TEAM GILL/ BUDGET MARINE DOMINATED MELGES 24 CLASS AT LES VOILES DU ST. BARTHS

ST. BARTHS--The St. Maarten flag was flying high at the 2013 edition of the Voile de St. Barths which came to a dramatic end on Saturday after a week of intense sailing and challenging conditions. St. Maarten’s Budget Marine Gill team, skippered by Andrea Scarabelli, won the Melges 24 class on 8points with three firsts, one second place and one third place from five races.

Bobby Velasquez also from St. Maarten on L’esperance won the Non Spinnaker Class with two firsts and two seconds from four races. Other local teams performing well included Ben Jelic on his J Boat Jaguar managed a fourth place and Garth Steyn on Vanille finished sixth with some of his crew coming from the sailing school programme. The stiff competition in the Melges 24 class continued with Budget Marine Gill and Team Island Water World needing a win in the last race to claim the overall prize. High winds and big seas prevailed throughout the event with the last day being one of the toughest conditions with over 20 knots of wind and over 2.5 metre waves. The long courses also made the event a real challenge for the small 24ft Melges boats having to sail a course that was 26 miles on the last day. Of the six Melges that started the race, five were unable to finish at least one race due to equipment failure.

The Budget Marine team with great preparation and boat handling managed to avoid any damage and this assured them victory over IWW who still managed to place second overall despite not completing the race on Saturday as their mast broke just after the start. Team Le Fort of Guadeloupe was skippered by a 16 year old Thierry Le Fort Jr. sailed very well and ended up third overall. In Spinnaker 5, a class which had many professional sailors competing, Ian Hope Ross and his crew on Kick –em Jenny managed 5th place overall. In the Multihull Racing Class, Team Dauphin Telecom, racing the well-known Trimaran Karibuni skipper by Eric Clement, represented the French side well by taking second place.

Press Source- The Daily Herald

Excellent Conditions for Impressive Junior Sailing Action

Grenada’s junior sailors enjoyed near perfect sailing conditions on Saturday 23 March when they took to the water in Grand Anse Bay for the Budget Marine Junior Sailing Championship. In past events, the youngsters have had to contend with challenging winds and choppy water, but on Saturday the elements combined to provide great sailing conditions, and allowed the keen young sailors – as young as six – to show their talent and competitive racing skills.

 The event was sponsored by Budget Marine and supported by the Grenada Sailing Festival, Grenada Sailing Association, Grenada Yacht Club and Gouyave Sailing School.  Nineteen young sailors took part, ranging in age from 6 to 18 years and racing in three different classes: Optimists, Mosquitos and Lasers, making up an impressive fleet of some 14 dinghies, and showing the depth of sailing skills Grenada’s youth has to offer.

Competition was tight across all three classes in a busy day of seven races, thanks to the disciplined race organisiation of instructors Kevin Banfield and Michael McQueen, and there was still uncertainty about final places right up until the last race was run. The final results were as follows:

MOSQUITO CLASS

1^st Place:              Karzim James

2^nd Place:             Trevell James

3^rd Place:             Michael Chiddick

4^th Place:              Shavin Joseph & Tavel James

5^th Place:              Alvin McPhee

6^th Place:              Dwaynelle  Henry & Kavin Henry

OPTIMIST CLASS

1^st Place:              Brent McQueen

2^nd Place:             Noah Bullen

3^rd Place:             Ralph Francis

4^th Place:              Michael Derrick

5^th Place:              Jamill Charles

LASER CLASS

1^st Place:              Qwesi Paul & Justin James

2^nd Place:             Dennis Bernadine & Romario Bernadine

3^rd Place:             Rondel Ferguson & Christon Henry

Special Achievement Award:     Shavin Joseph

This was the second Junior Sailing event for the year, and part of a growing calendar of race days and regattas being organised to provide important competitive experience for Grenada’s young sailors. Organisers would especially like to thank Budget Marine for their title sponsorship of this event. The company has been a long term supporter of Junior Sailing and its continued involvement and encouragement is extremely valued. Thanks goes particularly to Nicholas George, out on the water all day providing safety boat services, and to Lucille Pierre and Lera Griffith, who worked hard providing much appreciated drinks and refreshments in the HQ tent.

Thanks also goes to Kevin Banfield, Gouyave Sailing School; Michael McQueen, Grenada Yacht Club; and Jacqui Pascall, Grenada Sailing Association, for their help and support, and to Oscar, Wayne and Andre in Oscar’s Water Taxi, in charge of mark laying & courses. Rene Froehlich, Sailing School Grenada, provided the unique hand-made trophies, and essential refreshments were provided by The Victory Bar & Restaurant, Bryden & Minors with Orchard Juice, Glenelg  Natural  Spring Water, Grenada Bottling Ltd and Juicy Cool.

Plans are now starting for an even bigger event in 2014. For more pictures and information, follow Grenada Sailing Festival’s official Facebook page.

 3rd National Dinghy Sailing Regatta.

This event took place just outside of Williams Bay, Chaguaramas. It was the 3rd National Dinghy Sailing Regatta. The conditions were favorable for sailing and the participants who came from 3 different youth sailing schools in different parts of Trinidad - Vessigny, San Fernando, Point Fortin and Chaguaramas, all had a wonderful time. At the end of the event they each received a Budget Marine sponsored draw string bag in either red or blue and a medal. The prizes were handed out by Paul Dakin, Administrator of Trinidad and Tobago Yacht Sailing School and Reginald Williams, President of Trinidad and Tobago Sailing Association.  

5th Annual Budget Marine Match Racing Cup

Canfield and his stellar crew-four-time Canadian Olympian Richard Clarke, and accomplished Caribbean sailor Mark Plaxton-went undefeated in seven races during the early round-robin qualifying tournament, and then dispatched fellow Virgin Islander Cy Thompson in two straight races in the best-of-three finals to earn the winner's purse of $5,000.

Runner-up Thompson took the second-place prize of $2,000. In the petit final, last year's Budget Marine Match Racing champion Colin Rathbun of the B.V.I. beat Russian Eugeny Nikiforov to earn the third-place check of $1,000.

The fifth edition of the event, which kicks off a festival of sailing culminating with the 33rd running of the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta, attracted the strongest fleet of match racers in the series growing history. The eight skippers included Ukrainian sailor Rodion Luka, a 2004 Olympic silver medalist; professional sailor Anthony "Tonks" Kotoun, another Virgin Islander; Lorenz Mueller of Switzerland; and Thomas Mallindine from the U.K. The event was contested in identical 20-foot Jeanneau SunFast sloops in shifty, challenging winds ranging from 8-18 knots in the Simpson Bay lagoon.

However, despite the world-class field of competitors, the day belonged to Canfield, the former Boston College star who is currently ranked eighth in the ISAF Match Race Rankings and serves as the director of the Chicago Match Race Center. "I've been match racing for 6 or 7 years now so I'm getting accustomed to it," he said. "I usually got off the line pretty well, hit the shifts and stayed in the puffs. My crew did a great job of keeping me in phase and the rest was easy from there."

Canfield was also quick to heap praise upon his tactician and mainsheet trimmer, Clarke, and Plaxton, who handled the jib. The three will be racing aboard Plaxon's Melges 32, Team INTAC, in the upcoming St. Maarten Heineken Regatta. "Richard was in charge of the tactics and was on top of it. Mark did a good job on jib trim and keeping us honest with boat speed and weight placement in the boat, which is really crucial in these centerboard boats. They're really tippy so that's really important."

"It was nice sailing with the kid," said Clarke, smiling. "I was just trying to keep up with him and not slow him down."

Nobody slowed Canfield down in the ten round-robin flights that determined the four sailors who advanced to the championship finals. Both Thompson and Rathbun had identical scores of five wins and two losses after the preliminary rounds, but Thompson advanced to the finals on the strength of his victory over Rathbun earlier in the day. All in all, it was a resounding day for the Virgin Islanders in the fleet.

"A bunch of guys-Anthony Kotoun and Cy Thompson-were from my hometown (of St. Thomas)," said Canfield. "So that kind of rekindled a flame. I grew up sailing with Cy, and went to school with him. So it was cool to sail in the finals together with my best buddy. There were just a lot of good guys out there. And the conditions were very unique (in Simpson Bay). You've got the mountain that the wind drops down off of so it's very shifty and squirrely. You have to make the best of the situation when you're behind and keep fighting because there's always lanes for passing."

Perhaps that's true, but rarely, if ever, was Canfield seriously behind. Looking ahead, he has plans for both his $5,000 check, and his future. "We'll have a pretty good night tonight," he said, "and hopefully we'll be back next year."

Maybe then Canfield will actually lose a race in the Budget Marine Match Racing Cup. But as he proved on the racecourse today, you might not wish to bet against him.

Jolly Harbour Valentine's Regatta 2013

The young crew of Cork 1720 Digicel Challenger were celebrating their victory at the beach party prizegiving this evening (Sunday 10th) after their overall win in the Racing Division in the Jolly Harbour Valentine's Regatta which ended this afternoon in Antigua. "This is a great victory for us," said helmsman Bob Green. "The guys have worked so hard, training after school to prepare for this event."

In the cruising division Rick Gormley and his crew on First 38 Elethea were also celebrating their win. "I've done this event for 13 years and in fact the Jolly Harbour Valentine's Regatta is the reason I came to live in Antigua," he said. "I would put 95% of our success down to the crew work and 5% to the helm! The racing was very close and there are some good sailors out there so we are very pleased with our victory."

The Multihull Class was the first to start today's racing. John Westgarth-Pratt's Ascension, a Fontain-Pajot 36 Mahé and Bill Clifton's Catana 43 Four Winds came neatly off the start line only inches apart, and enjoyed a close few legs before Four Winds finally took victory on the finish line. Their one-race 17 mile course, set to suit their size and handling, took in 13 mark roundings, taking them up to the harbour entrance of Antigua's capital, St John's for some challenging manoeuvres. "The long legs of the course suited us really well," said John. "It was a great sail for us up to St John's and then we flew back with the spinnaker."

For the other two classes, Cruising and Spinnaker, today's final programme consisted of two races with starts just outside the entrance to Jolly Harbour and a first windward leg into the shore and back to Five Islands. From there a series of windward leeward legs took the fleet northwards.

The Jolly Harbour Valentine's Regatta ended as it began three days ago, in perfect conditions of 12-14 knots and flat turquoise seas. Chairman of the Regatta Organising Committee, Kathy Lammers summed up the event. "We've seen a wonderful celebration of the regatta's 20th anniversary," she said. "We've had excellent conditions and such great participation from a wide variety of yachts, both those based in Antigua, and others who are passing through on their voyage itineraries. We are really looking forward to the event growing further in future years."

The racing was exceptionally close. Stephen Carson and his crew on Hightide were sniffing victory as they came bounding back from a sluggish start to the event. They added another first and second to yesterday's improving results, to end up only one point adrift of Digicel Challenger's winning score. Geoffrey Pidduck's 6-metre Biwi Magic experienced a minor drama when she dragged Jolly, the first windward mark, downwind as she attempted to round. One competitor observed: "A couple of boats are saying a very big thank you to Mr Pidduck for moving the mark to their advantage!"    

In the cruising division only three points separated second, third and forth position, Don Ward's Frolic, Festus Isaac's Chardonnay, and Robbie Ferron's Springtide respectively.

There were some heroes too. May, Charles Kenlock's Tord Sunden Folkboat, only 27 foot long, the lowest rated yacht in the fleet, retired yesterday with boom damage, but despite her absence putting her back to last place, she returned today to complete both races taking up the rear, but pulling herself up a position in the final results. 

"We were very lucky with the general wind direction today which gave us the great windward leeward angles between Five Islands and Hermitage," commented Chief Race Officer Paul Miller.   

The regatta wasn't just for the keelboats. The celebration was joined by a dozen Laser Pico dinghies provided by Antigua National Sailing Academy which completed six races today close off Jolly Harbour beach. Winning all but one of Sunday's six races was 11-year old Antiguan youth sailor Rocco Falcone who is already an emerging star at championship level. But it was the consistency of Bea Shrewsbury that took the championship. Olympic sailor Karl James was on hand during the weekend to offer some coaching advice. "All the young sailors who took part did incredibly well" he said.

Prizes were presented by Antigua and Barbuda Minister of Tourism, the Hon John Maginley at the closing Rum on the Beach party at Castaways Beach Bar. Competitors and guests enjoyed the music of Chicki's Hi Fi as well as the Spirited Band and enjoyed beach cricket organized by former West Indies pace bowler Kenneth Benjamin.

Alison Sly-Adams, Marketing and Sponsorship Director for the Jolly Harbour Valentine's Regatta and Rum Festival, described the ethos of the event. "We are delighted with the reaction to the entire event from sailors, partygoers and sponsors," she says. "This was the first year of the Rum Festival and we have been able to really assess the potential of the event. Our rum sponsors have given us fantastic support with their displays and bars. The visiting public have tasted new rums and new and exciting ways of drinking them! We look forward to further developing the festival into a platform for participating rum brands to use as a showcase in 2014 and each year."

Regatta sponsors include founding partners Jolly Harbour Marina Village, Budget Marine, Jolly Harbour Marina, Jolly Harbour Yacht Club, Jolly Harbour Merchants' Association and Jolly Harbour Homeowners' Association. The event is also supported by Antigua and Barbuda Ministry of Tourism, Seahawk Paints, Pineapple Rentals, Townhouse Megastore, Digicel, Outdoor World Yamaha and Takumi.

Thanks to the seven Rum Partners: English Harbour Rum, Clements Rum, Angostura Rum, Mount Gay Rum, Appleton Rum, El Dorado, Bacardi.

Full Results can be found here:

https://regattaguru.com/valentines/minisite?series_id=2#Results;class_id=6

The 43rd Budget Marine Spice Island Billfish Tournament

The 43rd Budget Marine Spice Island Billfish Tournament took place Jan. 25-29th and it was a qualifying event for the IGFA Offshore Championship. The SIBT was first held back in 1964 and has been held annually since then (except during the revolution years).

