| Race
Report Fear and Loathing in St. Maarten  The
late, great Hunter S. Thompson would've enjoyed the 27th St. Maarten
Heineken Regatta, which ended last night after an epic day of sailing;
an eardrum-blowing concert headlined by a pair of reggae legend Bob Marley's
offspring; the copious inhalation of massive quantities of booze, weed,
and blow; and a traffic jam that would make a Friday afternoon on the
Santa Monica Freeway look like a NASCAR race. Yup, just another regatta in paradise.  If
you haven't been to St. Maarten lately, you're in for a surprise. The protected
waters of Simpson Bay have become the home to literally dozens of Superyachts,
development is unchecked and rampant, and the new airport looks like something
you'd expect at a changeover in Indianapolis. But, man, it can still blow the
dogs off the chains, and it did this weekend, with winds topping off at around
35-knots in the gusts on Saturday, when carnage reigned supreme on the race course.When the dust had settled, the scorecard read something like this: one lost finger (a German bareboater), one near drowning (a crewman on an Olson 30 went over the side and swallowed some water, but was rescued by the crew of a Dehler 34), several flipped beach cats (the rescue service was kept jumping), and reams of shredded spinnaker cloth (the luff-to-luff blow-out aboard Tom Hill's R/P 75 Titan 12 was probably the most spectacular - see picture at top).  For
the first time ever, the regatta added a fourth day of racing for
the spinnaker classes, and 57 crews from about a hundred eligible
boats came out for the Thursday session, which was scored as a separate
series. Then the whole fleet came out on Friday. As usual, the bareboat
classes were huge draws, with over 100 boats entered in six classes.
The level of competition here ranges from the ridiculous to the sublime,
but for northern U.S. sailors, and the dozens of dozens of Europeans
who come to escape winter, it's a worthwhile expedition. Along with
the three days of racing, if you utterly tank the regatta you can
still sail over to St. Barth's afterwards and get wrecked with the
beautiful people. This
edition of the Heineken will be remembered for the
attendance of Volvo Ocean Race winner ABN AMRO ONE,
which dominated the Bigboats 1 class while regularly
knocking off speeds over 20 knots. Skipper Moose
Sanderson, with guest star John Kostecki calling
tactics, seemed to be in total vacation mode, wearing
a pair of Crocs for the whole shebang.It won't be a regatta the boys on Titan will recall with warm and fuzzy feelings. They missed Thursday's racing after busting a forestay just before the start of Race 1, then ended up correcting out to a distant third in their class, behind ABN and Jim Swartz's Swan 601, Moneypenny. Talk about your lost weekends. At least they were warm. Otherwise, from the organization standpoint, the Heineken looks as strong as ever. It's well organized, it's topped right up as far as entries are concerned (239 total this year, and 250 or 260 would really be pushing it) and, in early March, there sure aren't many, if any, better options if you want a racing fix. Plus, you can get two ice-cold Heinies for three bucks, so there's always the option of just bailing and getting smashed. Hunter would no doubt approve. Pictures courtesy of Bob Grieser /Outside Images. 03/06/07 |