Saturday, November 28, 2020

J/70 St Maarten Sailing Again!

 J/70 IGY Marinas sailing off St Maarten island

(Simpson Bay, St Maarten)- The first Grant Thornton Keelboat Race of the new winter Caribbean 2020/2021 winter season saw an excellent turnout and sailing under idyllic conditions in Simpson Bay, St Maarten. Two classes were sailed with the faster racing boats in one and the smaller in a second. The final results saw Frits Bus and Team Island Water World taking the win. Second was Kick'em Jenny with Ryan Hope Ross at the helm with a team of younger sailors. FRANNY, the J/70 sailed by Garth Steyn, took third place and Caraibes Diesel sailed by Erwan le Normand the fourth place. The crews of all boats had to work hard to achieve success in the four short-course races that were sailed.

J/70 IGY Marinas sailing on Simpson Bay, St Maarten island
Garth Steyn's J/70 FRANNY is sponsored by IGY MARINAS and by coming in third overall beat the boat that won overall at the St Maarten Heineken Regatta this past March 2020 (remember that pre-pandemic event?)!

According to Garth, "this was good news for the J/70 versus our competitors. I believe we had good upwind and downwind boat speed, as well as a great crew. Our team was comprised of Rien Korteknie doing main and tactics, Iain Mobbs doing jib and spinnaker and our bow goddess Kippy Guilders doing the spinnaker hoists and drops, as well as keeping us men in check!"  For more J/70 one-design sailboat information