SIMPSON BAY—Team Island Water World repeated as winners of the annual La Course de L’Alliance hosted by the St. Maarten Yacht club and sponsored by FKG Marine Rigging this past weekend.
Eleven teams battled for top honours in the 18th edition. With two first place finishes and a total of six points over three races, Frits Bus’ Melges 24 Team Island Water World was the overall winner in the racing class.
F.K.G, another Melges 24 was second and Dauntless, a Beneteau First 47.7 placed third.
In the Multihull class Team Catamaran Guru Brokers took the win from Quality Time.
Robbie Ferron sailed his Nonsuch 33 Bunglebird in the CSA Cruising class and placed first.
Olivier Pilon and his beach cat joined the races in an unofficial capacity.
“Wind conditions were absolutely perfect on Saturday, with approximately 15 knots. The first participant arrived within 3 hours after the first start,” said Race Officer Rien Korteknie.
Organizers decided to reuse last year’s format instead of the original 3-day three Island format, as travel restrictions are still in place between St. Maarten, St. Barts and Anguilla.
This included three races for the CSA racing class and two races for the Cruising and Multihull classes divided over 2 days.
The Racing class was sent to Proselyte off of Philipsburg and back to Simpson Bay for its first race. The second race went directly to Oyster Bay.
Cruising and Multihull classes sailed straight to Oyster Bay.
Overnight the wind increased to 20 knots, making for exciting racing conditions, especially for the course that took the fleet around the Northern side of the island to Simpson Bay. With a downwind leg in the Anguilla Channel, the Melges 24s were at an absolute benefit with speeds recorded up to 17 knots.
Yet, it was Quality Time who took line honours with Dauntless only seconds behind them. On corrected time Team Island Water World convincingly took the win of the day, minutes ahead of the other Melges 24s.
Final prize giving took place Sunday afternoon at the SMYC. winners received trophies made by title sponsor FKG Marine Rigging out of discarded rigging materials.
La Course de L’Alliance was made possible with the help of FKG Marine Rigging, Oyster Bay Beach Resort, Eagle Tours and Divico.
