Roy Disney's Pyewacket Big Boat Winner

by Regatta Press Officer on 4 Mar 2002 Wind and sea conditions at the 22nd annual St. Maarten Heineken Regatta were perfect for the first day of racing with 12 to 15 knots of northeast breeze and flat-to-moderate seas. Two hundred and thirty boats participated in 16 classes with skippers from 31 countries.

While Heineken Beer is the primary sponsor, the St Maarten Yacht Club actually hosts the event.

Roy Disney's Reichel-Pugh 75 Pyewacket had the fastest elapsed (spinnaker) monohull time in the Around the Island race, and also came in first in Big Boat Class and first in the Caribbean Big Boat Series.

Robbie Haines, Olympic Soling gold medalist and winner of eight world championships, sailed aboard Pyewacket, as did Roy Disney Junior.

The best elapsed time in the cruising class went to Bill Titus Frers 80 Valador.

The multihull best elapsed time winner was the 60 foot trimaran Paragon.

Perhaps the most exciting start of the day was in the big boat class, with Pyewacket and James Muldoon's Santa Cruz 72 Donnybrook hitting the line perfectly on port tack with good boat speed. Donnybrook was to windward, but Pyewacket appeared to be able to point noticeably higher.

Once Pyewacket was in clear air, she never looked back.

The order of finish in the Big Boat Class and the Caribbean Big Boat Series was Pyewacket, Tom Hill's Andrew 70 Titan, and Bill Alcott's Santa Cruz 70 Equation.

Racing 1: Neva, Nova, Caccia alla Volpe

Racing 2: Slam, 2 Contact Caribe, Twisted Lizard

Cruising/Racing 1: White Lie, Spirit of Diana, Starr Trail

Cruising/Racing 2: Dame Blanche, Hugo, Vanish

Cruising/Racing 3: Hullabulloo-Conch Charters, Vanille, Flechette

Cruising/Racing 4: AbFab, Asturias, Balance

Cruising 1: Wildflower, Antwerp Sailing Team, Volador

Open Class: Columbia, Little Wing, Blue Spirit

Multihull: Triple Jack, Tryst, Plantation Furniture

Bareboat 1: Gamepoint.nl, All Chiefs, Dutch Oven

Bareboat 2: IBM, Dill, Enos

Bareboat 3: Ti Goyave, All-in Leften, Diff Management.

Bareboat 4: Elee, Carnival, Ne Oublie Voyager

Bareboat 5: Bulldog Energy, Team Ghelamco, Head and Shoulders

Bareboat 6: Sirocco, Mapa, President Kakou

Complete 'real time' results, scratch sheets, class division and vessel/crew information are available at www.heinekenregatta.com

For more information and/or a wide variety of additional photos suitable for magazine/web use, please contact:

Kent Schalleberger

Press Officer

Regatta Office: (599) 544 2079

Cell: (599) 572215