Courtesy of Tim Wright, www.photoaction.com
Triple Jack, sponsored by Nanny Cay, was second in the Racing Multihull class in the Heineken Regatta which finished today.
The 2009 St. Maarten Heineken Regatta will largely be remembered as the year a solid northeasterly breeze kicked in on the first day of the three-day event, and continued in unrelenting style for the duration of the racing. Due to the severity of the winds—which peaked out at nearly 40-knots on Day 1 of the regatta—and the massive, confused seaway that soon accompanied them, race officials decided to forgo the usual Saturday and Sunday racing schedule that in past years took the fleet in and out of the exposed French-side port of Marigot.
Instead, the race committee concentrated the weekend competition off Simpson Bay on the island’s southern coast. Even so, there was no lack of drama on the race course, where calamity often reigned and blown sails, toppled masts and bone-jarring collisions were all part of the action. The multihulls had no racing on Saturday because of the conditions.
Sunday’s final day of racing was conducted on two separate race courses: the Non-spinnaker, Bareboat, Cruising Multihull and Open divisions sailed a 17-nautical mile course that included a long windward leg up the west coast of St. Maarten to a turning mark in the Anguilla Channel, while the Spinnaker 1-6 classes including Racing Multihull raced over a 20-nautical mile track that featured a rugged beat up the island’s eastern side to a mark off the isle of Tintamarre. Once around that mark, however, the all-out racers enjoyed a thrilling run under spinnaker in wicked surfing conditions.
More to follow…
