Les Voiles de St. Barth 2014 - Back to business

by Barby MacGowan on 19 Apr 2014 Competitors at Les Voiles de St. Barth headed back to the race course today after enjoying the regatta’s traditional lay day yesterday, which gave them a chance to indulge in the French island’s onshore charms. Many regattas no longer feature such a break in the racing, but Les Voiles has maintained a five-day format (four days of racing with a mid-regatta break) since its inception five years ago, and it has proven to be a draw. In fact, more than 400 of the thousand or so sailors racing here gathered at Nikki Beach on Baie Saint Jean for lunch and some organized team sports, including water polo, stand-up paddleboard races and petanque matches.

This morning dawned with a much fresher breeze than yesterday and sailors prepared for a forecasted 18-25 knot southeasterly. With the race course set off the north side of the island, most of the fleet readied by tucking in reefs and setting small jibs while they jockeyed for positions in the starting area.

Shortly before the start for the Maxi and Spinnaker Zero classes, Hap Fauth’s Mini Maxi Bella Mente suffered a rig failure and had to retire. Fortunately, there were no injuries during the dismasting, and the boat motored slowly back to it’s mooring, its crew disappointed given that the 72-footer was well-sailed all week and in a close battle with Maxi class leader, Caol Ila R.

With the breeze building, the Race Committee postponed racing, sending the fleet back to shore; however, shortly after noon, signals ashore indicated a 1:30 p.m. start for eight of the nine classes (absent the Melges 24s). With the wind at 20-23 knots, the fleet enjoyed a 16 nautical mile course that took them to the north end where large ocean swells rolled through. ‘Round the world race veteran Brad Marsh, bowman on the 80 foot Selene, commented on how the 60 ton Swan was well-suited for today’s conditions, ' This afternoon’s race was fantastic: it was fun, lots of wind, beautiful big sea. Selene is a big heavy boat, in some ways the best boat to be on today – very big, very safe and comfortable. But there’s a lot of load, a lot of coordination to get things done on a big boat, with many people.'

Melges 24s in force
Fritz Bus, skipper of Island Water World, who is currently tied for the lead in the Melges 24 class on (with Budget Marine/Gill), is enthusiastic about the turnout at Les Voiles, 'It’s fantastic that we have seven Melges 24’s racing. I hope this will stimulate the whole Caribbean to bring more Melges 24’s here because one-design racing, that’s the way to go. All these ratings (in other classes), everybody is always complaining, and we have nothing to complain about, only about the skipper,' he said laughing. 'It’s a nice one-design class, but it’s also a very nice, sporty boat to sail. It’s fast, it goes well upwind and especially downwind, and it’s a fantastic experience!'

Bus was comfortable with the decision to keep the Melges 24’s ashore when racing resumed this afternoon. An accomplished Melges sailor from Saint Maarten, the Dutch sailor reported 21 knots of boat speed down a wave as they practiced, shortly before racing was postponed. At last year’s Les Voiles, Island Water World was leading its class going into the last day of racing when the backstay broke and the mast toppled over the side, along with their hopes of victory. 'Now we’re back and we’ll try to do it all over again, Bus said.

'I like it a bit more when it’s a little lighter air, when you’re playing the shifts, and it’s a little bit more sailing. This (today’s conditions) is a little more banging around the course. It’s hard on the crew in a Melges 24 in these waves. We’ll see how it goes today, and survive – at least it’s going to be fun downwind, so we’re going to have some good spray and wet rides!'

And the leaders are…
With today’s win in the Maxi class, Caol Ila R has a solid lead now, given the retirement today of her rival Bella Mente; in Spinnaker Zero, Near Miss scored another victory today to lead its class; Stark Raving Mad took a win to pose a threat to Lazy Dog’s dominance in Spinnaker 1; White Rhino found another bullet to further protect its lead in Spinnaker 2; Eamonn Rohan’s Ramanessin (GBR) notched another victory in Spinnaker 3 for a solid lead; the x-Yacht Maelia leads Visiooptic in Spinnaker 4; and in Non-Spinnaker, L’Esperance has a five-point lead over Speedy Nemo, the same gap that SeaCart 26 Team All Stars hasover the Gunboat 63 Elvis in Multihulls.

