Caribbean pace at Heineken Regatta

St. Maarten (March 3, 2018) – With two days of racing now in the books, it is game on for competitors going into tomorrow’s final day at the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta, with many class leaders holding onto their positions by just a thread.

Punctuated with abnormally light breeze today, the 100-boat fleet took to the water for shorter buoy-to-buoy racing off Simpson Bay. All CSA Classes were able to get two races off while the rest of the fleet finished with one.

“We are really hoping to win out there tomorrow, as last year we were winning the class but lost the lead in the final race of the regatta,” said Sergio Sagramoso whose Melges 32 is currently one point ahead of Kick ’em Jenny 2 in CSA 1. A top Caribbean competitor, Sagramoso has raced in the regatta for 14 years.

“This year we really wanted to make sure to make it to the event because of course being from Puerto Rico, I know what the island of St. Maarten went through with the hurricane. I must say though that I was so happy to see such a strong turnout of boats.”

Two other classes to watch for tomorrow are Maxi and Ocean Racing 1 Classes, with Brazilian team Camiranga and Polish team Monster Project both holding the leads, but tied on points with their second place contenders.

In the event’s highly competitive CSA 4 fleet, Donald Nicholson’s Apollo holds a two-point lead on Rob Butler’s Touch2Play. “This class is very well sailed with really high quality crew onboard,” said Nicholson who finished the first race of the day in fourth, but came back in race two, to take the bullet.

“There was definitely an absence of wind today. We’ve never sailed this boat in light air, so we weren’t quite sure of settings and sail choices. We were underpowered with the kite we used in the first race, but for the second race we made some adjustments to the boat and that got us moving.”

More buoy-to-buoy racing is scheduled for tomorrow, but with more breezes forecasted.

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Source: Kirsten Ferguson, Media Pro International