Photo: The venerable Newick 36 Tryst skippered by local Arthur Banting will reappear in the CMC this year. Welcome back! Photo: Laurens Morel.
An early glance at the Caribbean Multihull Challenge (CMC) registrations point to some great match-ups in the CSA 1 category – the dominating division in SXM’s newest big regatta.
That class will see five races over four days (from Thursday, February 1, to Sunday, February 4) with three of them distance romps; i.e., the 60-mile around St. Barth’s Sprint™ sponsored by FKG Rigging; the Around Saba Dash™ sponsored by the Sint Maarten Tourism Bureau (STB), and the around island Circle Race™ sponsored by Amstel Bright Beer. All other classes will have racing in various formats.
Riccardo Pavoncelli’s 66-foot Gunboat Mana and the 66-foot HH Nemo owned by Todd Slyngstad will face off with Nemo looking to defend its winning performance in previous CMC editions. (Which builder/skipper will have the fastest boat?)
Perennial winner Anthony McVeigh’s speedy 2-2 Tango – a Schionning 53 will face off with a newcomer – Richard Wooldridge’s Triple Jack – a Kelsail 47 for another interesting match-up. And we welcome back the legendary Guy Chester aboard his rugged Crowther trimaran Oceans Tribute – there to set new records.
The Rally will see first-timer Harry Fugate and Off-Piste; another HH – but this time a 50’ cat – flying through the water from Dutch-side to French-side stops and overnights. We will also have another first timer, Pierre-Yves Legris’s Alibi 65 Surprise in the rally.
In a class growing faster than a jitterbug, we will have 10 VPLP designed French-built Diam 24 open trimaran’s racing for four days in and around the southern shore of St. Maarten / St. Martin. We can remember a few years back, when Diam Agent Pierre Altier entered only four boats, promising that the class would grow in future years. Good job, Pierre!
