Saturday
fun in the sun
 |
| Heart
for Kids, the charity team from Unilever,
Holland. Photo by Tim Wright / www.photoaction.com |
After
Friday's rousing kick-off to the 23rd St Maarten
Heineken Regatta - and Friday night's rousing
party on Kim Sha, beach - rousing at all was difficult
on Saturday morning.
But
rouse you must, particularly the Spinnaker classes
who always have two races on Saturday. At least
the race organisers are kind to the bareboat fleets
who have a sensible start time - after 1020 -
and only a dinky little course of 19 miles. They
made the most of it by staying late at the parties
last night and looking decidedly liverish in the
morning sunshine; the toughies from the Spinnaker
classes 1 to 6 and Multihull 1, by contrast, were
every bit the honed athlete. . .
First
class of the day to come to the line in Simpson
Bay on the Dutch side for the race to Marigot
on the French side of this dual nationality island
was Multihull 1. This time the boat formerly known
as PlayStation and the rest of the fleet were
joined by Paragon, still recognisable, but no
longer in her trademark yellow paint.
It's
interesting to watch Steve Fossett's starting
tactics in the 125ft PlayStation. Today they took
a run from about two miles away - somewhere over
by the island of Saba it looked like - and arrived
at the line just a moment or two late, but far
better than Paragon, Orange and Triple Jack. Titchy
little An Nou Ay, the Formula 28, got the best
start.
Yesterday
there was a press conference where Steve Fossett
was the star guest and he was asked about the
difficulties of starting a boat of PlayStation's
size. He admitted that often he would like to
be a bit more conservative than the crew, but
they always want to go for it. Interestingly Steve
steers the starboard hull and Dave Scully the
port - you have to wonder if they ever have a
disagreement and want one hull to go in one direction
and one the other?
After
the Multis, Spinnaker 1, the big boats, were next
up and for a change, Bill Alcott's white-hulled
Equation got the better of Sotto Voce II, coming
in from the committee boat end smack on time and
with speed - masses of speed. But by the time
the fleet made the first mark it was business
as usual with Arien van Vemde's dark blue speed
machine a couple of lengths in front.
Somebody
had forgotten to tell Bill Alcott that he should
be playing second fiddle to the new boat, however,
and under a massive green and white asymmetric
spinnaker sent on the Santa Cruz 70's extra long
spinnaker pole, Equation soon closed the gap and
then sped by to leeward. After Basse Terre, at
the start of the long turn to windward up the
Anguilla towards the northern end of St Maarten,
Sotto Voce II managed to get past the bigger boat,
but Equation was still in touch as they turned
downwind. Up went that big white and green kite
- but five minutes later it was in the drink and
Equation's challenge was nipped in the bud. The
Swan 68 Chippewa seemed to enjoy today's weather
- the wind has dropped to about 12 to 14 knots
- and the long beat, to nick 2nd by five minutes
from Equation, Sotto Voce II topped the pile three
and a half minutes clear.
 |
| Star
Train and Tazani cross tacks soon after the
start. Photo by Tim Wright / www.photoaction.com |
Finishing
just before the Spinnaker 1 class, the Multihulls
were of course led by Mr Fossett's machine - which
rocketed across Marigot bay flying a hull and
enveloped in spray - but only 20 minutes behind
was the flying flea, Claude Thelier and his mates
aboard the amazing CDK28 An Nou Ay. The 28 footer,
you could probably about 20 of them on PlayStation's
deck, deservedly won the race on corrected time
by a resounding 28 minutes and 2 seconds from
Richard Woooldridge's Triple Jack and Patrick
Turner's Tryst, two ageing but competitive, wooden
trimarans.
Winning
classes in short regattas like this is all about
consistency. In Spinnaker 5 the Melges 24 Slam,
Cor van Aanholt at the helm, managed to overtake
Frits Bus in his sister ship 2 Contact Carib 2,
despite the presence of Jesper Radich, the World
Match racing number two in Mr Bus's boat, and
despite them having a solid windward cover on
Slam on the last beat. Shane Attwell's modified
Beneteau First Class 10, Ninja won on the water
and took 2nd on corrected time, Jamie Dobbs Olson
30 4th by ten seconds only.
Consistency
deserted Clay Vaughan's Synergy today, dropping
from the top of pile in Spinnaker 3 down to 2nd,
the Sun Odyessy 52.2 Igoodia, Milt Baehr using
her waterline length to good advantage to win
the class in Race 1, though they got back on top
in Race 2, with the beautiful Bharlin Blue in
2nd.
Richard
Matthews is a heavyweight in the boat building
industry, with his highly successful Oyster Yachts,
and he has been a stout defender of the Red Duster's
success in Caribbean regattas over decades. Here
with his new boat Flirt, a John Corby design that
has been - how shall we put this? - less than
stellar in UK racing, Richard has recruited the
services of GBR America's Cup team starting helmsman
(deposed), Andy Green to spice up proceedings.
Whatever Andy has done, it seems to be working
- or was it the two feet sawn off the stern and
the mounds of lead chipped from the keel? Whatever,
Flirt seems to be enjoying warmer waters and in
the first race took a handy win by three and a
quarter minutes from the Swan 56 twins, Graham
Smith's Vellamo 2 and Andrew Fisher's Vanish 2.
In the second race too she took line honours and
the corrected time win over Vellamo 2 just as
in the morning.
The
lucky bareboats only had one race for the day.
