8th Caribbean Multihull Challenge Race and Rally - Day 3
by St. Maarten Yacht Club 1 Feb 12:21 PST
January 28 - February 1, 2026
After a chaotic start, the CSA 1 Class made quick work of the Round-the-Island-Race - 8th Caribbean Multihull Challenge Race and Rally day 3 © Andre Dede Knol
For every racer who competes in the stellar regattas off St. Maarten, there is one contest that almost always outshines the others: the 38-nautical-mile Round-the-Island Race.
On Saturday, in pumping trade-wind gusts and confused, challenging seas, the CSA 1 and CSA 2 Classes were both tested in a counterclockwise spin around the isle that featured steady 20-knot breezes and much higher puffs. It proved to be a racecourse that favored the trimarans over the catamarans, and at least for the day, suggested that three hulls were faster than two.
In CSA 1, the start was chaotic, with one boat over early and several others who thought they might have been and spun around to restart, just to be sure. That included Marcos Sirota's Nigel Irens-designed 63-foot tri, Sophia. But Sirota and his crew recovered quickly and did not repeat their early mistake, their only one of the day. The race started shortly after 0900 local time. After burning around the course in 2 hours, 19 minutes, Sophia was finished by lunchtime.
What's even more remarkable is that Sirota has only owned the boat since last October, when he took delivery of the big tri—formerly known as Paradox3—and sailed it across the Atlantic to the islands in a quick nine days. "It should've been six," laughed Sirota, "but we had some light air along the way."
The CMC is Sirota's first regatta with the boat, and after a second-place finish on Day 1, Sophia has scored a pair of bullets and is atop the CSA 1 leaderboard. Sirota said Sophia reached 26 knots of boat speed on the dash around the island, and gushed about the boat's performance. "It's fantastic," he said. "Even in today's conditions, it was very dry. So it's extremely comfortable, and very safe and secure." From the smile on his face, it was very clear he was one happy sailor.
In CSA 2, Sam Talbot's Rapido 40 tri, Spike, earned its first win in the series and surged to the top of the class rankings. Spike's main rival, Richard Woodridge's Triple Jack, was forced to retire with damage. That opened the door for Bernard "Appie" Stoutenbeek's Ninth Charm to secure a second for the day. And Ninth Charm's story is every bit as intriguing as Sophia's...perhaps more so. After all, Stoutenbeek just completed the purchase of his boat last week. "It ended up in my lap," he said.
Not coincidentally, it's the third Newick-designed trimaran in the Stoutenbeek family. With a reef in the main, Ninth Charm started the race rather conservatively. And once the team had turned the corner at Pelikan Rock, Stoutenbeek wondered aloud whether they should push on. That's when crewman and accomplished sailmaker Andrea Scarabelli spoke up: "She's solid, we'll figure it out. Let's go!"
It was the right call, said Stoutenbeek: "It was a phenomenal day. We pushed her hard but she was dry and fast. Once we cracked off, we topped off at 15.4 knots and averaged almost ten knots for the race, which included the pre-start. What else can I say? The boat is magic."
Continuing the trimaran theme, the Diam 24 one-design tri class also had a phenomenal day, knocking off five races in the flat but windswept waters of Great Bay off Philipsburg. In one 30-knot gust, Bradley Winslett's Black Sheep flipped and was sidelined for two races, its mast impaled in the shallow bay. It would not keep a good team down, as Winslett's crew righted the ship, rallied and finished the final two races of the day. That said, the star of Saturday was Ted Reshetiloff's Buzz Team Racing, which recorded three bullets and was the day's class winner.
To round out the very full day of CMC sailing, as the Diam's crisscrossed Great Bay the Rally participants rolled in after an overnight stay in St. Barth's and dropped anchors, just in time for a full afternoon of beach sports on the Philipsburg beachfront. Ron Boehm has sailed in several CMC Rallies aboard his 52-foot cat, Little Wing, and summed up the experience well. Boehm is a super-experienced racing sailor, who's competed all over the Caribbean, but enjoys the slower pace of the Rally.
"It's just a great way to meet people and hang out together," he said. "The pace and the shoreside activities really get everyone to know one another and it's a really great group of sailors. We're all enjoying this fun, common sailing experience. And it's also great to sail point to point, rather than around in circles like the racing fleets. You really get to experience the islands in a way you don't when you're competing. It's just a fun event all the way around."
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