What they said…
Wendy Schmidt, owner of the Swan 80, Selene, second in Maxi class today. Selene is sailing in its third Les Voiles and won the Maxi class here in 2013. Schmidt owns several boats, including a 'spirit of tradition' W46 class, but she actively sails and races Selene in the Caribbean and Mediterranean:

'We love St. Barth; it’s reliably a great place to sail and an interesting place to sail. The races have lots of variety, all sizes of boats…it’s not too big of a regatta. We just have a great time, it is a little bit lower key than some, which is also really nice.'

When Schmidt first started racing Selene in 2009, she had 22 crew members from 10 different countries who spoke nine different languages. Schmidt said, 'I don’t think we’re that diverse right now, but we have Kiwis, Brits, people from Newport, Nantucket. It’s just a mix of people who are good sailors, who have friends who are great on our boat. I said this morning to everybody, ‘this boat has many owners,’ and I think that’s why we have such a good time and Selene sails so well. She’s got a fantastic crew.'

Schmidt is an active philanthropist, particularly with regard to the health of the oceans and the environment. One of her organizations is 11th Hour Racing, a project of the Schmidt Family Foundation. Schmidt said, 'We look at the world as a series of interconnected issues that have to be resolved in this century. We look not only at climate and energy and food and agriculture systems and human rights issues but also at the oceans and the responsibilities that people have who use our waters for recreation, chiefly sailors and the people in boating. We have a responsibility to be the vanguard of responsibility for the health of the waters and everything living in them.'

Benoit Briand, boat captain on Near Miss (leading Spinnaker Zero class):
'On the sailing side, we are quite happy, since we're in a position to win our class. We started in very mild conditions, but the second half of the regatta will see us facing much more wind, from 20 to 25 knots. Things are getting serious and everyone onboard must keep his concentration. On our kind of a boat, the slightest mistake can be catastrophic.

'We have a 15-man crew, quite a motley crew really, with guys coming from New Zealand, the Netherlands, Poland and all over France. English is the common language and everybody sticks to his job. We're like a rugby team. I'm a little bit of a coach, but I would never interfere with what the helmsman or the navigator is doing. Everyone knows his job by heart, and things must run smoothly, especially in strong conditions.'

Daniela De Luca, Italian crewmember on Les Voiles au Féminin in Spinnaker 4:
'I belong to the all-women's crew from Saint Barthélémy. Our association is called Les Voiles au Feminin. It was created two years ago to promote the sport of sailing among women on the island, as all women must have access to this sport. We therefore have acquired a sailing boat, a J/109 that we bought in Saint Tropez, after Les Voiles de Saint Tropez. Our skipper, Sophie Olivaud sailed the boat across the ocean during the ARC Challenge two years ago. Ever since, we've sailed as many regattas in the Caribbean as we possibly could.

'Our crew is a mix of experienced sailors, and newbies. It works out very well, as the atmosphere onboard is excellent. This does not mean that we don't feel any apprehension at the start of each race, just like any male sailor, I guess. It is very exciting to sail during Les Voiles, as we get to see great sailors and fantastic boats. We feel very fortunate.'

Event Schedule:

Racing concludes tomorrow, Saturday (10 a.m. start) for the nine classes: Maxi, Spinnaker 0-1-2-3-4, Melges 24, Non-Spinnaker, and Racing Multihull.
Tomorrow after racing, a 6 p.m. Award Ceremony will be followed by fireworks and the music of Joyful Noise.

