After three days of great sailing and even better partying the 13th Annual Anguilla Regatta drew to a close on Sunday the 8th of May. The event, often referred to as the best “small” Big Boat Regatta in the Caribbean, was again sponsored by the Anguilla Tourist Board which has been steadfast in its support of a the sailing celebration which this year attracted 17 boats from St. Maarten and St. Barts and also featured the entry of Anguilla’s own carriacou sloop Tradition. With over 120 sailors and their supporters invading Sandy Ground for the weekend, talk of tactics, mishaps and triumphs could be heard from Roy’s Restaurant at one end to Elvis’ at the other and no place was safe from having a good time. This year there were three classes with five entries in the Racing Class, eight in the Cruising Class and four in the Multihulls. They ranged in size from the small but speedy Melges 24 of “Island Water World” and “Fiji Racing Team” to the 50 foot Pogo “Maremossa” and for the first time ever a former America’s Cup boat “Canada II” sailed by the St. Maarten 12Metre Challenge crew and friends. In what has become a hallmark of the Anguilla Regatta many of the boats recruited additional crew from the ranks of the students and graduates of the Anguilla Youth Sailing Club with as many as twelve young sailors experiencing the thrills and challenges of big boat racing on Saturday and Sunday. All officiating and scoring was overseen by the super duo of Paul and Deborah Miller who provided daily updates on the www.regattaguru.com website so most crews knew how they were doing before they even got off the boats.
The first race from Simpson Bay to Road Bay on Friday afternoon saw ideal racing conditions with good winds of 14 to16 knots and clear conditions. The level of intensity that would become the norm in the racing class was evident from the start as Canada II nailed the start and jibed around the pin forcing “Kick em Jenny 2” , the only Melges 32 in the fleet, to bear off and lose what she thought would have been a good position. The Melges 32 then had to battle with the big boat for the next ten minutes until the smaller, speedier craft could finally break free. In the end this could well have been difference between winning and losing as she ended up second on the day to Island Water World who began the campaign with an unimpeded port start at the committee boat end and went on to win the race with six minutes to spare on corrected time. The race was a good one for all the crews to get their bearings as the winds held for the whole race and even the potentially formidable waves of the Anguilla Channel were relatively calm. And in fact it appeared that all that held their height in the channel went on to do well including Island Water World, the much modified and much improved Custom Kiwi 35 “Wild Devil”and the Dufour 34 “Speedy Nemo” who would take first and second in the cruising class. For the Multi Hulls it was the very impressive MyCat26 “Carib Cat” that took the honours despite the DuToit 71 “Quality Time” being the first over the line. A first time entrant to the Anguilla Regatta, The SBH “Maelia” would take third place in the cruising class and the Open 50 “Panic Attack” would do so in racing class just twelve seconds behind Kick em Jenny 2.
After an evening that started with a Skippers Briefing at Roy’s Restaurant and ended at any number of other establishments on the always entertaining Sandy Ground strip the boats were ready to do it all again at 10 AM Saturday morning with blazing sunshine and winds gusting up to 20 knots. They ended up having some practice time while the committee boat found a place to anchor which may have done them all some good. It certainly worked for Frits Bus on Island Water World and Ben Jelic on Wild Devil who both took top honors in racing class and cruising class respectively for all three races held that day. The first two races were windward/leeward course held between the channel markers in Road Bay and a mark close to Sandy Island and all the boats were a beautiful sight for spectators looking on from Back Street. The cruising class really put on a show with six of the racers fighting for room at the first mark and the very large Maremossa 50 coming from behind and pushing its way them all. Kick em Jenny 2 also had some interesting moments with a spectacular broach that had all crew member clinging to the life rails before safely righting itself and speeding downwind again. The third race was longer with the yachts heading out to spot near Prickly Pear and coming back to Crocus Bay and finishing in Road Bay. The wind and the higher seas made it a tiring day for all and the sailors were very happy to be heading back to the white beaches of Sandy ground by 4 PM. In the very competitive racing class Kick em Jenny and Fiji Racing Team had joint second for the day with 8.5 points and Canada II had 10 points but in a reminder of what a boat built 33 years ago can do she scored an excellent second place in Race 2. Wild Devil may have dominated the day in the cruising but the GBR “micron 99 Budget Marine” skippered by Robbie Ferron was almost as impressive with three second places on the day and the perennially consistent “L’Esperance” skippered by Bobby Valasquez picked up third.
Saturday night saw sailing crowds at many of the local restaurants and there was much dancing at The Pumphouse with Nattie and The House putting on an excellent show but all the crews managed to make it out to the start for the 10AM start on Sunday. The winds had dropped overnight but were still blowing between 10 and 12 knots so a good race was expected by the organizers. The single race course was a start close to Sandy Ground, then down to the mark near Prickly Pear, a rounding of the Crocus Bay mark and then a finish back in Road Bay. Unfortunately the winds did not cooperate and many of the competitors found it hard to make it to the Prickly Pear mark. The Race Committee made the decision to shorten the course by leaving out the Crocus Bay leg. This made it possible for the boats to make it back to Sandy Ground by 2PM where many could be seen enjoying Mother’s Day lunch and champagne from the Laurent Perrier Champagne Tent hosted on the beach by Grands Vins de France. One of the faithful sponsors of the Regatta who have provided prizes for the last ten years.
After all the salt spray had settled Island Water World had won the Sunday race and the Regatta with a remarkable 5 bullets and vowed to repeat next year. Despite having a disappointing fourth on Sunday, Kick em Jenny still had enough to pick up second place overall and went home with the Rose Champagne. In third place was Fiji Racing Team followed by Panic Attack and the valiant Canada II.
Wild Devil proved dominant in the cruising class but was followed closely by micron 99 Budget Marine and then Speedy Nemo in third. L’Esperance was an unusual fourth this year but according to its skipper that would change next year.
In the multi-hulls the surging Carib Cat had three firsts and two seconds to take the Magnum of Champagne and Quality Time pulled off an impressive second with a first and three seconds. Triumph who ended up third overall had one first of her own and lost by less than a minute on two of the other races to show how well she could compete.
As the single entry in the Tradition Class, the carriacou sloop Tradition managed to take top honors and generously donated all the proceeds from its charters to the Anguilla Youth Sailing Club.
It was a truly wonderful weekend full of fierce competition, intense comradery and fun for all with the real winners being the young sailors of the Anguilla Youth Sailing Club who benefit from all the proceeds of the Anguilla Regatta. The organizers would like to that all the sponsors and volunteers without whom this event would not be possible and would especially like to thank the The Royal Anguilla Police Force for providing the safety boat.
– Press Release
(Published without editing by The Anguillian newspaper.)
