disqualified and retired otherwise they would have won class,” explained Sir Richard. “Up to that point they had a string of firsts and we had a string of seconds. It was sad for them but we would rather have won it on the water.”
“We are very happy with the new boat,” added Mathews, who last raced in St. Maarten in 1995. “We had Andy Green, a former world match racing champion on the helm and Saskia Clark, a gold medallist in Rio. We made some mistakes but enjoyed the regatta much more than we thought we would. It was a great event and nice to be back.”
El Ocaso, the Most Worthy Performance winners in 2012, 2014 and 2016, is under new ownership but with much of the original crew racing they did not disappoint and won CSA 3, winning almost every race except for a fourth on Saturday.
Bobby Velasquez’s L’ Esperance stayed true to form winning CSA 4 after a closely fought duel with Robbie Ferron’s Micron 99. Pocket Rocket won CSA 5 and Caribbean Alliance Insurance took the win in CSA 6.
Kidz at Sea on Purple Heart finished fourth in CSA 6. Garth Steyn thanked the youth programme’s sponsors Budget Marine, Oyster Bay Beach Resort, and ILTT and noted US$ 6,000 was raised by Gill for Kidz at Sea.
In the Melges 24 class it was the Gill Race Team emerging overall winner from Frits Bus’s Island Water World 1 in second and the Martinique boat GFA Caraibes in third. Off Shore Multihulls was won by Fujin with R-Six in second and Dominator in third. Fujin was also presented with the Fastest Multihull around the Island award.
Multihulls 1 was won by the Australian Modified Sea Cart 30 Morticia, Arawak was second and Johnny B Good third. Multihulls 2 saw Selika take the win from Guimamalou in second and Spellbound in third. Platin won Multihulls 3 with Blue Tooth in second and Moonshine in third place.
In the Ocean Racing Class, The flawlessly-sailed French Volvo VOR 70 SFS II crew were on cloud nine as they accepted awards for Fastest Spinnaker around the island and Most Worthy Performance on Friday added to the class win. Ambersail was second and Challenger third.
The Maxi Class was won by Nix with Simple Harmony in second and Spirit of Juno third.
Prime Minister William Marlin was on hand to present the Columbus Cup to winner of Bareboats Overall, KHS & S Contractors, who won Bareboat 3. Bareboats 1 was won by Kiev Racing Yacht Club and Bareboats 2 by the Flying Swedes. Kiev also won the Fiji Cup award for Fastest Bareboat around the island.
FKG’s Gordon Robb on Caribella won the 10-boat strong Lottery Class overall.
164 boats competed in the regatta this year. Alfred Koolen was Principle Race Officer and Paul Miller Race Director. Chief Judge Margriet Pannevis noted there were 24 protests.