Complete Results:

Spinnaker Overall series results					Fri 18 Apr
			CSA	Score	Race 1
1st	Near Miss SUI 1957 TP 52 Spinnaker 0		1.191 asy 101% (2014)	11	1
2nd	Balearia / Bigamist ESP 7396 BOTIN & CARKEEK Spinnaker 0		1.173 asy 102% (2014)	22	2
3rd	Stark Raving Mad IV 52125 J/125 Spinnaker 1		1.042 asy 146% (2014)	33	3
4th	True USA 60206 Kernan 47 Spinnaker 0		1.183 asy 104% (2014)	44	4
5th	Lazy Dog PUR 007 Melges 32 Spinnaker 1		0.988 asy 106% (2014)	55	5
6th	Scarlet Runner Sm11 Reichel Pugh Spinnaker 0		1.193 asy 98% (2014)	66	6
7th	White Rhino USA 52821 Swan 56 Spinnaker 2		1.041 asy 155% (2014)	77	7
8th	Ramanessin GBR 2215L Grand Soleil 43 Spinnaker 3		0.964 both 104% (2014)	88	8
9th	Salona Racing Team BOW 31 Salona Spinnaker 3		0.937 both 138% (2014)	99	9
10th	Les Ptits Filous LIPTON FRA 28918 A 40 Spinnaker 3		0.935 spi 100% (2014)	1010	10
11th	Jolt 2 GBR 4500N Baltic 45 Spinnaker 1		1.082 asy 98% (2014)	1111	11
12th	Otra Vez USA 61137 KER 43 Spinnaker 0		1.117 asy 103% (2014)	1212	12
13th	Affinity US 50007 SWAN 48 CR Spinnaker 2		0.979 both 152% (2014)	1313	13
14th	J-Boss FRA 71 J/111 Spinnaker 3		0.948 asy 105% (2014)	1414	14
15th	Maelia SBH 26120 X-yachts Spinnaker 4		0.849 spi 107% (2014)	1515	15
16th	Visiooptic FRA 97126 First 40.7 Spinnaker 4		0.900 spi 99% (2014)	1616	16
17th	Sunset Child USA 28920 J/120 Spinnaker 3		0.935 asy 94% (2014)	1717	17
18th	Kick 'em Jenny 2 USA 143 Melges 32 Spinnaker 1		0.988 asy 108% (2014)	1818	18
19th	Puffy BOW 26 Swan 53 Spinnaker 2		0.988 asy 109% (2014)	1919	19
20th	X-Files GBR 2740 R IMX 40 Spinnaker 3		0.921 spi 100% (2014)	2020	20
21th	Team Boston GBR 6840R Beneteau First 40 Spinnaker 3		0.936 both 103% (2014)	2121	21
22th	Pocket Rocket GRN 7777 / IRL 11109 J 109 Spinnaker 4		0.889 asy 104% (2014)	2222	22
23th	Defiance IVB 4915 Marten 49 Spinnaker 1		1.091 asy 100% (2014)	2323	23
24th	High Tension TRI 19 Mumm 36 Spinnaker 3		0.924 asy 87% (2014)	2424	24
25th	Voiles au Féminin 1091 J/109 Spinnaker 4		0.886 asy 102% (2014)	2525	25
26th	AronnaX SBH 030 X-482 Spinnaker 2		0.957 asy 137% (2014)	2626	26
27th	Selene GBR976R Swan Spinnaker 4		0.877 spi 86% (2014)	2727	27
28th	Triskell BOW 25 Dufour 45 Classic Spinnaker 4		0.884 spi 136% (2014)	2828	28
29th	Ballytrim GBR 5046R Swan 46 Spinnaker 2		0.955 spi 108% (2014)	2929	29
30th	St Barth Sail Racing SBH 29 A 40 Spinnaker 3		0.931 asy 100% (2014)	3030	30
31th	Albacor V FRA 43501 Grand Soleil 39 Spinnaker 3		0.933 both 105% (2014)	3131	31
32th	Optique Baumont BOW 22 FIRST 310 S Spinnaker 4		0.831 spi 146% (2014)	3232	32
33th	Voile 44 FRA 22 Pogo Spinnaker 2		1.022 asy 111% (2014)	3333	33
=34th	Nix IVB 612 X 612 Spinnaker 2		1.042 asy 99% (2014)	3737	37RET
=34th	Team Bloody Marie 1711 Lavranos 48 Spinnaker 2		0.966 asy 97% (2014)	3737	37DNS
=34th	Augustine ANT 2908 Beneteau - First 42 Spinnaker 4		0.879 both 125% (2014)	3737	37DNS