This year the event was once again held at the Grenada Yacht Club located in the lagoon in St. Georges. It attracted 50 boats from nearby islands such as Aruba, Tobago, Barbados, St. Lucia, Martinique. Anglers come from all over the world to experience Grenada's great fishing and hospitality, and this year it was even rumored to have a Hollywood celebrity in the mix. Certainly from all the SuperYachts present at Port Louis Marina, across the bay, this could easily have been more than just a rumor.

The tournament consists of three fishing days separated by a lay day. The SIBT boasts plenty of game fish action as it is positioned in the peak of the billfish season with Blue Marlin (500pts) White Marlin (300pts) Sailfish (300pts), being the crux of the points and allowed line strengths of 30 50 and 80 pound test.

The Tournament is run as a modified release event where teams are encouraged to release the majority of the billfish they catch (a camera is needed to confirm the capture). Points are awarded for released billfish by species not by weight. Any billfish that are boated will score points only if they exceed the minimum weight limit for that species (points are deducted for underweight fish). At the end of the tournament the boat and angler with the most points are the winners.

The competition is fierce, yet friendly and all Anglers had their eye on the prize money -- in total over $65,000 EC dollars is given to the "heaviest fish" for each species.

Current records for this event stand at :
Blue Marlin - 669 pounds

White Marlin - 82 pounds

Sailfish - 77.6 pounds

Yellowfin Tuna - 173 pounds

Wahoo - 66 pounds

Dolphin ( Mahi Mahi ) - 53 pounds

Fish are only considered to have broken the record if their weight exceeds those listed above by one pound or more

The Grand Slam Trophy awarded to the "first boat" to catch or release all three billfish species in one day. The prize was a coveted dingy and motor supplied by sponsor Budget Marine.

Wednesday: Captains and their teams assembled at sunset for the briefing by Committee Chairman Richard McIntyre, a quick review of the rules and then he introduced Dr. Ellen Peele of "The Billfish Foundation" (TBF) hearty cheers went up as she promoted the Tag and Release Sport and honoured the late Sid Johnson of Trinidad for his contribution to the sport in the Southern Caribbean.

Early Thursday morning with the sun rising from the East and casting a glorious light upon The City of St. George's, a parade of all the fishing boats motored into and around the Carenage playing "follow the leader" and posing for photographs and providing a spectacle for the numerous onlookers as they proceeded outside the harbor for the traditional "Bimini Start."

"Pair a Dice" from Trinidad had the first hook up, but unfortunately lost the fish. It was a tough fight.

Reports came in with "Exile" releasing the first Sailfish, followed by the "Surf n Turf".(Grenada) "De Reel Viking" had landed two Yellowfin Tuna, and "Southern Cross" reeled in its first Tuna.

"Crazy Horse Again" (Grenada) snagged the first wahoo and on-board of "Devocean" the first white marlin was released. "Surf n Turf" Who were really flying at this point, released their second billfish a White Marlin.

Dolphins (Mahi Mahi) were also taking the bait as "Grey Ghost"

(St Lucia) and "Abracadabra" (Trinidad) both reeled in catches. Midway through the day, 12 Dolphins, 5 Wahoo and 7 Yellowfin Tuna had been landed with 20 releases including 13 Sailfish, 2 Blue Marlin and 5 White Marlin.

Forty-five minutes before lines up, there were still four boats engaged with a fight on their lines.

"T Hemisphere" released a sailfish. "London Pride" ended their day with the release of a White Marlin. "Challenge II" released a Blue Marlin with "Ruby's Joy" (Grenada) still battling with a White Marlin. The fight lasted 30 minutes.

Five minutes left on the clock and "Zingo" snagged a Blue Marlin, a fierce battle that ended with the release of the fish.

The day's event ended with the top five boats: "Yes Aye" (1200 pts), "Super Cool Too" (1100 pts), " Zingo" (1100 pts), "Surf n Turf" (900 pts), "Exile" (900 pts).

Friday morning with Anglers raring to go saw "Magic Lady" land their first catch of the day, a Yellowfin Tuna, followed by a Wahoo and a Dolphin.

The day's first billfish was caught on "Vesper" (Trinidad) who released a Sailfish.

Sailfish after Sailfish were being reeled in, as the morning rolled into a choppy and windy afternoon. "Magic Lady" released the first Blue Marlin of the day, while the "Abracadabra" team released a White Marlin, followed by a Sailfish.

The first grand slam of the tournament was hit when "Abracadabra" from Trinidad finally landed a Blue Marlin to compliment the other Billfish they had caught and win a coveted trophy together with a dinghy and motor supplied by tournament sponsors Budget Marine.

Friday was certainly a full day of action for Anglers and officials alike. The day ended with "Abracadabra" as the Grand slam winner and top of the leader board with (1700 pts), "Yes Aye" (1500 pts) "Step ah Side" (1500 pts) "Exile" (1500 pts) "Arabian Princess" (1400 pts)

Saturday was a day of enjoyment and relaxation with a fair amount of Sugar cane juice (Rum) consumed and a big pot of Grenada's national dish "Oil Down" supplied by the committee bubbling away and helping to soak up the various alcohols consumed. With a large contingent of Trinidadians present the party atmosphere at the event's Lay Day was enjoyed well into the night, however the competition was back in full force on early Sunday morning.

Sunday was business again as usual, with the release of 10 White Marlin, 4 Blue Marlin and 13 Sailfish + 5 Wahoo, 16 Dolphin and 4 Tuna landed.

Fish were biting, man pitting his skills against fish, but everyone still trolling for that elusive record breaker.

No Records were broken this year and no bones either although we do have the x rays.

 You can guarantee next years tournament will be eagerly awaited as Grenada hosts for the 44th time, some of the best Anglers and best Sportfishing in the Caribbean .

Anglers, oglers, locals and tourists that dropped by to catch the weigh in, have a bite of sushi onboard and a lime (party) with the teams and hear about the one that got away was enjoyed by all.

Final Results:

1st Placed Boat: Abracadabra Trinidad and Tobago

2nd Placed Boat: Step Ah Side Trinidad and Tobago

3rd Placed Boat: Exile Aruba

1st Placed Angler: Gorgs Dalgleish Abracadabra Trinidad and Tobago

2nd Placed Angler: Liz Hickman Surf n Turf Grenada

3rd Placed Angler: Bobby Hammond Yes Aye Grenada

 BUDGET MARINE INTERLUX REGATTA 2013

Eighteen races did not allow for much difference in the final points of the top two teams in the Budget Marine Interlux Regatta. In the end the top two teams, who are regular rivals in other classes (like Melges 24) and representing rival yacht chandlery sponsors found only two points separating them (17 points to 19 points). The winner was Andrea Scarabelli and the Budget Marine 1 team who squeezed out Frits  Bus and the Island Water World 1 team into second place. Third place went to Jolyon Ferron and his North Sails team who managed to stay ahead of father Robbie Ferron and his Pacifica Plus Team also by two points.

Guy Taylor Smith (5th place) would have been high in the standings after four first places if it were not for a number of low scores to balance these out. Roel ten Hoopen also enjoyed two first places but got pulled down to 6th. Carlos Beckman and family cheerfully sailed the event with young children on board showed enormous skill (and mental calm) to come out at 7th position.

Conditions over the 1 1/2 days of the event varied from light to stiff and from North East to South East. Team tacticians were put under severe pressure throughout the weekend to deal with the conditions. Many crews experienced switches from elation to disappointment as the wind switched at inopportune moments.

The event base which was at Boca Marina Restaurant (the old Uncle Harrys restaurant) proved to be an excellent and effective location for the event from where teams not participating and other spectators got a great view of the sailing and a very convenient "boat changing" platform. Participants were able to enjoy sponsored Mount Gay Rum during the after race events.

The Budget Marine Interlux regatta is sponsored by Interlux paints, a division of Akzo Nobel and offers a wide range of high quality yacht paints including market leading anti-fouling products.

The Interlux Regatta is sailed in identical Jeanneau 20 boats that are supplied by Lagoon Sailboat Rental which provide a level playing field for sailing competiton. Crews of three sailors rotate the boats after every race. Race management was in the hands of Laurey Ann Findlay and Andrew Rapley. Twelve races were sailed on Saturday and six on Sunday. This was the 10th year of the event although it was not sailed in 2012. The event was organized by Lagoon Sailboat  Rental N.V.

The 25th Bonaire International and Local Fishing Tournament Is January 17-19, 2013

2013 will mark the 25th year that Bonaire has hosted the International & Local Fishing Tournament. It will be held once again from January 17 through 19, 2013 and boasts of over $15,000 in prizes, besides being a lot of fun!

The international competitors will have breakfast, lunch, and dinner in their packages, and the buffets are also open to the public, so those desiring a chat with these anglers and to cheer them on are always welcome to attend as well.

Registration will be held on the first day--Thursday, January 17th. Those competing in the International Category will fish on Friday and Saturday, January 18th and 19th, and the locals will have a go at it on Sunday, January 19th. There’s no restrictions in the size of boats for either category, so the more, the merrier. The International Category is Bill-Fish Catch and Release, while the Local Tournament is planned for fish for consumption and will be divided between large and small boats.

On Saturday, January 19th, there will be a Ship-to-Shore Boat Party for those who want to party or just relax after a great day of fishing.

For more information, including rules and prizes, planning and forms, and a great photo album of the 2012 competition, visit the tournament’s new web site by clicking here. (Source: Bonaire International and Local Fishing Tournament)

Back Again! Now Budget Marine Interlux Regatta-

February 1^st – 3^rd 2013

On the very first week end of February 2013, the Budget Marine  Interlux Regatta will be revived after a dormant year and the regatta location will revert to where some of the greatest regattas held in Sint Maarten in the past .

Nine Jeanneau 20 boats whose one design credentials are impeccable will be sailed in the event.  Being supplied with equipment, allow visitors to participate in a head to head regatta with locals on the most level playing field available in sailboat racing.

Already eight local teams have entered the event which includes two teams from St Barths.

The location for the event will be the new Boca Marina Restaurant which is located where the old Uncle Harrys used to be alongside the Airport Runway and inside the St Maarten Shipyard facility. In the past this was the location of many regattas that provided the best spectating and spectator involvement that any regatta has seen. In this revived regatta the larger facility will enhance this and the races will be held adjacent to the Boca facility.

The dates of the event are Saturday February 2^ndand Sunday February 3^rd. A full day of racing will take place on Saturday 2^ndand a half day on Sunday 3^rd. Friday 1^stFebruary participants will be able to use the boats to practice if desired. The prize giving will take place during an extensive Sunday lunch at the Boca Marina Restaurant.  The Interlux regatta is in its 9^thyear having been started in 2004.

Interlux is the manufacturer of a range of marine coatings that occupy the premium position in recreational yachting. In particular their anti-fouling, especially the Micron 66 is considered one of the premium products and extensively applied in the Caribbean and distributed by Budget Marine N.V

For more information call Cary Byerley at 588-2474 or email; director @ bigboatseries.com

1st Annual Bathtub Derby 2012

SIMPSON BAY—Hardware stores may have been mysteriously short of duct tape Monday morning after miles of the sticky stuff disappeared off the shelves in the days leading up to Sunday for use in the first annual Bathtub Derby held on Kim Sha Beach.

It was all for a charitable cause of course. A Bathtub Derby is one of those mad fun events where eccentric people get together to construct flimsy boats made of cardboard, dubiously held together by tape, then make complete fools of themselves by trying to paddle them a few metres. The result, as Sunday’s event can attest, was hilarious.

Organisers of the Bathtub Derby, D’Event, deserve a pat on the back for attracting no less than 22 entries for the first time, a large appreciative crowd, while raising funds to buy computers for the Sister Regina School. Clearly this will become an eagerly anticipated annual event.

All sorts of creative craft were lined up on the beach, an exhibition in itself.  Among the designs was the Coastguard entry with an automatic rifle mounted on their boat and a Hawaiian-style outrigger canoe. The rules were simple...four crew to a boat that must be constructed of cardboard, tape, and finished of with an environmentally friendly paint. Five heats were run with the winner of each heat going into the final.

The objective was to paddle the craft, after a Le Mans start, from a point at one end of the beach, round some buoys, and finish at the other end, about 50 metres. The better designs made it to the finish intact, or fell apart when they were carried out of the water. Others sank immediately, sort of an aquatic version of a house of cards collapsing, before reaching the first buoy. This misfortune befell Team Cerveza who at least consoled themselves with the Titanic Award for the Most Dramatic Sinking.

The grand prize of $1,000 at the end of the day went to Team Dangerous (Jolyon Ferron, Nathan Smith, Luke Bacon, and Martin Fitch).

The secret according to Luke’s Dad, Michael Bacon, was “keep it simple stupid.”

“All we did was get two big cardboard tubes, seal them so they were watertight and then lashed them together and it was as fast as could be,” explained Michael. “The fancier boats missed the point but we tried to keep it as simple as possible.  The crew are used to sailing in close quarters and I think that helped them too.”

The craft was still in one piece on Monday after it was paddled through the bridge to the yacht club.

Second place went to Power Rafting Adventures, and third place to Dominator.

In the bonus race, first place went to Learning Unlimited, second place to Overboard, and third to Sister Regina Christmas Sunshine. Best Overall Design prize went to Philipino Typhoon.

The Budget Marine paddle board race was won by Star Peterson from Drunken Clan.

All the prizes were donated by sponsors that included Liccom, Budget Marine, Terra Management and Development, Kooyman, Dominos Pizza, Buccaneer Beach Bar, Island 92, Laser 101, Power Rafting, La Bamba Beach Bar, B&C Beverages, Antillean Liquors, Tri-Sport, Office World, Collaborative, and Le Grand Marché.

Photos of the event can be viewed on “D’Event” Facebook page or “Bathtub Derby 2012”.

Carlos Aguilar Match Race

Barkow, who has raced this regatta four times, took second last year after a narrow defeat by Finland's Staphan Lindberg. The sorrow of that defeat made this year's win for Barkow and her crew - Annie Lush, Alana O'Reilly, Erik Champaign and Maggie Shea - all the sweeter.

