(Simpson Bay, St. Maarten) – For the last day of the St. Maarten
Heineken Regatta, Caribbean sunshine and 12 knots of warm south-easterly
breeze, greeted the 193 teams taking part in the 36th edition of the
regatta. Just one nerve-jangling race was scheduled with all competitors
enjoying spectacular conditions on the leeward coast of St. Maarten.
With no discard, every class was hanging in the balance and Super Sunday
produced some of the closest racing in the long history of the regatta.The headliner performance of the event was none other than past Caribbean Winter Circuit Champion, Rick Wesslund’s J/122 EL OCASO. The Florida based team came storming back to win the last race and take the class. Their fellow J/122 team on LIQUID skippered by Pamala Baldwin from Antigua took 8th in class. Behind them was the J/120 PAULISTA skippered by Phillipe Champion in 9th position. Another J/120 SUNSET CHILD was 10th and yet another J/120 custom called JAGUAR took 11th.
Another
close regatta took place in the CSA 4 class. Jonathan Lipuscek’s
Puerto Rican team on the J/105 DARK STAR narrowly missed winning class,
taking second by one second overall. Third was Jordan Mindich’s crew
from Long Island Sound on the J/105 SOLSTICE. Amazingly, with one race
left the J/105s were 1st and 2nd with SOLSTICE in 1st with a 2-3-2 and
DARK STAR in second with a 1-4-4. It was the last race that torpedoed
the chances for SOLSTICE to win class, posting an uncharacteristic 6th
place to drop into 3rd on the podium. Taking 7th in class was Remco van
Dortmondt’s Curacao team on the J/35 SUNBELT REALTY DASH. Then, in CSA 5 class five, an excellent performance was turned in by Sir Robbie Ferron racing the J/39 TEAM BUDGET MARINE MICRON 99. His team fought hard to take the class title and in the end settled for the silver in class with an amazing 2-1-2-3 record.
The J/30 BLUE PETER sailed by Peter and Shari Tanner from Antigua had a beautiful series with a 5-1-3-3 to take third in CSA 6 class. Finally, in the CSA 2 Class, Henry van Melle’s Netherlands crew on the J/46 JENT took a fifth in class. For more Heineken St Maarten Regatta sailing information
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