by Sabina Mollart-Rogerson
It was hard to tell dockside in Gustavia this morning
if there was a care in the world among the Les Voiles de St. Barth competitors,
what with the trade winds blowing, blue skies prevailing, and large cumulus
clouds scudding overhead. With the first warning signal at 11 a.m. (10 a.m. for
the rest of the week), there was time for the crews to enjoy café and a
croissant in the race village, finish prepping their boats, and catch up with
friends.
The atmosphere was relaxed and thoroughly
Caribbean-style, though it belied somewhat the competitive spirit found in a
good part of the fleet. Through just about all classes, sailors were scouting
their competition, checking ratings and looking to see what modifications had
been made since their adversaries last competed on the water.
Image copyright Tim Wright/Les Voiles de St Barth.
The fleet of 59 boats is spread over eight classes,
and within each of those there is ample competition. Onboard the Baltic
45 Jolt 2 (GBR), owner/skipper Peter Harrison is racing at Les Voiles
de St Barth for the first time. Harrison is also on-site as CEO of Richard
Mille Europe, sponsor for the event.
“We have been out a few times trying to work out all
the local secrets, which has been very difficult! We are really pleased as a
team and as a company to support the event. It is great to see such a
varied fleet of professional and amateur crews. There is a nice group to sail
against – Arethusa (USA), Defiance (USA), Hamachi (USA), and
Music (RSA) -- so exciting racing ahead. We have quite a nice
course for today, reaching most of the way back, and we hope it will be good
for our boat; she is good downwind.”
Indeed, St. Barths served up perfect conditions with a
15-20 knot southeasterly breeze. Early on, there were mechanical issues for two
boats, including Jack Desmond’s White Rhino (USA), which had a problem
before the start with the mast partner that necessitated returning to the dock.
Shortly after the Maxi class start, the headstay on the Swan 100 Varsovie
(CAY) parted, though with quick crew work it did not damage to the mast.
Image copyright Tim Wright/Les Voiles de St Barth.
Classes were sent on three different courses, ranging
in length from 24-33 nautical miles, which took the fleet counter-clockwise in
the lee of St Barths, around the southern end of the island at Pointe a Toiny,
where boats encountered a four-to-six-foot swell. Occasional squalls brought
rain (fresh water rinse!) and big variations in wind pressure, which ratcheted
up the pressure on tacticians to pick the best course.
The Volvo 60 Cuba Libre sailed in the
non-spinnaker class with two local teenagers on board, one on a race boat for
the first time. Skipper Benedikt Clauberg had high praise for the teenager who
served as his bow man, saying, “It’s his first day on the boat, and he
performed like a professional bow man. We had a lot of sail changes when a jib
halyard snapped – we had some action, but it was wonderful!”
For the Melges 24 class, it was a spirited day. Local
St. Maarten sailor Frits Bus is back for his second time. Bus won his class
(Spinnaker) last year on his Melges 24 Team Coors Light, in a closely
fought week of racing with Lazy Dog (PUR), winning the final deciding
race by 20 seconds on corrected time.
This year the Melges 24s have their own class with six
boats. Sunburned and a bit weary after sailing the 24-nautical mile course on Island
Water World, an enthusiastic Bus said, “We had a great day today with
shifty conditions at the start. We made big gains on the big shifts that
came in; we managed to catch up from third place at the first mark to finish by
two boat lengths, overtaking Budget Marine Gill (AHO) and Amcom
Express (TRI) on the last upwind leg to the finish. The
course was long, but it was a great day of sailing.”
Image copyright Christophe Jounay/Les Voiles de St Barth.
“We had a few new people on the boat, so we went out
early to do some practice. The day was long, but it was beautiful
sailing, and the course was great: all kinds of conditions, with big swells,
low winds, then no winds under the cloud cover in the squalls. Everything
was there, the perfect day’s sailing!”
Phil and Wendy Lotz on the Swan 42 Arethusa are
racing here for the first time. “We heard a lot of good things about the
regatta; it’s a little bit of the European flair down in the Caribbean,” said
Phil Lotz, who steers the boat. “We come down about every two years and
do about three regattas. We hadn’t done this, and we wanted to check it out.
With the Swan Cup that preceded it by a few weeks, it fit into a nice schedule;
we’ll go on from here to Antigua Sailing Week.”
Arethusa has some tough competition in their class with
Steve Cucchiaro’s Marten 49 Defiance (USA) and James Blakemore’s Music,
a Swan 53. About today’s race, Lotz added, “It was fun…a long race, pretty much
full-on the whole time, a lot of gear shifting. Occasionally there were more
waves than wind.”
Race results are on the event
website at http://www.lesvoilesdesaintbarth.com
