The Long and the Short of It - St. Maarten Heineken Regatta

by Heather Tackling on 5 Mar 2009
The St. Maarten Yacht Club was abuzz with activity today as preparations ramped up in advance of the IGY Commodore’s Cup and the 29th running of the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta. Among the innovations to this year’s event were Tuesday’s inaugural Budget Marine Match Racing Cup, won in resounding style by Virgin Islands ace Peter Holmberg, and Wednesday’s Welcome Back Sailor’s party at the St. Maarten YC.

The Welcome Back party showcased yet another new feature to the 2009 St. Maarten Heineken Regatta: the opening of the on-site Sailor’s Lounge. Live music, great food, and plenty of ice-cold Heinekens were on tap at the event, sponsored jointly by Budget Marine, Island Global Yachting (IGY) and Sunsail yacht charters.

There are, of course, many ways to participate in the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta, and two very opposite examples were on display this week as crews arrived on the island and prepared for the action, which for the spinnaker racing classes begins on Thursday with the IGY Commodore’s Cup. In fact, it would be hard to imagine two more different Heineken Regatta sailors than veteran competitor Peter Harrison, owner of the grand Farr 115, Sojana, and young Dutch sailor Lindsay Van de Ven, who’ll be enjoying her first regatta ever as crew aboard the Sunsail 393, Bigfoot.

'I’m really curious to see what it’s like with all these boats on the water,' said Van de Ven earlier this week, as Bigfoot’s co-skippers, Hans Van der Straaden and Frans Versteeg—who share ownership of a yacht in Curacao and are chartering a Sunsail yacht for the event—through their pre-charter inspection. 'Otherwise, I’m going to lay in the sun and do what I’m told.'

Like many sailors who race in the regatta’s Bareboat divisions, the Bigfoot crew arrived early to Sunsail’s base in Oyster Pond and were planning a short cruise to St. Barth’s and possible Anguilla 'to get to know the boat a bit' before Friday’s start of the three-day event. Van de Ven admitted she didn’t know much about yacht racing, but she was definitely ready for the nightly activities for which the regatta is famous. 'You’ll definitely see me at the parties,' she said.

While Van de Ven is sailing one of the shorter boats in the fleet, Peter Harrison’s spectacular Farr 115, Sojana—with her 115-foot long waterline—tops out on the other end of the spectrum. Harrison, about to set sail in his fifth St. Maarten Heineken Regatta, is passionate about his yacht, and that was more than evident on Wednesday afternoon as he took a pair of visitors for a tour prior to a practice session before Thursday’s IGY Commodore’s Cup.

'What I wanted to create was a no-compromise, high-performance racing boat above decks but with gentlemen’s club overtones down below,' said Harrison of the Bruce Farr designed ketch, which sports dual carbon-fiber Hall spars, the main towering some 151-feet over the deck, and the mizzen measuring in at an equally impressive 116-feet. Downwind, Sojana flies an incredible 17,700 square feet of sail, including a massive 7,600 square foot spinnaker. And the accommodation plan, with its rich mahogany furniture and joiner work (much of it sandwiched around a Nomex core, to save weight), is nothing less than amazing.

One would have to say Harrison and skipper Marc Fitzgerald certainly accomplished their goals.

Harrison has campaigned the boat not only on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, but across it as well. In the 2005 Rolex Transatlantic Challenge, she recorded her top speed ever, 34.7 knots. Her best 24-hour run, also notched in the Transat race, is 370 miles.

But Sojana is also a versatile boat, able to not only race and cruise effectively, but also to serve as a retreat and vacation home to Harrison’s three grand-children. In fact, Sojana got her name from the first three letters of the children’s names: Sophie, James and Natalie.

Sojana has had great success at St. Maarten, and is on a roll, having won her Racing class the last two years. As far as 2009 is concerned, Harrison said, 'How we do will very much relate to the weather. If it’s light, the smaller boats will be favored. But if there’s heavier air—and I understand it might blow up a bit—that suits us very well. So if we get the right wind conditions I think we’ll have a very good chance.'

And what, one wonders, will Harrison do if he earns his third straight title at the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta? 'My joke,' he said, smiling, 'is if we win a third time, we get to keep the island!'

For full information on Budget Marine Match Racing, the IGY Commodore’s Cup and the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta, as well as entry lists, entry forms and much more, visit www.heinekenregatta.com.