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Entries at Heineken 2004 and Still Counting
Feb 4, 2004, 13:24 PST
Well, perhaps a little early to be absolutely
sure yet, but St Maarten's Heineken Regatta 2004
is shaping up to be the tops in every department.
In
total numbers, the stratch sheet is getting longer,
with the spinnaker class filling up, and scores
of Bareboats from 50ft down waiting to start the
cut-throat racing that is their stock in trade.
Don't let anybody try to convince you that the
Bareboats are for beginners, the competition is
red hot with skilled teams from Europe out for
an pre-season sharpener before doing battle in
the colder waters of home.
But
it is the big boats in the Spinnaker racing classes
that are taking all the attention. Roy Disney,
with skipper Robbie Haines, and arch rivals Hasso
Plattner and his skipper, the very vocal Dee Smith,
have paid their entry fees for Pyewacket and Morning
Glory respectively, the latest boats in the Z86
class. Complete with swing keels, start of the
art rigs and sails, and packed with the top professional
sailors from Volvo race to America's Cup, the
racing between these two is expected to be dramatic,
swift and a spectacle to behold. St Maarten will
be the first head-to-head contest for these two.
Backing
up the Z86 giants are some boats that in any other
year would be themselves the very pinnacle of
racing and might just be able to show the new
boats a tough time on handicap. New from a long
time regular at St Maarten is Titan 12, entered
by Tom Hill from Puerto Rico. Tom has been bringing
his boats to the Heineken since the 1972 . The
new Titan is a 75ft Reichel Pugh racing machine
that is the most technical craft Tom and his crew
will have campaigned.
Joining
Titan, Pyewacket and Morning Glory are the well
known Donnybrook, James Muldoon's 73 footer and
Equation, Bill Alcott's Andrews 68. Throw in Heineken
regulars Chippewa, Mischevious and Starr Trail,
a gaggle of Formula 1 Sailing's Farr 65s and a
couple of Volvo Ocean 60s , Venom & Spirit.
The
strength and competition is not just in the biggest
and most spectacular. A hot fleet of 50 footers
including the Trans Pac 52 Rosebud and the Swan
50 Highland Fling will be racing. A touch smaller,
Beneteau 47.7s will be trying it on against a
couple of Swan 45s. Facing off against these proven
designs is a brand new boat out of the Soca Sailboats
yard in Trinidad, a small company fast making
a big name for itself. The new boat, Storm, owned
by Les Crouch of San Diego and designed by - who
else - Reichel and Pugh, just won it's class at
Key West Race Week with its all carbon rig.
If
all this high tech and accent on speed is not
for you, then the Heineken Regatta has its Open
Class. It sounds racy, but this is where the cruising
schooners and the liveaboard cutters can have
their annual outing. Nothing serious here - even
the handicap is a secret and gets modified if
you do too well and win a race - but with the
St Maarten Heineken Regatta's motto: Serious Fun!
in the forefront of everybody's mind, this happy,
comfortable and cosy band of brothers and sisters
will be racing from party to party doing their
best to prove that it isn't always necessary to
have the biggest, the best and the newest to win.
Organizers
of the St Maarten's 2004 Heineken Regatta believe
that everyone wins just by taking part.
http://www.caribbeanracing.com