"We worked hard as a team in these last few days and it paid off," says Barkow, who is ranked sixth in the Women's and 31st in the Open match race ranking's divisions as of 5 December 2012. Barkow was awarded a distinctive Ulysse Nardin precision timepiece for her win.

A rain squall blowing across the Charlotte Amalie harbor just minutes before the start of the Finals left light and shifty conditions in its wake. This didn't deter Barkow who handily won the first two matches against Perry.

In what proved the final match of the Finals, Barkow lead at the start and stretched her advantage to eight boat lengths by the windward mark. She lengthened her frontrunner position into a commanding 10 to 12 boat lengths by the finish even though her team battled through a kink in the spinnaker that cost them a few seconds in boat speed in the last downwind run.

"It was so shifty," says Barkow. "It was easy to get it either so right or so wrong."

This match-up of teams in the Finals was an interesting one as Perry has served as Barkow's match racing coach.

"For me it was a win-win," says Perry of his team's second place finish and his student's first. "Sally's team is really good and they have evolved their game well. I was impatient. I had some advantages and gave them away. This either put me behind or put me further behind and Sally took advantage of that."

Two past America's Cup skippers went head-to-head in the Petite Finals. Ultimately, the USVI's Peter Holmberg won 2-1 over the USA's Dave Dellenbaugh. Thus, Holmberg finished third and Dellenbaugh fourth in the final standings. Holmberg won this event in 2009.

In other team scores, Brazil's Henrique Haddad finished 5th, the USA's Christopher Poole 6th, the USA's Stephanie Roble 7th, the USVI's Tyler Rice 8th, Denmark's Lotte Meldgaard Peterson 9th, Brazil's Renata Decnop 10th and Germany's Sven-Eric Horsch 11th.

This four-day ISAF Grade 2 match race was sailed in Inter-Club (IC)-24s. Forty-nine flights or 135 races were sailed in total.

The St. Thomas Yacht Club (STYC) and the Virgin Islands Sailing Association (VISA) are organizing authorities for the CAMR, namesake for the late Carlos Aguilar, who was an avid sailor and match racer.

Supporting sponsors of the CAMR are the U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Tourism; Heineken Beer and Captain Morgan, distributed in the U.S. Virgin Islands by Bellows International Ltd.; Budget Marine; Hooters; Patron, distributed by Premier Wines & Spirits; Choice Communications; Bolongo Bay Beach Resort; Yacht Haven Grande; Gill and St. Thomas Yacht Club.

Race results are available on the official event website.

An amusingly entertaining experience awaits you, with a full day of activities for the entire family, highlighted by…   The 1st Annual Bathtub Derby on December 9^th from 11am – 6pm.

What is the Bathtub Derby, you ask, A fun event where a group of people come together to design and make a cardboard boat to race. 

Cardboard boat? … What! (Yes, many will actually climb in and paddle their handmade cardboard boats around a racecourse!) Plus there will be lots of beach games, music and food. Not only would you be having a good laugh and fun day, but you will also be contributing to the overall goal of donating the proceeds to St. Regina Primary School for their New Computer Lab. 

Won’t it sink? Well, yeah, eventually, but by painting the surfaces with environmentally friendly paint and sealing the joints with duct tape, you stand a good chance of building a boat that will actually float. 

Do you build the boat on the day? ...No, as this being the first Bathtub Derby everyone deserves enough time to design and build their crafts in their own working space. 

In a society dominated by screen time, both TV and computer, it's refreshing to see the return of some good old-fashioned unbeatable family fun. We've had plenty of enquiries about the Bathtub Derby for some months now, so we're anticipating a fantastic turnout. D’ Event aims to entertain, so stick around, as the Derby contestants will have a chance to win a Paddle Board.  Budget Marine will sponsor this extra race immediately after the main event.

This event is open for participation from Businesses, Schools, Youth Groups, groups of friends, and Non-profit Organizations desiring to build a boat and participate. This is a wonderful team-building experience; giving employees an opportunity to work together toward a common goal and have a lot of fun and supporting the local community.  

The entry fee is $40 per person, only Four (4) must race, but you can have unlimited amount of builders.

The last chance to get on board and register is on Saturday 1^st December, from 9am- 12pm at Kooyman Mega Store. This will be your final opportunity to receive your entry package, view an actual demo and gain great insights on how to build a functional boat.

The Bathtub Derby valued Sponsors are Liccom, Budget Marine, Kooyman, Power Rafting Tours, Terra Management & Development, Island 92, Buccaneer Beach Bar, B&C Beverages, La Bamba Beach Bar, Dominos’ Pizza, Antillean Liquors, Tri-Sport, Office World and Collaborative.

We guarantee a fun filled and amusing day for participants and spectators alike.  Come and See for yourselves what floats your Boat!

Registration forms, rules and general information can be found on www.deventinfo.wix.com/bathtub-derby, you can also join us on Facebook at Bathtub Derby 2012. For further inquiry you can contact us devent.info@gmail.com/587-7199/554-6444/581-9727

Satisfied Sailors at the Season Opener “la Course de L’Alliance” Regatta.

The La Course de l’Alliance Regatta was originally designed to be an alliance between the four ‘hot spots’ of sailing in the North East Caribbean namely, St. Maarten / Saint Martin, St. Barths and Anguilla.

Each of these locations have their own sailing Association or Yacht Club. Sint Maarten Yacht Club / Marina Fort Louis, St. Barth’s Yacht Club and the Anguilla Sailing Association.

The Marina Fort Louis and the Sint Maarten Yacht Club are also sponsors of this event. Other sponsors are Budget Marine, Windward Island Bank, Siapoc, MP Yachting and Saint Martin Yacht Charters. The Sint Maarten Yacht Club is  the organizing body of the regatta..

Over the past 9 years the La Course de l’Alliance has evolved into the very popular season opening regatta.

19 boats entered the regatta this year .

The strength of this regatta is the low profile basis and that it has retained the same formula for the past 9 years. Every boat can compete as long as they are fast enough to sail from St Barths to Anguilla within the time limit.

With the registration and skippers briefing at Yacht Club Fort Louis, the atmosphere was set.

A lot of old friends gathered for an exciting race between three islands.

On Friday morning 23rd Nov—Race Officer  Paul Miller blew the horn for a race from Simpson Bay to St. Barths.

Perfect opportunity for Commodore of the Sint Maarten Yacht Club, Ian Hope Ross to test his new ‘Kick em Jenny 2’ (Melges 32) in what may be considered as an interesting field of racing boats. A couple of hours later, at the Bay of Gustavia the St. Barths Yacht Club had  a finish laid and some racers had found out that their racing skills were a little rusty— which was easily forgotten with a night out at Eddy’s Restaurant in Gustavia.

Every year the organization of La Course de l’Alliance, one way or the other, manage to designate a “place to be” for all the sailors and racers.

The next morning the wind prediction was very low and after an early assessment, principle race officer Paul Miller decided to move the start in the direction of Tintemar—north of St. Maarten. Due to the suggestions of the fleet during the cross over, it was decided to start next to Isle Fourche, as the wind picked up by mid morning.

This turned out to be a very interesting race as the fleet was left the option to either go north or south of

St. Maarten, with the next mark being Anguilita on the way to Road Bay—Anguilla.

Bobby Velasquez, with his L 'Esperance decided to take the gamble and pass his hometown Philipsburg on the south course, followed by Quality Time and Budget Marine, amongst others, only to find out that this gamble was unfortunate as Frits Bus with his Coors Light crew were already on their third drink when Bobby dropped anchor in Road Bay.

The night out in Anguilla with dinner at Roy’s and Johno’s— drinks and dancing at the Pumphouse and Elvis meant that a lot of sailors had a slow start on Sunday morning.  For this reason Race Officer Paul Miller to put in a downwind start, using the red channel marker in Road Bay to make it easier on all the sailors.

SMYC Commodore Ian Hope Ross, the owner of a new Melges  32 - “Kick Em Jenny 2” is on a steep learning curve, getting used to steering with a tiller instead of a wheel. He is also flying a Genneker instead of his usual spinnaker.

Michele Korteweg, current St. Maarten Heineken Regatta Director,  debuted as a bow woman on “Aqua Maniacs”. This was the crews first time flying a spinnaker and Michele was quoted as saying “I’m very happy with this achievement, It was incredibly exciting to fly the spinnaker down the Anguilla Channel in 8 knots of wind with a boat speed of 8 knots! We agreed to sail the Voile des St. Barths on this boat as a team.”

The finish of the regatta was in Simpson Bay. Lots of stories  were told during a vibrant Prize Giving at the  Sint Maarten Yacht Club, where all the sailors were awarded with a recent picture of their boat from photographer Robby Cijntje.

All the three organizing Yacht Clubs  are looking back at a very successful event and have set the date for next year. 22—24 November 2013.

The organization would like to take the opportunity to announce that the race is open for international competition and bare boats.

Contact the Sint Maarten Yacht Club for more information info@smyc.comor see the website: www.coursedelalliance.com

To see the photo’s of Robby Cijntje see:http://imagepro.photostockplus.com/event_1206379

RESULTS:

Racing Class:

1/ Coors Light– Skippered by Frits Bus

2/ Kick em Jenny

3/ Budget Marine

4/ Wild Devil – Island Water World

5/ French Connection

6/ Panic Attack

Cruising Class

1/ Bel Aurora– Skippered by Roger Petit

2/ L’Esperance

3/ Lancelot – Lil’E St. Barths

4/ Aqua Maniacs

5/ Painkiller

6/ Lacalaca

Multihull

1/ Dauphine Telecom– Skippered by Erick Clement

2/ Quality Time

3/ Lagoonies Triumph

4/ Billboard Media Guimamalou

5/ Green Flash

6/ Carib Cat

7/ Dual Flyer

St. Thomas Wahoo Windup 2012

MAHABIR TOP ANGLER, TEAM BISCOE BEST BOAT IN 2012 WAHOO WINDUP

Clive Mahabir only caught one fish in this year’s Wahoo Wind-Up. Yet, Mahabir’s wahoo weighed in at a whopping 91.3-pounds or large enough to win him the top prize of $10,000 cash in this Virgin Islands Game Fishing Club (VIGFC)-hosted and Budget Marine-sponsored tournament held on Sunday.

“That was our first fish, our first strike of the day, and I just concentrated on getting the fish into the boat,” explains Mahabir, who was fishing aboard the Luhrs 40 Express, Mixed Bag, north of St. Thomas when he hooked the huge fish. “It was only after we got it onboard that we realized how big it was.”

Even though Mahabir’s wahoo won this year’s grand prize, it didn’t break the tournament record set in 2003 when St. Thomas’ Mike Kuszewski, fishing aboard the Black Pearl, reeled in a 94.1-pound wahoo.

Meanwhile, the catch of 8 wahoo earned Team Biscoe the title of Top Boat.

“We had a great time,” explains Dr. Byron Biscoe, whose 12-year-old son, Billy, caught three of the wahoo and 9-year-old son, Brett, reeled in one during his first-ever offshore fishing tournament. The team fished aboard DoubleHeader’s 35-foot custom center console. “When we weren’t catching fish, we were telling fish stories and really enjoying our day together,” Biscoe says.

Cash prizes were awarded to the anglers who caught the 10 largest wahoo.

In addition to Mahabir’s five figure prize, the team aboard DoubleHeader IIIcaught seven of the ten largest wahoo: Chris Berry, second, with a 46.31-pounder; Tyler Maltby, third, with a 39.05-pound wahoo; Abby Bowman, fourth, 31.35-pounder; Jules Oderm, fifth, 28.05-pounder; Angela Berry, sixth, 27.61-pound wahoo; Jane Townsend, eighth, 26.4-pounder and Matt Driscoll, ninth, 26.29-pounder. St. Croix-based Livin The Dream scored the other two, with Nicole Johnson reeling in the 7^thlargest wahoo, a 27.06-pounder, and Darby Kirby, catching the 10^thlargest, a 25.19-pound wahoo.

Prizes were presented at an Awards Dinner at the VIGFC held Monday night.

A fleet of 12 boats from all three U.S. Virgin Islands with 62 anglers fished the tournament. Personnel from the Department of Planning & Natural Resources Fish & Wildlife Department, headed by director Roy Pemberton, Jr., conducted the official weigh-in.

“We had a great tournament and we invite everyone to come out and fish with us in future tournaments,” says tournament director, Paul Meyer.

For more information about the VIGFC, visit: www.vigfc.com

2012 WAHOO WINDUP SET FOR NOVEMBER 18

Catch the largest wahoo over 75-pounds and win $10,000 cash!

This is the top prize in the Wahoo Windup, hosted by the Virgin Islands Game Fishing Club (VIGFC) and sponsored by Budget Marine, set for November 18, 2012.

It’s possible!

In 2003, St. Thomas’ Mike Kuszewski, fishing aboard the Black Pearl, reeled in a whopping 94.1-pound wahoo. This is a tournament record that’s never been beat.

“The reports are coming in, ‘the wahoo are here’, on both the North and South Drops,” says tournament director, Paul Meyer.

Didn’t catch the big one? No problem! Cash prizes will be awarded to anglers catching the next three largest wahoo by weight. Ties will be broken by length. The Best Boat prize will go to the team catching the most wahoo by count. Weight will be used as the tie-breaker.

Register at the VIGFC in Red Hook, St. Thomas, on Friday November 16 starting at 6 p.m. The Captain’s Meeting will be held at this time too. Entry fees are: $200 members and $250 for non-members and includes 4 rods. Extra rods are $60 each.

Fishing kicks-off Sunday November 18 with lines in the water at 6:30 a.m. The Weigh-In begins at 2 p.m. at IGY American Yacht Harbor Marina. All boats must be back at the dock to weigh their fish by 4 p.m.

An Awards Dinner will take place at the VIGFC on Monday November 19 starting at 6:30 p.m. Fishermen must be present to receive their awards.