 

Maxi series results					Tue 15 Apr	Wed 16 Apr		Fri 18 Apr
			CSA	Score	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3	Race 4
1st	Caol Ila R 60669 Alex SCHAERER Mills 69		1.349 asy 105% (2014)	55	1	1	2	1
2nd	Bella Mente USA 45 Hap Fauth JV 72		1.387 asy 96% (2014)	1313	2	2	1	8DNS
3rd	Aragon NED 8313 Verder VAN NIEUWLAND Marten 72		1.262 asy 100% (2014)	1313	3	3	3	4
4th	Rambler USA25555 George David R&P 90		1.488 asy 91% (2014)	1515	4	4	4	3
5th	Selene CAY 80002 Wendy Schmidt Swan 80		1.217 asy 103% (2014)	1717	5	5	5	2
6th	Varsovie CAY 104 Tomek Ulatowski Swan 100S		1.276 asy 109% (2014)	2626	6	6	6	8DNS
7th	Highland Breeze 888 Ben KOLFF Swan/German Frers		1.290 asy 103% (2014)	3131	7	8DNF	8DNS	8DNS

 

Non-Spinnaker series results					Tue 15 Apr	Wed 16 Apr	Fri 18 Apr
			CSA	Score	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3
1st	L'Esperance SXM 123 Beneteau 45F5		0.886 pol 135% (2014)	33	1	1	1
2nd	Speedy Nemo SBH 26 Dufour 34		0.826 pol 134% (2014)	88	3	2	3
3rd	J-aguar - www.caribbeanraces.com NM 2477 custom j 120		0.924 jib 133% (2014)	1010	2	4	4
4th	Hotel California too 7016 Santa Cruz 70 CR		1.021 jib 136% (2014)	1212	4	6	2
5th	Vanille SX 1989 Beneteau		0.812 sec 102% (2014)	1515	6	3	6
6th	Spirit GBR 48L Swan 65		0.977 jib 100% (2014)	1515	5	5	5
7th	GROIX BOW 29 Harmony 47		0.860 jib 101% (2014)	2424	8	8	8
8th	Voilactus ANT 1865 Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 44		0.856 pol 120% (2014)	2525	7	11DSQ	7
9th	Sigiriya MLT 445 Dufour 44		0.886 jib 129% (2014)	2525	9	7	9
10th	neptune les ptits filous BOW 33 proto		0.945 jib 152% (2014)	3131	11DNF	9	11DNF

 

Racing Multihull series results					Tue 15 Apr	Wed 16 Apr	Fri 18 Apr
			TCF	Score	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3
1st	SeaCart 26 Team All Stars SWE 026 Carl (Calle) Hennix SeaCart 26 Trimaran		1.000	33	1	1	1
2nd	Elvis 6204 Scott Bradford Gunboat		1.233	88	2	2	4
3rd	Paradox CAY1 Peter Aschenbrenner Irens Tri 63'		1.472	1414	7OCS	4	3
4th	Le CARRÉ Lounge CAN 1 Design Catamaran Inc Toro34		1.024	1616	4	10DSQ	2
5th	Sanem F 92 SANTONI KL 28		1.071	1616	3	3	10DNS
6th	Dauphin Telecom K1 Erick Clement Trimaran Open 40		1.177	1717	5	5	7
7th	Zenyatta 6203 Nils Erickson Gunboat		1.199	1717	6	6	5
8th	Pampero 11 Bertrand DE BROC TS 50		1.174	2424	8	10DSQ	6
9th	Hallucine 2 -- Alexis GUILLAUME TS 50		1.082	2525	10DNF	7	8

 

Melges 24 series results				Tue 15 Apr	Wed 16 Apr
			Score	Race 1	Race 2
1st	Budget Marine/Gill AHO 5		33	2	1
2nd	Team Island Water World AHO 29		33	1	2
3rd	LEFORT CLIM FRA 005		77	4	3
4th	Boost'n Sail SBH 380		77	3	4
5th	French Connection FRA 16		1010	5	5
6th	No-Limit FRA 207		1212	6	6