In Bareboat 1 yesterday's winner Douggie Brookes'
slipped to 2nd, with Frank van Kempen in Gamepoint
taking the win. One special boat in this fleet,
Heart for Kids, Jeroen Myering, isn't performing
too well, 17th yesterday, 13th today, but they
are raising money for the local Hospital to provide
incubators for babies and sports gear for a local
school. The sailors giving something back to the
community.
In
Bareboat 2, Kipling, Walter Freyne, and Brinks
Movin' Money, Joop van Werkhoven, swapped places
at the top of the fleet today, but in the process
ended up in the protest room. The result was a
DSQ for Kipling, so no cakes for them this evening.
Daggers
drawn in Non-Spinnaker 2, where St Maarten and
Antigua are fighting it out in the form of Hugh
Bailey and Bernie Evan Wong for Antigua and Bobby
Velasquez for St Maarten. Hugh took the class
yesterday with Bernie 2nd and Bobby 3rd, and while
Hugh made it home in front by just 30 seconds
today, Bobby was whuppin' Bernie by close to seven
minutes for 2nd. It looks as though the honours
might be in Antigua's pocket, however, unless
Hugh Bailey mikes a right pigs ear of it tomorrow.
Free to use pictures will be forwarded within
the hour, please ensure that you credit Tim Wright,
www.photoaction.com
Tomorrows
report and pictures will be sent as usual, a rap
up report will be forwarded on Monday.
If
you need any more information, please see the
official web site: www.heinekenregatta.com or
call me on + 599 5572021
Results
(Provisional)
Most
Deserving Boat of the Day
Tango
Mike, Tony Maidment, ANT
For two wind today with the biggest margin over
the fleet with the closest corrected times
Bareboat
1
1,
Gamepoint, Frank van Kempen, NED
2, Island Flyer, Douggie Brookes, SXM
3, All there is, Dennis Gregory, USA
Bareboat
2
1,
Brinks Movin' Money, Joop van Werkoven, NED
2, Mill. Sail team Roden, Oosterling Bert, NED
3, Team Teerenstra, L. W. van Bergen, NED
Bareboat
3
1,
Carnival, Mark Duranty, USA
2, Inn Harmony, Henrik van der Lip, USA
3, Ne Oublie Voyager, Stefano Spangaro, ITA
Bareboat
4
1,
Lofoten 1, Jan Soderberg, USA
2, Dulon, G. Loos, NED
3, Diff Management, Den Berger, NED
Bareboat
5
1,
Apalachicola, Douwe Remery, NED
2, F.A.S.T. - ESCO, C. W. Vink, NED
3, Zeilen, Jan Mulder, NED
Multihull
1
1,
An Nou Ay, Claude Thelier, GDP
2, Triple Jack, Richard Wooldridge, TOR
3, Tryst, Patrick Turner, STM
Multihull
2
1,
Calabra, Mourice Flowers, IRL
2, Valpar, Jean laval, GDP
3, Shearwater II, Stuart Bell, USA
Non
Spinnaker 1
1,
Yocahu, Jeffrey Rose, USA
2, Perseverance II, Tom Puett, USA
3, Island Water World Express, Ian Martin, SXM
Non
Spinnaker 2
1,
Hugo, Hugh Bailey, ANT
2, L'Esperance, Bobby Velasquez, SXM
3, Huey Too, Bernie Evan-Wong, ANT
Spinnaker
1
1,
Sotto Voce II, Arien van Vemde, SXM
2, Chippewa, Clay Deutsch, USA
3, Equation II, Bill Alcott, USA
Spinnaker
2
1,
Spirit of Juno, Alex Tomson, GBR
2, Tazani, Justin Heap, GBR
3, Bharlin Blue, Kees Jan Kuyt, NED
Spinnaker
3
1, Igoodia, Milt Baehr, IVB
2, Synergy, Clay Vaughan, SXM
3, Sky, Jim Reiher, USA
Spinnaker
4
1,
Flirt, Richard Matthews, GBR
2, Vellamo 2, Graham Smith, USA
3, Vanish 2, Andrew Fisher, USA
Spinnaker
5
1,
Slam, David de Vries, SXM
2, Ninja, Shane Attwell, BAR
3, 2 Contact Carib 2, Frits Bus, SXM
Spinnaker
6
1,
Tango Mike, Tony Maidment, ANT
2, Vanille, Phillipe Herve, FRA
3, ARC-Belgium, Diederik Demesel, BEL
Open
Class
1,
Tamaya, Franck Berger, STM
2, GEMINGA Lycee des Illes du Nord, Patrik Chappellier,
STM
3, Zeebra, V. J. Donraadt, NED
Race
2
Spinnaker
1
1,
Sotto Voce II, Arien van Vemde, SXM
2, Chippewa, Clay Deutsch, USA
3, Equation II, Bill Alcott, USA
Spinnaker
2
1,
Spirit of Juno, Alex Tompson, GBR
2, Bharlin Blue, Kees Jan Kuyt, NED
3, Starr Trail, Robert Mulderig, BER
Spinnaker
3
1,
Synergy, Carl Vaughan, SXM
2, Affinity, Jack Desmond, USA
3, Florys, Luc Coquelin, MAR
Spinnaker
4
1,
Flirt, Richard Matthews, GBR
2, Vellamo 2, Graham Smith, USA
3, Near Miss, Jean-Marie Vidal, FRA
Spinnaker
5
1,
Garbo, Tom Talomaa, SWE
2, Slam, David de Vries, SXM
3, Lost Horizon, James Dodds, USV
Spinnaker
6
1,
Tango Mike, Tony Maidment, ANT
2, ARC-Belgium, Diederik Demesel, BEL
3, Vanille, Phillipe Herve, FRA