The 5th Budget Marine Match Racing Cup

The event that should be on every Match Racer’s bucket list

Budget Marine has once again signed up as the title sponsor of the 5th Budget Marine Match Racing Cup, taking place on Tuesday February 26th 2013. This pre-event of the 33rd St. Maarten Heineken Regatta will once more showcase the skills and abilities of professional skippers from around the world.

The organization will invite 8 teams of top match racers from around the world to compete in St.Maarten waters. The first two years of this event, Peter Holmberg of US Virgin Islands gave a great demonstration of truly professional match racing in heavy breeze and won the first prize both times. Last year Colin Rathbun took home the first prize after some high quality match racing against big names like Bouwe Bekking and Olympic sailors from the USA which came in second and third place. This event will give top racers a chance to collect some of the US$8,000 in prize money, divided over 1^st 5,000.- , 2^nd 2,000.- 3^rd 1.000.-.

Anyone who is an accomplished match racer, male or female and who would like to enjoy match and fleet racing, win a pile of dollars and enjoy some of the finest regatta parties in the Caribbean should contact the regatta office at regatta@heinekenregatta.com and submit their sailing CV and Sailing ID for consideration. The cost of participation is low, but in order to avoid no shows a deposit of US$500 is required to confirm the slot. The teams need to consist of three persons per team including the helmsman. The event will take place in the Simpson Bay lagoon.

Organizers are pleased to say there has never been a lack of interest for this race so make sure you send in your information as early as possible. The final date to send in your information is January 7^th 2013; applications will not be accepted after this date.

The event precedes the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta which has for many years had the largest number of entries in Caribbean Regattas. The main event is preceded by a warm up regatta for Spinnaker boats called the Gill Commodore’s Cup. A timetable will be arranged so participants in the match racing have ample time to train on the fleet racing boats should they be sailing in the main event.

The Notice of Race for this event is visible online  

SOL Sint Maarten Optimist Championship 2012 

Last Saturday the SMYC organised the yearly SOL St Maarten Optimist Championship. This year the event took place at sea, for the first time. Children between 8 and 15 were sailing in their Optimists in Simpson Bay under perfect weather conditions, and many people stopped on the nearby beaches to watch the races unfold. 22 boats, representing 5 island, competed. Barbados, Curacao, Anguilla, St Barths and St Maarten were racing on the magnificent blue waters. Race Officer Paul Miller made sure that everything ran smooth and easy, and the judges David de Vries, Rien Korteknie and Andrea Scarabelli were on the water to ensure that all went well.

It is a great privilege to have such internationally famous judges and sailors volunteering for this event, hopefully encouraging the children who are just at the start of their career to one day pass on their knowledge and encouragements to the next generation. The young laser sailors were also helping out all day, supporting their Optimist friends.

As the judges remarked, there was good sportsmanship on the water. Even if not all children were aware of all the racing rules, they listened to the judges and sailed accordingly.
For the lunch break, the boats were tied on a line in the water, and the children swam happily on shore to Three Palms on Flamingo beach for a well deserved lunch.

The competition was fierce, and Nathan Smith from Sint Maarten secured his first place overall with Scott Gittens from Barbados as runner up. Prizes were given in two age categories:
Senior fleet: (12-15 years) 1st Scott Gittens (Barbados), 2nd Leonardo Knol (SXM), 3rd Ilian Halbertsma (SXM)
Junior fleet: (8 – 11 years) 1st Nathan Smith (SXM), 2nd Luke Bacon (SXM), 3rd Matheo Magras (St Barths)
First Girl overall was Katie Caputo.
Keivan Magras of St Barths got the Sportsmanship prize, as he sailed and finished all his races while being the youngest competitor, 8 years old.

This yearly Optimist regatta, as created by Cary Byerley, has been sponsored by SOL from the beginning, who show us that energy is about more than gas. Other sponsors are Heavenly Water, Domino’s Pizza, Budget Marine and Aqua Mania. A big thank you to SOL and the other sponsors for supporting the youth sailing.

Article by Liesbeth Halbertsma

Budget Marine Catalog 2013 officially launched!

The Budget Marine 2013 catalog has been launched successfully on the 6^thof November during the 31^stAnnual BVI Charter Show in Tortola. 

Orville Weekes, sales employee of Budget Marine Tortola, gave a short speech introducing the extensive new catalog. Afterwards the first catalog was handed to manager of Nanny Cay, Miles Sutherland-Pilch.

The catalog this year is introducing a complete refurbished fishing chapter with an extensive selection that will fit any fisherman, recreational or professional. It also includes many new additions to the Budget Marine assortment, like Stand up Paddle Boards, Teak Wood and Gulf Oil, to name a few.

The Budget Marine team in Tortola will be present during all 3 days of the show, with a Budget Marine booth, where the captains of the boats and visitors can pick up a Budget Marine 2013 catalog.

This year the catalog has also been copied onto a Budget Marine USB stick. 

Introduction to Sailing Day

A BIG THANK YOU to BUDGET MARINE

MILTON PETERS COLLEGE – Introduction to Sailing day at the SMYC, sponsored by BUDGET MARINE.
Today was a genuinely fantastic morning – and an absolute pleasure to experience the delight of these children as they took to the boats. Some of t…hese children showed real interest in continuing their sailing experience.
The Sint Maarten Marine Trades Association (SMMTA) has a sailing sponsorship program, and we’ll work together with them to see how best to get these kids back on the water.

A BIG THANK YOU to BUDGET MARINE for sponsoring this great introduction to sailing day – to Instructors -Martin, Jerry, Bart and Bodine, Maaike for the initial contact, and Elwin & Kim of the Restaurant. 

MILTON PETERS COLLEGE – Introduction to Sailing day at the SMYC, sponsored by BUDGET MARINE.
Today was a genuinely fantastic morning – and an absolute pleasure to experience the delight of these children as they took to the boats.
Some of t…hese children showed real interest in continuing their sailing experience.
The Sint Maarten Marine Trades Association (SMMTA) has a sailing sponsorship program, and we’ll work together with them to see how best to get these kids back on the water.
A BIG THANK YOU to BUDGET MARINE for sponsoring this great introduction to sailing day – to Instructors -Martin, Jerry, Bart and Bodine,
Maaike for the initial contact, and Elwin & Kim of the Restaurant.MILTON PETERS COLLEGE – Introduction to Sailing day at the SMYC, sponsored by BUDGET MARINE.
Today was a genuinely fantastic morning – and an absolute pleasure to experience the delight of these children as they took to the boats.
Some of t…hese children showed real interest in continuing their sailing experience.
The Sint Maarten Marine Trades Association (SMMTA) has a sailing sponsorship program, and we’ll work together with them to see how best to get these kids back on the water.
A BIG THANK YOU to BUDGET MARINE for sponsoring this great introduction to sailing day – to Instructors -Martin, Jerry, Bart and Bodine,
Maaike for the initial contact, and Elwin & Kim of the Restaurant. 

La Course de l’Alliance 2012

A little different this year !

Excitement building....for La Course de l’Alliance Regatta

The season opener Regattais sailing soon, 23rd – 25th November. The Sint Maarten Yacht Club has taken over the Regatta organization.

As always, early on line registration is strongly encouraged.

Register at http://regattaguru.com/cdla. (There was a little problem with the link before – it is fine now)

Confirmed St.Maarten entries so far include Melges 24 French Connection, Coors Lite and Budget Marine/Gill. Commodore Ian’s new Melges 32 Kick ‘em Jenny 2 will be racing for the first time, and Ian says  ‘I plan to kick butt with my new boat’.  At the recent Caribbean Sailing Association conference held at Port de Plaisance in St.Maarten, Luc Poupon of St.Barts mentioned that at least 5 boats from St.Barts intend to participate. Last year, 22 boats competed, including a boat from Guadeloupe, and several newcomers from St. Barts. St. Maarten boats made a clean sweep of the Regatta, taking first place in each class. Competing classes are Racing class, Cruise/Racing, Cruise, and Multihull.

The opening Skipper’s briefing will take place at Marina Fort Louis Restaurant on Thursday, 22 November.

The first race on Friday will be between Simpson Bay and St. Barts. Saturday the race will be from St.Barts to Anguilla. On Sunday, the final leg of the race will be between Anguilla and Simpson Bay.

The shoreside festivities will be unsurpassed, being held at Eddy’s Restaurant in St.Barts, and the Pumphouse and Roy’s in Anguilla. The prize giving and closing ceremonies will be held at the St.Maarten Yacht Club on Sunday.

Register now, and join in building the excitement for this season opener Regatta! Register at http://regattaguru.com/cdla. or call 580-4019.

Keep a watch on their website: www.coursedelalliance.com

For more information, Contact the SMYC on 580 4019 or per email: info@smyc.com

Press Source-" Sint. Maarten Yacht Club"

The 5th Annual Budget Marine Wahoo Tournament

2012

Great Bay, St. Maarten.  The 5th Annual Budget Marine Wahoo Tournament concluded with an outstanding 23 boats from around the region. Achieving another milestone, this tournament has maintained its prestigious name for 5 successful years by captivating fishermen from around the Caribbean.

 “This year we set a new wahoo breaking record of 68.2lbs. To our astonishment, what was seemingly impossible to break became one of the highlights of what was very successful tournament,” says SSFF board member, Dean Hodge.

 Living the Dream boat from St. Croix came in styling and won the “Best Dressed Crew”.

“This tournament really made mark, and as soon as I get back to St. Croix I will make sure to get more boats ready for next year’s tournament.  2013 get ready, because St. Croix will be back!” says a Living the Dream crew member.

Sian Hudson aboard Natalie Kate won the “Best Female Angler” for a smashing 32 lbs. wahoo. An impressive 42.7 lbs. wahoo was brought in by Joey Erato aboard Five O, who won “Best Junior Angler”

Largest kingfish went the boat “Briana Jami” from Saba with a massive 30.4 lbs. Largest Mahi Mahi went to the boat “Challenge” from St. Maarten for a fish weighing 45.1 lbs.

Jaws hit the ground when the “Trimmed Out” boat from St. Barth’s broke the record, and caught the largest wahoo of a striking 74.3 lbs. They won third place for the Largest Wahoo and cruised out with grand prize dinghy. Champion boat under 25 feet was won by boat Scamp with a total of 74 lbs

Second place went to the boat “Yellow Whip” from St. Martin with a total 243.5 lbs. The crowd went loud to Champion boat, Follow Me 5 from St. Martin with a total of 336.6 lbs. who also walked away with the Top Angler trophy.

All the winners shipped out with some serious cash and great prizes from the sponsors; Budget Marine, Coors Light, Windward Islands Bank, Winair, Bobby’s Marina, Caribbean Liquors & Tobacco, Windward Roads, Sol, Lacoste, Mustad, C & H and YoZuri.

“You can expect the tradition to continue next year for the 6th Anniversary,” invites SSFF board member Sergio Hodge.

 For full results, visit www.sxmsportfishing.com. This website offers full results, exciting photos.

5Th Annual Budget Marine Wahoo Tournament 2012

November 3^rdand 4^th 2012, Bobbie’s Marina will come alive with the excitement of the 5th Annual Budget Marine Wahoo Tournament. This year’s event has welcomed anglers from St. Thomas, Antigua, Nevis, St. Kitts, St. Barths, Saba, Anguilla and French St. Martin, making it a truly regional event. Over 20 boats are expected to fish this exhilarating two-day tournament. The eager anglers, captains and crews that are competing  in this tournament, will set their sights on catching the heaviest Wahoo, Dolphin (Mahi Mahi), Yellow Fin Tuna and Kingfish.

The public is invited to experience the spirit of the tournament as the avid fishermen demonstrate their passion for the sport. Everyone is welcome to walk around the dock and watch the big rigs come in for the counting and weighing of the angers’ trophy catch. The angling action begins on Saturday; boats depart at 12:01am and arrive at 5:00pm.The angling action continues and concludes on Sunday when the Prize Giving Ceremony takes place in the evening along with the declaring of the 5^thAnnual Budget Marine Wahoo Tournament Top Anglers, who will pocket of over $1500.00 worth of cash and prizes.

The day heats up with live music, activities for the kids, and sale on Budget Marine iconic fishing gears. It won’t be a party without a feast of on-the-spot grilled catches of the day and of course St. Maarten local cuisine and trimmings.

Tickets are available for both meals and drinks as proceeds will be extended to the St. Maarten’s Sport Fishing Foundation. Yes Indeed, the Budget Marine Wahoo Tournament has advanced into the competitive saltwater sports fishing events in the Caribbean.

For more information on how to register in this top level sport fishing tournament, Go to www.sxmsportfishing.com where you will also find the tournament program, rules and prizes. Witness the region's most skilled anglers make history happen this weekend.

Budget Marine Ship to Shore Boat Party

Budget Marine Bonaire would like to thank all of you who came out to the Ship to Shore boat party at the end of the 45^thBonaire International Regatta.  There was a great turn out and it seems fun was had by all.  There were nearly 40 boats from 10 – 60 feet long and over 600 people enjoyed from both boats and from the shore.  One hundred meters of line was stretched along the shore for boats to stern in and raft up together and enjoy the music from the shore

.

The new location by the Kas di Regatta turned out perfectly as there is more space and shade at that location.  The infrastructure is there and the ambiance is much better

With a late announcement of the SGB Self-built boat races there was not time for many to build their boats, and even of those that did, some did not make it to the races.  We hope that you are all busy designing fun and creative boats in your mind so that the next competition sees more participants!  Blue Lightning built by Robert Craane and his team won both the 1st place in the race and the most professional prizes.   The Gray boat built by Wiebe Kalkman and his team won the most creative with PVC pipes for added buoyancy and streamlined look took second.  They each received some of the hot new fishing gear from Budget Marine so that they can make good use of their new boats.

Sport Bonaire set up the Beach Tennis as the first official use of the sand patch where Dr. Welvaart’s office used to be.  The courts worked out perfectly so look out for a repeat on this event in the near future!  The winners from this event were Chris and Emma van Wijngaarden and Yannick Finies.  They each went with a cap and a fully rigged hand line for fishing from Budget Marine.

