Mother nature smiles on St. Maarten Heineken Regatta

by Louay Habib on 6 Mar 2017 For the last day of racing at the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta, Mother Nature smiled on the race course with exhilarating conditions to test the competitors. One race was completed by all classes.

Maxi Class

St. Maarten's veteran ocean racer Nico Cortlever racing x-612 Nix, won the last race of the regatta to seal victory in the big boat class. Kip Curren's American Swan 68 Simple Harmony hung on to the runner up spot, just a point ahead of Tony McBride's Antiguan Farr 65 Spirit of Juno.

Ocean Racing

Lionel Pean's French Volvo 70m completed a perfect score line of four straight bullets to win the class. Przemyslaw Tarnacki's Lithuanian Volvo 60 Ambersail was second in class with Chris Stanmore-Major's Whitbread 60 Challenger third.

CSA 1

Andy Middleton's British First 47.7 PYR EH01 corrected out to win today's race, their second race win of the regatta was enough to move into second place on countback in front of Jack Desmond's American Swan 48 Affinity. Ross Applebey's British Oyster 48 Scarlet Oyster was second today, enough to secure the class win for the third year in succession.

CSA 2

Today's race winner was Ian Hope-Ross' St. Maarten Melges 32 Kick 'em Jenny 2. There was drama in the last race of the regatta, Sergio Sagramoso's Puerto Rican Melges 32 Lazy Dog retired from the race having entered an exclusion zone and despite their string of four wins finished the regatta in second place. Bernie Evan Wong's Antiguan RP37 Taz was third today and third in class for the regatta. Sir Richard Matthews' HH42 Oystercatcher XXX was second today, enough to win the class.

CSA 3

American J/122 El Ocaso, skippered by Bob Hillier, won today's race by just 43 seconds to clinch the class win for the regatta. Sam Talbot's American J/111 Spike, was second today and for the regatta. Philippe Charret's Guadeloupian A40 Sonodio III, finished the regatta in third place.

CSA 4

Sir Bobby Velasquez's St. Maarten Beneteau 45 L'Esperance won the last race of the regatta to take the class title on countback from Robbie Ferron's J/39 Micron 99. John Streicker NY40 Defiant was second today, but that was not enough to make the podium for the regatta. Sir Hugh Bailey's Antiguan Farr 45 Rebel was third today, just enough to hold onto the final podium spot.

CSA 5

Dave Cullen's J/109 Pocket Rocket was sixth today, but that was enough to secure the class win with Peter Lewis' J/105 Whistler disqualified. Rob Butler's Canadian J/88 Touch2Play won the race to move up to second overall with Whistler in third for the regatta.

CSA 6

Sandy Mair's famous bushy Scottish eyebrows will be bristling tonight after his first bullet at the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta. Racing his Antiguan First 35 Cricket, Sandy's win put the team into third place and only one point off winning the class. Tanner and Shari Jones Antiguan J/35 Caribbean Alliance Insurance was third today, enough to win the class by a single point. Rob Gormley's First 38 Elethea was second today, to claim second for the class on countback from Cricket.

Melges 24

There was no change to the ranking after the last race, Andrea Scarabelli's Gill Race Team scored their fourth win of the regatta to seal the class by five points from Frits Bus' Team Island Water World 1. GFA Caraibes, from Martinique, was third.

Offshore Multihull

Greg Slyngstad's Beiker 53 Fujin sealed the class victory by a single point with a bullet in the last race. Robert Janecki's HH66 R-Six was third today dropping to second place for the regatta by a single point. Kent Haeger's Dominator was third for the class. The Gunboat battle was won by Stephen Cucchiaro's Gunboat 60 Flow.

Multihull

In Multihull 1, Shaun Carroll's Modified Australian Sea Cart Morticia won the final race to take the class on countback from Rodney Williams' Arawak. In Multihull 2, J. Michel Ricour's French Brazapi 41 Guimamalou, won today's race by just 18 seconds from St. Maarten Leopard 45 Spellbound but it was not enough to better a great series performance by Selika, skippered by Sergei Kischilov, which was the class winner. In Multihull 3, Andrey Arbuzov's lagoon 380 completed a perfect three wins to take the class.

Bareboat

In Bareboat 1, Alexei Dushkin's Kiev Racing Yacht Club won today's race to take the class win by a single point from John Jan Worwag's Sea Otter 2. In Bareboat 2, Jacques Pijenburg's Sitting Duck was today's race winner but Jan Soderberg's The Flying Swedes was second today, enough to win the class. In Bareboat 3, KHS&S Contractors, skippered by Mike Cannon and Neil Harvey, scored a perfect three bullets to win the class and Bareboat Overall.

Sunday 5th March, over 3000 people will gather on Kim Sha beach for the Prize Giving, among them will be over 100 volunteers for the regatta. Chart topping British Reggae Band, UB40 and R&B Diva Mya, will be performing live, closing the regatta for another year. Pictures and quotes from the prize giving will be posted as soon as possible.

Final Results can be viewed here.