Yachting-Live

The Fleet Is In

St. Maarten, Netherland Antilles: The 28th edition of the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta wrapped up today, in similar fashion to the way it began: With clear skies and a steady breeze offering ideal conditions for a record-setting fleet of competitors. And after the series’ final race, a point-to-point contest from Marigot, on the island’s French side, to Philipsburg on the Dutch side, an impressive array of winners emerged.

In the animal kingdom, the term “Panthera” is synonymous with a mighty species of “cats that roar.” It proved to be a fitting title in the big-boat Spinnaker 1 division as well, where the UK-based TP 52, owner Benny Kelly’s Panthera, capped a strong effort by conquering an impressive fleet of competitors, particularly the canting-keel, turbo-charged Cookson 50, Privateer. Panthera went undefeated in the five-race series for the spinnaker classes, with Privateer wracking up five straight seconds.

Helmsman Andy Beadsworth said the highlight of the regatta, for Panthera, was the final run on one of Saturday’s windward/leeward contests. “We rounded the mark and were boat for boat, jibe for jibe, neck and neck,” he said. “At times we were right together, maybe five feet apart. It was like one-design racing, just fantastic.”

Fantastic is also a fitting word to describe the Caribbean debut of the SeaCart 30, True Look, an innovative trimaran designed by noted French naval architect Marc Lombard. Built by the Swedish builder of Tornado-class cats, Marstroms, and marketed by Oceanlake Marine, the SeaCart is a carbon rocketship that can be shipped in a 40-foot container and which is capable of speeds hovering near 30-knots. True Look lived up to its advance billing, as skipper Calle Hennix put together a strong series to win the Multihull 1 class over a strong field.

The 8-boat Spinnaker 2 class also provided some fantastic yacht racing, but with a second today, Peter Harrison’s wondrous blue 115-footer, Sojana, held its lead over Anders Johnson’s Swan 70, Blue Pearl, the winner of last year’s inaugural Transatlantic Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup.

In Spinnaker 3, Richard Matthews’ brand-new GP 42, Oystercatcher XXXVI, enjoyed a fine Caribbean coming-out party, holding on to beat another well-sailed UK entry, Bob Swann’s Marten 49, Yani. Spinnaker 6 was won by Clive Llewellyn’s Grand Soleil 50, Mad IV, an extremely successful competitor on both sides of the Atlantic. — Herb McCormick

Full report, complete results and photos at www.heinekenregatta.com

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This entry was posted on Monday, March 10th, 2008 at 6:10 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.