Zeeko arrived with the Giant bouncer, but found the proposed location to be muddy from the rains the previous night, so with some quick work, they switched bouncers and came with the large vs giant one which fit on the waterfront for a better view and less mud!  Thanks for the quick work and flexibility of the crew to make this work out.

If you were to hot, the Movie bus provided fully air conditioned movie theater with a view of the festivities and the sea showing the new release of Lion King in 3D with full surround sound and of course a free popcorn to enjoy with your movie.

The tunes were non-stop with great music from a wide variety of bands, DJ’s and dancers to entertain the crowds.  Food and Drink were certainly plentiful. There were people sitting on shore, swimming and playing on boats and rafts all along the waterfront.  We would like to thank the Regatta committee for setting this up and all of the food and drink stands for sticking with us for one more day of activities.

After all of this activity we are very happy to announce that our in water cleanup the following day totaled 4 polar bottles, one Smirnoff bottle, 4 pop cans, 2 popito bottles, one diaper and one entire Kliko garbage can (still containing a stash of bottles).  We thank you all for having a great time and not leaving a mess behind!  This cooperation encourages us to plan future events to be even bigger and better!

We look forward to seeing you at the next Ship to Shore party following the Bonaire International Fishing Tournament January 20th.

The 45^th Bonaire International Sailing Regatta has begun!

It is already day 3 of the 2012 International Bonaire Sailing Regatta, with on the program today micro boat racing, windsurfing freestyle kids, youth football and fishing boat racing.

It has been an exciting first two days of the regatta already where fortunately, after a windless weekend, the wind picked up again on Monday for some serious sailing. The yachts were up first with boats from Curacao, Aruba, Bonaire and the Netherlands.

This year the races are closer to Kralendijk and not as close to Klein Bonaire compared to previous editions, which has made it more fun to watch the boats in action from the waterfront of Kralendijk and from the Kas di Regatta.

The 2012 regatta has many participants in the optimist and in the sunfish classes. Those are boats with just 1 sailor. This year there are also more participants in the beach cat category, these catamarans have 2 sailors. The Bonaire Regatta 2012 has 71 participants.

Day two of the regatta began with a smooth start and no protests. The team of Viktor Wijnand, employee at Budget Marine Curacao, slowly found its rhythm.  Two morning starts and one afternoon start are keeping all participants busy, a new format that makes everyone very happy.

For the micro boat races of today (Wednesday the 10^thof October) a total of 76 micro boat captains registered their boats on Monday evening. The category is divided into boats of various sizes. A remote control micro boat will be demonstrating its skills as well, just as an oversize (45 inch) model,.

Unfortunately only two traditional fishing boats have come forward to race during this year’s major sailing event on Bonaire; hopefully their number will be growing explosively in the near future, as their presence is a valuable addition, which winks at the early beginning of the Regatta. The disappointing number of windsurf participants is partly to blame on the fact that Bonaire’s top surfers have just returned from Germany, where they performed admirably in a tough, international field.

The festival part of the regatta is getting off to a great start, attracting many islanders and visitors to downtown Kralendijk. Wonderful performances, lots of stands with merchandise, food and drink are part of the fun. Byron Tromp announced that on Saturday afternoon, starting at 6 pm, a Ship to Shore party will be held at Kas di Regatta, complete with live music, stand-up paddling, boat pulling and many more games.

St. Maarten Heineken Regatta

Enter your boat now for the 2013 St. Maarten Heineken Regatta!

The 33^rd  St. Maarten Heineken Regatta, taking place February 28 - March 3, 2013, is now open for registration. Go to www.heinekenregatta.com to have a look at our Notice of Race and to  enter your boat now for this fun filled four day event.

The St. Maarten Heineken Regatta is known as one of the "must do" events in the Caribbean. It is the perfect combination of topnotch sailing during the day and fabulous parties at night. That is why we call it 'Serious Fun'! The St. Maarten Heineken Regatta had close to 200 entries in 2012, which makes it the biggest Regatta in the Caribbean. With competitors from 32 different countries, run by an international Race Committee and covered in all sailing publications, this truly is a world renowned sailing event. 

The St. Maarten Heineken Regatta is a fantastic sailing event for every type of sailor; professional sailors and boat owners, as well as businesses or friends that want to charter a boat. No matter what your sailing experience is, you are certainly going to enjoy this one of a kind Regatta.

St. Maarten offers ideal sailing conditions with trade winds coming from the North East, an average temperature of 25C and all marine facilities available. Besides sailing, St. Maarten offers something for everyone: tax free shopping, gourmet dining, a golf course, water sports, white sandy beaches and beautiful hotels and villas to serve as your accommodation, so this event will be enjoyable for the participant's family and friends as well.

Don't forget that the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta is also known for its parties with international artists, so keep your eye out for news regarding the 2013 headliner. In previous years there were performers like the Black Eyed Peas, Wycleff Jean and Beres Hammond

The Regatta Organization is looking forward to start communicating with your crew to hear how we can assist you with your registration and preparations. So please contact us at regatta@heinekenregatta.com with all your questions. 

For full information on the 2013 St. Maarten Heineken Regatta, including entry information, the Notice of Race, photos, videos, party and band information, and much, much more, please visit www.heinekenregatta.com

Jurgen Schneider wins the Budget Marine Cup in the Aruba Rembrandt Regatta 2012

Sunfish sailor Jurgen Schneider from Curaçao has won the Budget Marine Cup during the fourth edition of the Aruba Rembrandt Regatta that was sailed in Aruba this weekend. 33 sailboats competed for this cup at Eagle Beach, while about 50 optimist sailors, wind surfers and kite surfers competed in their divisions as well. The sailing conditions were ideal for a close completion during the 50 races that were sailed on August 10, 11 and 12 at Eagle Beach

.

On Friday, August 10, the regatta started in gale force winds with the traditional Round Aruba race that was won by the Dash from Curaçao with captain Remco van Dortmondt who had also won the 2010 race. Only three yachts could finish the Round Aruba race: Dash, Screaming Eagle and Monsoon.

On Saturday and Sunday, yachts, sunfish, beach cat, optimists, wind surfers and kite surfers competed. For those who still had energy left, there was a 5k running competition organized by ARRUWAC and a 1k and 2k swimming competition. On Saturday the sailing conditions were ideal with a strong and steady wind, on Sunday the weather changed because of the remainders of tropical depression 7: rain, gusts but also period without wind were a guarantee for surprises in the competition.

In total over 160 participants from Aruba, Curaçao, Saint Martin and the US took part in the regatta, and hundreds of people followed the competition from the beach. The regatta Beach Tennis competition was a success with about 300 participants competing for their ITF ranking. Regatta organizer Eric Mijts was especially pleased to her that several tourists told that they come to Aruba especially for the Aruba Rembrandt Regatta, according to him a good sign as this illustrates the great value of the event for Aruban tourism.

In the yachting class Dash with captain Remco van Dortmondt won the races, the second place was for the Aruban yacht Eva Luna, captained by regatta organizer Eric Mijts, and the third place was for Screaming Eagle with captain Svan Schneider. Father and daughter Martin an Nicole van de Velden grabbed the first place in the Beach Cat class, followed by Francis van Baaren and Henk Hankart. Rob and Sil Grijpma came in third. Jurgen Schneider from Curaçao convincingly won the sunfish competition, the second place was for the well-known Aruban sailor Richard van der Wal and the third place was for Gareth Weber from Curaçao. Jurgen Schneider was so impressed by the regatta competition that he donated his afl. 1000 award, sponsored by Budget Marine, to the Aruban Sunfish Club.

For the second time the regatta also featured optimist completion, organized by sailing school SYWA. The first place in the optimist starter group was for Vivian Hankart, only eight year’s old, followed by Ivan Nora-Delgado and Alaxander van der Velde. The advanced optimist races were won by Matthijs de Kool, Jort Hartmans came in second and Nathan Winterdal was third.

Pechi Pechacek did a hattrick by winning the windsurfing competition for the third time in a row, beating the field with Maki Wiggins in second and Philip Kervel in third position. Ethan Westera won the pro kids wind surfing, Aron Etmon from Curaçao was second and Matthias Verploeg third. In the super kids wind surfing competition the first place was for Curaçao: Jean-Paul da Silva took the first place, Sam Keffener was second and Sjoerd Hoek third.

The organizers of the regatta look back at a successful fourth edition with a lot of international participants and good competition. About twenty volunteers have put all their energy in the success of this regatta and everybody looks forward to next year’s jubilee edition. The Regatta sponsors were Budget Marine, Café Rembrandt, Amstel Bright, ASD, Studio Advisory, Power Systems and ADCTRA took care of the essential financial and material support for the regatta. The results and pictures can be found at http://aruba-regatta.com. 

Press Source " Aruba Daily Newspaper"

8^th  Telbo Pro Kids Bonaire Freestyle & Slalom Championship

The 8^th Pro Kids Bonaire Freestyle and Slalom Championship was a fantastic way to celebrate the 25^th anniversary of the Aquaspeed Bonaire Windsurfers organization. The program was very extensive including windsurf free style and slalom competitions, stand-up paddle board races, dominos, bolas (Bocce ball), and beach soccer. The Telbo Big Splash competition where participants race across a course of trampolines, logs, jungle jims and more inflatable floating obstacles all while the fire department uses the big hoses to try to knock the participants down made for great entertainment.  This great anniversary celebration also included bands, bars, BBQ’s and plenty to do on the beach.

There were 39 participants from Boniare, 2 from Aruba, 15 from Curacao, 2 from Mexico, one from the USA and 2 from Holland.  This included 6 baby kids under 7 years old which are just to cute to watch, 24 freestyle, 32 slalom  and 25 for the Stand Up paddle boards. (many participated in more than one discipline)  amung the competitors where many of the top ranked sailors in the world.

The first day the winds were mild, yet there were still great proforamances on water.  The second day the winds were screaming so the show was exciting!  With the perfect protected and shallow waters of Lac Bay, on the windward side of the island, there is no more perfect place to learn or perfect your wind surfing skills.  The fantastic turn out and results once again atest to that fact.  If you are a windsurfer this must be on your list!

You can see some photos, videos and the full results from the event and follow us for next years events at http://www.prokidsfreestyle.com/Don’t forget to click on the trailor for “Children of the wind” a great documentary.  Children of the Windtells the story of young children from the island of Bonaire who journey from humble beginnings to international fame in the sport of windsurfing, transforming not only their island but the face of the sport worldwide.

As one of the sponsors, we had great coverage and as usual our contribution was small but more appreciated than many of the big money sponsors.  Assistance on placing press releases, getting small things like rope, and glue for their buoys was sufficient payment to fit in among the big dollar sponsors.

Marlow One Design Regatta 2012 

After six consecutive years of placing second, Frits Bus finally clinched the win at the 2012 Marlow Regatta!  Hosted by the St. Maarten Yacht Club, St. Maarten Teams took all three top positions at the best-attended event in years.

For two days, sixteen entries from six countries battled for the podium.  In a gruelling competition in which boats were rotated between each race, St. Maarten sailors rose to the top.  Roel ten Hoopen, long time crew for Bus, challenged his mentor and finished third overall.  Second place went to a team with only one season in the lagoon sailing scene:  Han de Bruin Kops, with brothers Peter and Paul Soons.

After a disappointing result on day one, Karl James, of Antigua, showed his true colours on day two, finishing 5^thoverall.  St. Barth’s sent three teams, with the combination of Mowgli Fox, Sophie Olivaud and Serge Maziero finishing in the top 10.  Team Curacao, with Michel Ruijter at the helm also placed in the top 10.  The Anguilla Youth Team made a valiant effort, placing 4^ththree times in 24 races.

Special mention goes to Team Nevis!  This was their first time entering an off-island competition, and we hope it won’t be their last.  Vice Commodore of the Nevis Yacht Club, Mark Theron, and SMYC Board member, Kathy Gifford, exchanged burgees at the prize-giving with a commitment to pursue future inter-club endeavours.

Thanks go to the regatta’s principal sponsor, Marlow Rope, represented in the Caribbean, for over 25 years, by Budget Marine.  Budget Marine made a huge contribution this year with volunteers, dinghies, and the committee boat.  AMCON ensured that the change boat didn’t drag down the lagoon, and Tropical Sail Loft’s Ernst Looser was Race Officer.

The Marlow Regatta brings to a close the SMYC 2011-12 lagoon racing season.  Watch the website, www.smyc.com, for details on next year’s busy racing schedule.

The 4th Edition of The Curacao Challenge -The Windsurf Slalom & Freestyle Event

Two thumbs up for Budget Marine Curacao as a first time sponsor at The 2012 Curacao Challenge, which was a great success.  The Caribbean windsurfing competitionwas held underincredible wind conditions in front of an enthusiastic group of spectators.

Budget Marine/ Gill, was declared Most Worthy Boat at the 8^th annual Captain Oliver’s Regatta.

This weekend the crew of Budget Marine Gill, skippered by Chris Marshall became the “Most Worthy Boat” of the regatta and took home the main prize of the regatta, as well as ensuring their name  goes down in perpetuity on The Captain Oliver’s Memorial Trophy.

The weather prophecies for the weekend held true and provided challenging conditions for the sailors, with high winds and choppy waters, which caused cancellation of the Beach Cat Class. The regatta fleet consisted of 22 boats in five different categories, with a course counterclockwise around the island on Saturday, and Sunday’s courses laid between Tintamarre and Pelican Rock for the cruising classes and for the racing classes an extended course rounding Rocher Rock.

The winner of the Racing Monohull Class was Budget Marine Gill (Chris Marshall), winning the first prize consisting of a 2 day hotel stay at Captain Oliver’s Resort for 2 people, second place went to L’Esperance (Bobby Velasquez) winning a hand held VHF radio and a watertight computer bag, sponsored by Budget Marine and the third prize went to Maelia (Raphael Magras) who won a 100$ gift certificate for Budget Marine. Team Coors Light experienced technical problems in Saturday’s race and had to leave the race to resolve the problem, but were ready again to join the race on Sunday. Quality Time (Petro Junker) won the Racing Multihull Class and won a 300$ gift certificate from Bobby’s Marina and a Sports watch sponsored by Goldfinger.

In second place was Tryst (Patrick Turner) who won a gift certificate from FKG Rigging and in third place Dauphin Telecom (Erick Clement) winning a $100 gift certificate from Budget Marine. The Cruising Monohull class was won by Antares (Colin Percy) who won a sportswatch from Goldfinger and a gift certificate from Budget Marine, followed in second place by Moon Dance (Garth Stein) winning a sailor watch from The Scuba Shop and third place Caribella (Gordon Robb) winning a $100 gift certificate from Budget Marine.

In the Cruising Multihull Class the winner was Green Flash (Luc Scheulen) receiving a watch from Goldfinger and Budget Marine gift certificate, second place went to Two Pigeons (Marc Sillem) winning a gift certificate from Sint Maarten Sails, and third place was taken by Katzenellenbogen (Robbie Ferron) winning a dinner for two at Captain Oliver’s Restaurant. The 1-Design Class was won by Team Lagoon Marina (Appie Stautenbeek) winning a PowerBoat Course from Maritime school, in second place was Island Turtle winning a gift certificate from Scuba Shop, while third place went to V Wel O Ven (Jose Villier) winning a Budget Marine gift certificate.  A bottle of Moet & Chandon from Caribbean Liquors and Tobacco was accompanied all first prices. The spirit of participation award went to John Wolff and Brigitte de Laitre of Turquise, while the crew onboard Little Poe from the SBO Maritime Program received Gill sponsored prizes for showing great enthusiasm for sailing and impressive attitude for the event.

On Saturday 6 young optimist sailors competed in The Oyster Lagoon, with the course set in the Lagoon inlet, displaying great skills for an enthusiastic audience. First place went to Leonardo Knol, and in second place Nathan Smith, followed by Luke Bacon in third place.

Colin Percy of Antares commented after a successful ended regatta: ”This year, once again Captain Oliver’s Regatta was the tops. High winds, great sailing and great sponsors made this an overall lovely opportunity to come back and sponsor a wonderful St. Martin event.” Also Bobby Velasquez commented : “It great to come back here every year for racing and the ambience, though I would like to see the classes reviewed. It has been fantastic as always and we will be back next year in full support.” Stuart Knaggs, race director, stated that he would like to see the 1-design Class grow for next year’s regatta and encouraged sailors who do not own their own boat to participate in this class for next year. “The optimist race on Saturday afternoon has been a successful addition to the regatta and we hope to repeat that again next year together with Sint Maarten Yacht Club, and look forward to a continued partnership with Coors Light in the 9^th Annual Captain Oliver’s Regatta 2013”, he adds.

Press source: Captain Oliver's

Photo by Didier Rouxel and Nataly Dannenburg 

Budget Marine's Team- Bernard Sillem and Stephan Looser won the Catamaran division of the tour of St. Barths

Forty-four sailors raced in four divisions in the ninth annual Tour of St. Barths, on 31st and 1st of May. The Regatta featured Kite surfers, Sailboards, Lasers, and Catamarans. The race program had to be adjusted due to high wind and big seas. However the around the island race was completed but no records were set.

Bernard Sillem and Stephen Looser, from Budget Marine St. Maarten won the Catamaran division of the Tour of St. Barths. Minutes away from the course record of 1-hour 24-minutes 10-seconds, the Budget Marine team amazingly finished the race in 1-hour 32-minutes 30 seconds. John Casey and Sophie Olivaud on Budget Privilège were second and third went to David Guiheneuc and Gérald Durand on FBM Automobiles.

Eight sailors competed in the Laser division. Benoit Meesemaecker came in first with a time of 2-hours 40 minutes 50 seconds. The course record is 2-hours 31-minutes. St. Maarten teenage sailor Rhône Findlay (16) came in first for the junior sailors and got second place overall. François De Corlieu took third place, whilst St. Maarten sailor Fritz Bus got fourth place. Jean Marc Peyronnet took first place in the Windsurf division from a field of nine sailors finishing the course in 1-hour 27-minutes 30-seconds. The record is 1-hour 14-minutes 37 seconds. Gilles  Reynal  won second place and Jean Christophe L’Hermite  got third place . Achille Sécher was the only Kite surfer to complete the race. He finished in 3-hours 4-minutes 40 seconds.

Press Source-" The Daily Herald"

The Budget Marine/ Gill Team wins in Class CSA at the International St. Thomas Rolex Regatta. 

The competition was unusually close in CSA 1, where Andrea Scarabelli’s (Cole Bay, St. Maarten) Melges 24 Budget Marine/GILL managed to maintain the lead it had established on day one and kept yesterday. It was by a mere half point in final regatta standings, however, that the team prevailed over Magnitude 400, a Farr 400 owned and skippered by Doug Baker (Long Beach, Calif.). The battle of the 40 footers, of which there were four in this class, had been billed as one to watch, but it quickly became clear that the Melges 24 came prepared to win.

The first day, Budget Marine/Gill posted two victories in the “town races” that featured plenty of downwind sailing. “This was good for us,” said the team’s tactician Christopher Marshall, “but the second day had lots of upwind sailing and that’s when it paid off for the bigger boats (Magnitude 400 won both races.). Then today was a mixed bag.”

The half-point difference in the final scores was a result of Budget Marine/GILL’s third-place finish in today’s first race with the exact same corrected time as a second Farr 400 from California, Blade, so each boat was given 3.5 points as an average for third and fourth places (per the racing rules). “In the first start we were over early, so we had to come back and lost at least 30 seconds,” said Scarabelli, who drove. “Everyone was in a bit of a bad mood after that, because if it had not been for that, we would have probably been in second (for that race). We knew we had to do our best in the next race and maybe it would be impossible to win—that we could lose the Rolex regatta because of a half a point.” The team posted a third in the second race to Magnitude 400’s fifth, and that proved to be the combination that would give Budget Marine/GILL the final say and the coveted Rolex watch as prize. 

Press Source- " Rolex Cup Regatta"

 

32nd St. Maarten Heineken

SimpsonBay, St. Maarten (March 4, 2012) – On the first day of the 32nd St. Maarten Heineken Regatta, the breeze was sharp and steady. On the second day of the annual Caribbean sailing festival, it blew harder still. But today, on the third and final day of competition, the wind gods truly unleashed their power. And the result was one of the more stirring, sensational days of racing in the grand and storied legacy of the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta.

To put it another way, if you didn’t like sailing today, on a racecourse lashed with staunch 25-knot winds and roiling, turquoise seas flecked with whitecaps, well, you’ll never like sailing.

Nearly 200 boats in 16 separate classes set sail today on two race circles off Marigot, on the French side of St. Maarten. On the A circle, race officers designated a pair of courses that included a long weather leg to the northern end of the island before a downwind stretch before the steady easterly tradewinds to the distinctive landmark off the island of Anguilla called Blowing Rock.

Coincidentally, the race committee on the B circle also designated a course that would take most of its fleet across the Anguilla Channel to, yes, Blowing Rock. As it happened, at midday today the entire fleet—the B boats reaching up from the south, and the A divisions running downwind under spinnaker from the east—rendezvoused at the low-lying outcropping known as Blowing Rock.

And, man, it was blowing at Blowing Rock.

The wild scene at the windswept rock, with spray flying and boats converging from divergent directions, was the signature moment of this latest edition of the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta. The top boats—including the Volvo 70, Gran Jotiti; the Class 40 entrant, Icarus; the Grand Soleil 46, Antilope; and the Melges 24, Budget Marine/Gill, all surfing to the mark before 4-6 foot seas and registering double-digit boat speeds, along with dozens of other competitors—handled the conditions with confident ease and skillful aplomb.

Not every crew could say the same, and there were countless close calls as competitors closed on Blowing Rock, jibed, and set a new course for the finish line off Simpson Bay. Through a happy combination of luck and skill, however, everyone made it around cleanly. And when the racers crossed the finish for the third and final race of the 2012 running, a new roster of St. Maarten Heineken Regatta champions was crowned.

In CSA 1, on the strength of their second straight victory in today’s racing, that honor belonged to skipper Ernesto Cortina, who assembled an all-star crew of Spanish America’s Cup and Volvo Ocean Race veterans aboard Gran Jotiti, a Farr-designed Volvo 70 formerly known as Telefonica Negro. John Wilson’s Reichel-Pugh 78-footer, Idea, took second place in class.

The Multihull 1 winner was Peter Aschenbrenner’s graceful 63-foot trimaran, Paradox, a birdlike craft that indeed sometimes appeared to be flying atop the waves, rather than sailing through them. While Paradox won all three races in her class, Katherine Mullins’ handsome Gunboat catamaran, Coco de Mer, added three second-places, to take the runner-up berth in Multihull 1.

Today’s winner in CSA 2 was Klaas van Duuren’s X-612, De Wilgen Vastgoed, but in the overall standings, it was too little, too late, to overcome Bill and Carolyn Titus’s magnificent Swan 100, Virago, which earned a second today—along with two firsts in the previous two contests—to record a comfortable win in the “Big Boat” division.

At the outset of the regatta it was clear that two Melges 24s—Andrea Scarabelli’s Budget Marine/Gill, and Coors Light, co-skippered by Frits Bus and Peter Houtzager—would be vying for the title in CSA 3 right up until the final day. Indeed, both boats placed first or second in class for the entire series. But on the strength of their win on Sunday, Budget Marine/Gill broke the tiebreaker between the two boats to win the highly competitive 10-boat class.

The 16-boat CSA 4 class was another stacked division, with many boats—including Willem Wester’s Antilope, Sergio Sagramoso’s Lazy Dog, Jaime Torres’s Smile and Wave, and James Dobbs’ Lost Horizon—all considered pre-regatta favorites. But when all was said and done, the best, most consistent effort belonged to the crew of Richard Wesslund’s J/120, El Ocaso, which closed out the regatta in style today by winning the final race to top the leaderboard.

CSA 5 was another back-and-forth affair, which came down to two boats: St. Maarten’s own Bobby Velasquez and his Beneteau 45F5, L’Esperance, and Jack Desmond’s Swan 48 CR, Affinity. Today’s windy weather, and a fair bit of local knowledge, favored L’Esperance, which wrapped up the division title today with a victory in the deciding race.

In CSA 6, Magras Raphael’s X-34, Maelia, proved to be a force to be reckoned with, winning two races, on Friday and today. However, Maelia’s fate was sealed on Saturday, when she lost a protest and was disqualified, earning maximum points for the day. That left the door open for Ian Hope-Ross’s Beneteau First 36.7, Kick ‘em Jenny, another St. Maarten boat that shines at the Heineken Regatta. Ross’s crew did not win a race, but their solid scores—a third, a second, and today’s third—earned them the CSA 6 victory.

In one of the closest battles in this year’s event, Matt Brooks’ classic beauty, Dorade—which won Race 1, and followed that with a third and today’s second—nipped today’s race winner, Valerio Bardi’s Swan 46 MK2, Milanto, by a single point to win CSA 7 in her St. Maarten Heineken Regatta debut.

In Multihull 2, today’s winner, Dave Nelson’s Catana 471, Pas de Deux, also earned the division’s overall title. In the Lottery Class, Maine boatbuilder Leonard Beckwith won Sunday’s race aboard yet another classic wood yawl, Saudade. But it was solid scores throughout the event that gave the class title to Jim Brooks aboard the Hunter 44DS, Harmony.

In the Bareboat classes, the winners were Frederick Walters’ Team Kincsem (Bareboat 1), Martijn Baartmans’ Harten Heer (Bareboat 2), Marieke Poulie’s all-women-crew Something Hot (Bareboat 3); Arnie Feyling’s Sangria (Bareboat 4); Tim Goebel’s and Neil Harvey’s Chillin’ The Most (Bareboat 5), and Jeoffrey Scheffer’s Team Argos (Bareboat 7).

With the 2012 St. Maarten Heineken Regatta in the books, race officer David Campbell-James, in his first year on the race committee, was asked his impressions. “I enjoyed it,” he said. “It was seriously fun.”

Serious. Fun. Indeed it was.

  

Multi Hull Regatta 2012  201

The multihull class of seventeen boats is by far the most successful multihull class in the Caribbean. There was a period when BVI was developing a good class, but now this class is strongest in Sint Maarten. Whilst multihull sailing clearly has a very deep history in Sint Maarten, its strength has never been much advertised.

“The fast machines will see regular winner Soma (from St John USVI) up against boats like Paradox, the 63 ft Irens catamaran and the Gunboat Coco de Mer entered by Katherine Mullins. Around 11 cruising catamarans will sail with entries from Ukraine and Russia who will compete with local jaw breakers Guimamalou and Katzenellenbogen.

Budget Marine Match Racing 2012

Caribbean Skipper Colin Rathbun Rolls To Victory In Budget Marine Match  

Simpson Bay, St. Maarten (February 28, 2012) – On a shifty, challenging racecourse that put a premium on tactics and boat handling, British Virgin Island skipper Colin Rathbun topped an international field of competitors in the protected waters of Simpson Bay today to win the fourth annual Budget Marine Match Racing Cup, the kick-off to the 32nd running of the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta, which begins later this week.

For his victorious efforts, Rathbun and his crew—Kevin Wrigley and Nick Cunha—took home the winner’s purse of $5,000. Second-place finisher David Storrs, a U.S. sailor based on Long Island Sound whom Rathbun topped by a score of 2-0 in the best-of-three finals, earned $2,000 for his efforts. In the petit final to round out the podium, Russian match racer Eugeny Nikiforov beat Holland’s Bouwe Bekking—one of the world’s top ocean racers and a veteran of multiple Volvo Ocean Races—in straight sets for the third-place prize of $1,000.

Rounding out the score sheet, after Bekking’s fourth-place result, were St. Maarten sailor Jan Willem (Frits) Bus, Guadeloupe’s Luc Duponteil, and young Swedish competitor Jonatan Amein, respectively.

“In match racing the press focuses on the skipper which is unfortunate,” said Rathbun, who spent his formative years sailing around the world with his family on a small ketch. “It really is the ultimate team sport. Nick Cunha is our bowman and Kevin Wrigley does the main and calls tactics and they really kept it together today. They put the boat in the right direction and told me where to point it.”

Rathbun and Storrs advanced to the finals in the International Sailing Federation Grade 5 match-racing series after dominating the competition in the seven-flight round-robin tournament, in which each skipper and their two-person crews faced off against one another aboard identical 20-foot Jeanneau Sunfast sloops. Squally morning conditions eventually gave way to clear skies and challenging breezes ranging from 10- to 20-knots, with radical shifts up to 30 degrees.

“It was a difficult day for the sailors but we kept to the schedule beautifully,” said Race Officer Paul Miller. “We got in with two hours left in Happy Hour. That was the goal.”

Before retiring to the bar, however, the competitors more than earned their frosty rewards. In fact, Storrs—sailing with recent U.S. college sailing stars Steph Roble (Old Dominion) and Maggie Shea (Connecticut College), Chicago racers in the midst of their own campaign for a women’s match-racing berth in this year’s Olympics—tore through the preliminary rounds with a 6-0 score. But Rathbun was hot on Storrs’s heels, registering a 5-1 tally with his only loss to the New England skipper, the reigning Long Island Sound match-racing champion.

But Rathbun got his first taste of revenge in the initial race of the championship round, a contest that was ultimately decided in the pre-start dial-up, when Storrs went head to wind alongside Rathun but could not find the momentum to spin away. As Storrs’s bow tapped Rathbun’s boat amidships as the American tried to bear off, he was flagged for the penalty infraction by the international jury and, though he’d come from behind after a foul in a round-robin contest, he was unable to do so a second time. Rathbun went on to take the start and cruised to a wire-to-wire victory.

“That (dial-up) was a tricky situation,” said Rathbun. “If we fell off one way, we would have run into David, and if we went the other we would’ve hit the pin. Nick, on the bow, did a great job keeping us into the wind. David lost his bow and got the penalty but it could have gone either way.”

The second race, however, was far more dramatic. After a game of cat-and-mouse in the tight pre-start maneuvers, the two skippers hit the starting line at speed but on opposite tacks, with Rathbun at the committee boat end of the line on port and Storrs at the pin end on starboard. As the breeze hovered around ten knots, Storrs maintained a seven-second lead at the top windward mark. But on the first downwind leg, Rathbun attacked aggressively, and narrowed the lead to a mere four seconds at the leeward buoy.

About two-thirds of the way up the second beat, Rathbun managed to forge ahead and held a 14-second lead at what proved to be the regatta’s last windward leg. Covering Storrs to the finish, Rathbun high-fived his teammates as he crossed the line to a large round of applause from the spectator fleet.

“Both teams were really well matched, and those guys (on Storrs’ boat) are really good,” said Rathbun. “The top of the course was very shifty. There was a certain amount of luck involved. But afterwards David said, ‘You looked awfully collected.’ That meant a lot to me.”

As for Storrs, the entire Budget Marine Match Racing Cup was an extremely positive experience. “Colin found a way to beat us, but this has really been fun,” he said. “I’ve never been to St. Maarten before and I was thrilled to get an invite. And we’ll be back as often as they ask.”

For much more photos go to our Facebook page and don't forget to Like! us. 

St. Maarten Budget Marine’s Annual Customer Party
A Rocking Success!

On Saturday 11th February, St. Maarten Budget Marine treated their customers to a Rock Star Party for their Annual Customer Appreciation night, in collaboration with the main Sponsors Yacht Chandlers (their partner in the Mega Yacht Program), Sea Hawk Premium Yacht Finishes, Fun Miles Reward Program and
Sub- Sponsors Fortress Anchors, The Marinco Electrical Group, Poly Planer Marine Stereo, Audio Equipment and Rocna Anchors by CMP Global.

The Theme for the Party was Budget Marine Rocks! Guests were encouraged to turn up dressed like rock stars and many spared no effort to do just that, the crew of the Mega Yacht Paraffin winning the prize for the Best Dressed Rock Group.

St. Maarten Budget Marine Staff created a fun ambiance when they transformed their Commercial Waterfront property into an atmosphere worthy of a big concert with special lighting and decor, great Food and Drinks served on the house, and the fantastic local Rock Band “Rock Star Social” who rocked the house until midnight.  Upon arrival guests were given a cool pair of Elvis Style Sunglasses to put them in the mood and a T-Shirts to have as a memento of the event.

With over 500 guests attending the Party, Budget Marine’s GM Christopher Marshall announced that they also seized the opportunity to launch their participation in the growing Fun Miles Program.
St. Maarten Fun Miles Account Manager Ms. Agnetha Huijting, and General Manager Mr. Harmen Donker presented Chris with the First Budget Marine Branded Fun Miles card and spoke about how pleased they were to have Budget Marine on board as all their loyal Fun Miles customers can instantly start earning and redeeming rewards across all the Budget Marine stores within the Dutch Caribbean. In addition Budget Marine continued their support of the St. Maarten Yacht Club’s Youth Sailing Program by using the donations made by the Sub-Sponsors we raised over US$1,000 for their cause.

For much more photos go to our Facebook page and don't forget to Like! us.

Peter Holmberg To Seek Third Title in
2012 Budget Marine Match Racing Cup:
Kick-off to the 32nd St. Maarten Heineken Regatta

Simpson Bay, St. Maarten (January 9, 2012) – Virgin Islands sailing legend Peter Holmberg—the only Caribbean sailor to win both an Olympic Medal and the America’s Cup—will return to one of his favorite sailing venues next month to compete in the fourth running of the Budget Marine Match Racing Cup. The annual event, scheduled this year for February 28, will serve as the official kick-off to the 32nd edition of the world-renowned St. Maarten Heineken Regatta, which begins on March 2.

Holmberg, who won the first two editions of the innovative Budget Marine Match Racing series, was denied a third trip to the winner’s circle last year when he was upset in the finals by New Zealand ace Gavin Brady. The memory remains fresh in his mind. “I will definitely go in to the Budget Marine event looking for a win,” he said. “Last year Gavin got the better of us in the finals, so I would like to erase that memory if I can.”

Eight teams of sailors will once again gather in St. Maarten to compete for the $8,000 purse: $5,000 for the winning team; $2,000 for the runner-up; and $1,000 for the third-place finishers. But Holmberg said that the prize money was only a small part of the attraction in competing for the Budget Marine Cup.

“The racing is held in the Simpson Bay Lagoon to promote spectating, so we are often racing in between moored boats and marinas,” he said. “This can make the racing quite tricky, but that’s all in the spirit of the event. St. Maarten itself is a very friendly island, which always makes for a fun time visiting.”

Holmberg will also be racing in the “main event” later that week—the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta—aboard the new Reichel-Pugh IRC 52, Highland Fling.

Thus far there are two confirmed entrants joining Holmberg for the Budget Marine Cup. One of them, Colin Rathbun of the British Virgin Islands, is a veteran of the regatta, and will be looking to better his third-place showing in last year’s contest.

“After falling in love with match racing, I’m all about bringing more of it to the Caribbean and the Budget Marine Match Racing Cup does just that,” he said. “It’s tight, close-water sailing with some of the best in the world, all flown in to sail the big boats in the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta. I can’t wait to do it again this year.”

The third confirmed entrant in the eight-boat fleet is American David Storrs, a 67-year-old American from the East Coast with extensive experience racing on Long Island Sound. David is currently ranked 20th among U.S. sailors in the International Sailing Federation list of top match racers.

Sailed in identical Jeanneau SunFast 20s with three-person teams, after an initial ten-flight round-robin series, the field is narrowed to a final four that compete for the prize money and bragging rights as one of the top match racers in the Caribbean. And opportunities are still available for teams looking to mix it up against living legend Peter Holmberg.

“Anyone who is an accomplished match racer, male or female, who would like to enjoy match and fleet racing, perhaps win a pile of cash, and enjoy some of the finest regatta parties in the Caribbean should email the regatta office (director@heinekenregatta.com) and submit their sailing CV for consideration,” said Regatta Director Heather Tackling. “The cost of participation is only $100 though a refundable deposit of $500 is required to confirm the slot.”

In other words, are you ready to challenge an Olympian and America’s Cup winner? Here’s your chance!

For full information on the 2012 St. Maarten Heineken Regatta, including entry information, the Notice of Race, photos, videos, party and band information, and much, much more, visit www.heinekenregatta.com.

Budget Marine 43rd Spice Island Billfish Tournament
GRAND SLAM GRENADA  25 - 29th January 2012

The anticipation is building in the lead up to the 43rd Spice Island Billfish Tournament - the 2nd to be title sponsored by Budget Marine. The 2011 event was widely regarded as one of our best ever with 52 boats, 247 anglers and 95 releases - of course everyone involved is working hard to raise the bar even higher in 2012. The signs are favourable that the normally great fishing may be even better next year - the last two tournaments on the Southern Caribbean Billfish Circuit (St Lucia and Martinique) were held in October 2011 and experienced better billfish action than they had the previous year - SIBT chairman Richard McIntyre is hopeful that this trend will continue in Grenada.

The SIBT committee has been working hard to ensure that the quality of organisation, prizes and entertainment will at least match and hopefully exceed that attained during the 2011 tournament. For example Budget Marine have sponsored a brand new 9 Foot Ultra Light AB Model dinghy with a 9.8 HP Tohatsu 2 Stroke Outboard engine - retail value - EC$14,000.00 (US$ 5243) for the first boat to register a Grand Slam in the 2012 tournament (a Grand Slam is the capture of a Blue Marlin, a White Marlin and a Sailfish in the same day on the same boat). The committee have already received online entries from St Vincent, St Lucia and even New York - some of which have never fished SIBT before and others not for a very long time - hence they are hopeful of a very good turnout.

Mr. McIntyre expressed his sincere gratitude to all sponsors and especially to Budget Marine and the other major sponsors: The Beacon Insurance Co. Ltd, Carib Beer, Grenada Board of Tourism, Camper & Nicholsons Port Louis Marina and the Government of Grenada; without whom the event could not continue.

He also thanked the Grenada Yacht Club, long time home of the tournament, for the continued use of their facilities and AllyDay Creative Projects - the events marketing representative since 2009.

SIBT remains a qualifying tournament in the IGFA Offshore championship (the winning team in Grenada is invited to fish a tournament of champions held in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico). It is also the first event in the Southern Caribbean Billfish Circuit (SCBC) which organises the tournaments of Grenada, Trinidad & Tobago (2), Barbados, St Lucia and Martinique into a championship with prizes for the overall winner based on their best 3 scores from the individual tournaments.

Boats can pre-register online at www.sibtgrenada.com - actual registration day is Wednesday 25th January at the Grenada Yacht Club.
Live tournament updates will be available on Facebook - Spice Island Billfish Tournament Grenada


Call Kira Francis on (473) 435 3842 or (473) 533 8454 for more information.

'DOUBLE HEADER IV' WINS TOP BOAT AT 2011 WAHOO WIND-UP SPONSORED BY BUDGET MARINE

Husband and wife reeled in the two largest wahoo at the Virgin Islands’ Game Fishing Club’s (VIGFC) annual Wahoo Wind-Up, sponsored by Budget Marine and held Sunday November 6. Chris Berry caught a 34.3-pound wahoo aboard the 36-foot Calypso, Double Header IV, to earn Top Angler, while his wife, Angela, reeled in a 33.0-pound wahoo to win the Second Largest Wahoo and Top Female Angler prizes.

“We caught all of our fish before Noon, then nothing,” says Chris Berry.

Calm seas and sunny skies made for great fishing weather, something that Angela Berry especially enjoyed. “This was my third fishing tournament,” she says. “I loved it! It was especially fun to catch a big wahoo.”

Double Header IV owner and captain, Jonathan Gatcliffe, reeled in the third largest wahoo, a 31.6-pounder.

A total of 8 wahoo collectively weighing 198.9-pounds also earned Double Header IV the Top Boat prize for the third year in a row.

“We were three couples going out for a fun day of fishing,” says Gatcliffe. “But of course we had our strategy too. We headed over to the C-FAD north of Christiansen to get a bunch of small fish to give us numbers, and then north trolling across the South Drop to go get the big ones.”

Cash prizes were awarded to the anglers who caught the 10 largest wahoo.

Marc Mosca aboard Double Header IV caught the 4th largest, a 29.9-pounder; Ernest Quetel fishing from Rambo caught the 5th largest, a 27.7-pounder; the 6th largest or 26.62-pounder was reeled in by Al Spouthworth on Islander; 7th largest, a 25.2-pounder, was caught by Derek Quetel on Rambo; Jane Townsend on Double Header IV caught the 8th largest weighing 24.7-pounds, the 9th largest weighed 24.5-pounds caught by Chris Berry on Double Header IV, and Kevin Haddox on Mixed Bag rounded out the top 10 with a 24.2-pounder.

A fleet of 12 boats with 46 anglers caught a total of 18 wahoo collectively weighing 384.3-pounds. Personal from the Department of Planning & Natural Resources Fish & Wildlife Department, headed by director Roy Pemberton, Jr., conducted the official weigh-in.

“We had a great tournament and we invited everyone to come out and fish with us in future tournaments,” says tournament director, Paul Meyer.

The Virgin Islands’ Game Fishing Club’s Wahoo Wind-Up was sponsored by Budget Marine.

For more information about the VIGFC, visit: www.vigfc.com

- Carol Bareuther, RD -

St. Maarten's 7th Soualiga Challenge again a success

Congratulations to all participants who took part in the 2011 Soualiga Challenge, racing from St. Barths to St Maarten on Sunday 16 October. 

The 25 km race is part of the 2011 Caribbean Surfski Tour, which also includes the Karekura Challenga on the 30th of October in Guadeloupe. 

Now in its seventh year, the Soualiga Challenge has gained the reputation of being a tough race. Being a crossing -- a point to point race -- there is of course no guarantee of the paddle being a downwind event. When there is a south-easterly wind blowing, the course is an exhilarating sleigh ride but, it can also be a long, hot slog in flat conditions or a battle for survival if the wind swings to the northeast. One thing is sure, each year it is a race to remember.

The Challenge usually attracts a competitive field of about 40 local, regional and international paddlers, but this year due to worldwide economic constraints the field was a little less occupied. Nonetheless, it was as competitive as ever. 

18 participants started off the line in St. Barths, of whom Guadeloupe’s Frank Fifils won, in an improved time of 1:54:18 hour. Local Senior Stuart Knaggs came in 3rd place overall, with an improved personal time of 2:12:45. St Maarten junior Jolyon Ferron (16) improved from placing ninth last year, but was unlucky to get weed & rope wrapped around his skeg during the last stretch into the finish while duelling David Baptiste from Guadeloupe, who finished as first Junior and 4th overall. Jolyon came in as 2nd junior, and 5th overall.

“I was faced with a decision to capsize and get the weed off or stay in the boat. I made the wrong decision and stayed on board,” lamented Jolyon. “Too bad, but overall I was faster this year and conditions were better.”

 

After the racing, all participants, supporters, volunteers and friends celebrated with a lunch at the Captain Oliver's restaurant, embracing the great atmosphere of the day. 

Budget Marine wishes all paddlers the best of luck in the upcoming event!

Find out more about the Caribbean Surfski Tour on www.caribbeansurfski.com.

St. Maarten Youth Sailor to Compete in Qatar

Aruba Rembrandt Regatta

In about a week the third edition of the Aruba Rembrandt Regatta will start. On Friday 12, Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 of August, dozens of sailing competitions will be sailed in the waters of Eagle Beach. Participants compete in different classes: the small ‘optimists’, windsurfers and kitesurfers, sunfish and beachcats but also large sailing yachts from Aruba and from abroad have registered.

The regatta will not only be a great competition for the sailors, on Eagle Beach there will also be a lot going on. As of this year, Aruba Beach Tennis organizes its ranking tournament at the regatta location at Eagle Beach. In the evenings there will be live performances, DJ’s, parties, beach tennis and kitesurf shows. Main sponsor Café Rembrandt will take care of the catering from 10 am.

 On Friday 12, the traditional ‘Around Aruba’ race will be sailed. In this race, that starts at 8 am, the yachts battle for the Mount Gay Challenge Cup that is awarded for the fastest yacht. The first yachts will finish around 1 pm, last year the last yacht finished at 9.30pm. In the evening the regatta will be opened and the awards for the Around Aruba Race will be given.

On Saturday 13, 16 sailing competitions and the beach tennis competition will take place between 9:30am and 5 pm. After the competition there will be the Polar Happy Hour, a live performance by Acoustic Soul and, weather permitting, kite surfing demonstrations. The Sunday program will be similar, spectacular races, great beach tennis, and of course the relaxed atmosphere of the regatta village. In the evening the regatta will be closed with the awards ceremony in which the Budget Marine Overall Cup will be awarded and the closing dinner for participants, sponsors and volunteers.

The success of the Aruba Rembrandt Regatta, the largest sailing event of Aruba, demonstrates that the Aruban sailing sport is growing. The initiative of SYWA, training the youngest in optimists, the regular competitions of the Sunfish Club, Beach Cats, windsurfers and kitesurfers culminate in this annual event. The Aruban private sector shows its appreciation of the event through their sponsoring. About 40 volunteers, amongst which Boatplatoon Carib of the Dutch Marines, make it all possible.

The racing courses of the sailing competition have been designed so that spectators can follow the thrill of the races from the shadow of the tents in the regatta village. Participants can register on Thursday August 11, between 4 pm and 7 pm, in Café Rembrandt. For the full program, visit the website http://aruba-regatta.com

Photos:
1.  Sponsors of the Aruba Regatta: Café Rembrandt, Budget Marine, Polar, Brickell Bay, Compra, Mount Gay, Fatum, Now, Power Systems
2. Tranquilo from Aruba with captain Anthony Haeghedoorn
3. Casse tete V from Curacao with captain Jos Schoonen

Melody Makes History at the
Budget Marine Challenge

WILLEMSTAD- Melody once again won the seventh annual Budget Marine Challenge. Her crew brought home the perpetual trophy for the second time. This is the first time ever that the same boat has won the trophy twice!

Having won the trophy in 2008, Melody came back to claim it again in 2011.  Second place in the Racing/Cruising Class went to Venus Callipyge, followed by Gipsy Girly in third.  In the Racing class, D-Trip took first place.  Chamba came second and Dash placed third.

Held in Spanish Water, the seventh annual Budget Marine Challenge was sailed in great weather characterized by strong winds.

The event distinguished itself with a couple of unusual twists: the first race started downwind on the Spanish Waters. This brings an extra challenge to avoid crossing the starting line early.

The second part of the event featured a “Fuikbaai” start. After lunch, the participating boats went on anchor. All crew were to remain below deck, and at the sound of the starting signal, each boat had to up-anchor and hoist the sails as fast as possible. This requires good teamwork, as any wrong maneuver can slow down the process.

All-in-all, everyone enjoyed this fun and exciting event.

Gavin Brady Defeats Peter Holmberg in Classic Final Race to Win 2011 Budget Marine Match Racing Cup

In come-from-behind fashion on the deciding race of the 2011 Budget Marine Match Racing Cup, New Zealand ace Gavin Brady defeated Virgin Island legend Peter Holmberg today to claim top honors—and the $5,000 prize for first place in the ISAF Grade 5 match-racing event—in the lead-up to this week’s St. Maarten Heineken Regatta. Brady’s 2-0 victory in the best of three finals during this third running of the Budget Marine Cup avenged his loss to Holmberg in 2010.

Holmberg, who earned $3,000 for his second-place effort, had won both previous editions of the Budget Marine Match Racing Cup. But Brady, and his all-star crew of Chris Larson and Marc Plaxton, clearly had his number today. In the earlier finals to determine third and fourth place, Colin Rathbun’s Team BVI dispatched veteran U.K. match racer Simon Shaw and his squad, also by a 2-nil score, to earn the $2,000 check for third.

Brady, Holmberg, Rathbun and Shaw advanced to the Final Four in the eight-team field after an earlier round-robin on Simpson Bay conducted in often fluky, shifty winds ranging from 6-8 knots to the mid-teens. Brady was undefeated in the initial ten-flight round-robin series, sailed in Jeanneau SunFast 20s. The other four teams in the series were skippered by Russian sailors Eugeny Nikiforov and Peter Kochnev, Brit Marc Fitzgerald and young, rising star Erik van Poelgeest of Holland, currently serving an internship here in St. Maarten.

However, the day belonged to Brady and his crew. “It was just one of those days, you can’t ask for more,” he said. “It was shifty, it was tricky, it was all about sailing. Our goal today was just to get faster and faster because if you get to the finals you want to be confident in your speed so you can focus on the wind shifts because the breeze dies down and it does get tricky.”

From the outset of today’s racing, it seemed inevitable that Holmberg and Brady would be the last men standing, which is precisely how it unfolded. “We raced Peter last year (in the finals) and were ahead in both races,” Brady said. “I don’t think we were quite as quick last year. I don’t know why (we were faster this year), because Peter’s quick.”

The first race of today’s finals was practically over before it started; Holmberg was flagged by the umpires for a pre-start infraction and was never able to recover.

“Pete likes to be very aggressive in the last thirty seconds before the start,” said Brady. “Our goal was to actually be behind him in the final approach to the line so we could control the tempo of the start. We did that with him in all of our starts today, we were always the boat coming from behind. You can control the whole atmosphere and it worked out really well. We pushed him into a position (where he fouled us) and our tactician, Marc Plaxton, did a great job calling the shifts and we stretched it out.”

Brady’s winning effort to close out the finals was an altogether different affair, with multiple penalties and a couple of lead changes. In fact, Brady’s team was slightly behind Holmberg at the last weather mark, but managed to overtake Holmberg and crew on the final run.

“It was the same thing as the first race in the finals,” said Brady. “We were the back boat and we dictated the tempo again but Pete did a slightly better job of identifying what our game plan was and he came out of that start slightly ahead. But Chris and Marc were patient, and again it came down to boat speed. There were a lot of penalties, there was a lot going on. But you wouldn’t see a better match race anywhere, in Malaysia at the World Championships…anywhere. That race was as good as it gets.”

“My hat goes off to our judges,” said Budget Marine’s Robbie Ferron. “You can’t have an event like this without a fantastic race committee and judges. They did a great job.”

And once it was over, Brady put the entire day in fine perspective. “The most important thing was being in the finals again with Peter,” he said. “Both of us have come through the America’s Cup and spent our lives doing this. Now we’re out of the Cup and we’re a couple of the older guys in the sport. But we’re still racing against each other and still having a beer at the end of the day. It was a good feeling to be back at it two years in a row. And tonight we’ll be going out and having a few rums and enjoying the rest of the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta.”

Lastly, one had to ask: Will Brady be back next year to defend his title?

“I enjoy this regatta very much,” he said. “Sometimes you fly to Europe with a team of six guys and you do six races. We came today and did nine races. And we’re in St. Maarten, which is beautiful. So I think that’s a no-brainer.”

For complete results of the Budget Marine Match Racing Cup, including photos and video, as well as information on the GILL Commodores Cup and the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta, visit www.heinekenregatta.com.

Budget Marine Match Racing 3rd Edition

February 21st 2011-Simpson Bay , St.Maarten-On Tuesday the1st of March the Budget Marine Match Racing Cup will take place where $10,000 inprize money can be won by somebody sailing their boat past just one other boat. Match racing is the sport where two boats race against each other like in the Americas Cup although that contest is now more dominated by technology than sailboat racing skills.
     
Here in Sint Maarten the sailors are often professional sailors off the grand prix boats who are in the Caribbean and who provide us with a chance to witness top level sailboat racing skills that would otherwise not be seen. Ironically the “master” is from the Caribbean and quite close to Sint Maarten; Peter Holmberg has taken the first two editions of this event and he is from St. Thomas US Virgin Islands.

     
The racing will be taking place on the water between Palapa Marina, Port de Plaisance and Isle de Sol. The races are very short and much of the race is in the starting procedure. This is excellent spectator material!  During the day you will be able to listen to live updates on local radio station island92, 91.9fm and the final races of the day will be covered live from the committee Boat. The best spectator experience is to be had from the “change boat” which will be in the middle of the course or from your own spectator boat.
      
Last year Gavin Brady almost managed to win the crown from Peter Holmberg. This year he has some statistical advantage which unfortunately says nothing on the water. Crew quality, luck and the wind gods can make that tiny bit of difference.
      
Other sailors this year include Colin Rathburn, Gavin Brady, Eugeniy Nikiforov, Petr Kochnev, Mark Fitzgerald, Eric van Poelgeest and the two time winner Peter Holmberg.

Dutch sailor Eric van Poelgeest who is on St Maarten doing an internship will compete hoping his experience in the very competitive J22 racing in Holland will put him in good stead.

For more information about the races, the Gill Commodores Cup or the St.Maarten Heineken Regatta visit www.heinekenregatta.com

Wahoo Challenge Fishing Tournament

The Wahoo Challenge fishing tournament has been successful, exciting and fun. The ultimate goal of the tournament organized by the Aruba Nautical Club was to host a fun and friendly event. Everyone involved feels like those goals were met. The sponsors and participants should be proud of this grand effort.

We would like to give special thanks to our sponsors: Budget Marine, Total Services, Pepsi, Delta Blue for their support as well as our wonderful working board and our volunteers.  It takes a great number of people to run a fishing tournament and it could not have been be possible without each and everyone’s help.  Another very important group that made this event possible and fun were our loyal participants and we thank you for always staying so positive and excited about this event.  We appreciate each one of you for your participation, dedication, help and support and we sincerely hope that you are able to look back upon this tournament with nice memories and continue to enjoy the friendships that you have made within our fishing community.

"Thank you for allowing me to work with each and every one of you in order to enhance our fishing community.  I will continue to cherish the many happy memories and the wonderful feeling that comes with knowing we were able to reach another successful fishing tournament. We all can be proud of what we have accomplished through this tournament"   
- Jaime A. Mata, Tournament Director

A few words from the Executive Board members:

“On behalf of the board, I would like to extend our sincere gratitude to all our sponsors, volunteers and participants” I have had the honour and privilege of being a part of such a special event.  The Wahoo Challenge has been special for our board, volunteers, our participants, our dedicated and loyal sponsors, but most of all the kids jumping and having fun in the Dino Jump.  I will continue to do my part on their behalf.  I am proud by what we have accomplished.  Thank you all for your support.  Let's keep fishing!" 
-  Henny Delnoy, treasurer

"I have looked forward to the Wahoo Challenge and the opportunity to spend good times with all of the sponsors, fishermen and many wonderful volunteers.  Lots of fun we had under the tent, as well as on the sea, but the best part is all that we did together.  My sincere thanks to you all.  I look forward seeing each of you around the docks."  
-  Ronnie van Trigt, secretary

Tournament Wrap up...  
Congratulations to Capt Chéché v/d Linde, angler Jani Thijsen and the rest of the crew of on the Talika for their big win.  Talika took first place over all with a total of 78 pounds of Wahoo. They received a $1000 gift certificate sponsored by Budget Marine.  

Amando Kelly from Loraine took home a cell phone sponsored by Setar for the biggest Wahoo of 39 pounds.
Jenny Garcia, aboard  of Sally Sue, got four (4) tickets for a half day trip at The Palm Island  with a 33 pound Wahoo.

Last but not least, Tito Lopez on the Micheline got four tickets for a sailing trip, with a 30 pound Wahoo.
The tournament was a great success.
 

Fifty Two Boats and Ninety Four Billfish Releases
at the 42nd Budget Marine
Spice Island Billfish Tournament

Grand Slam Grenada 24-27th January 2011

The first ever Title-Sponsored "Budget Marine--Spice Island Billfish Tournament” ended with a 'gala dinner' in the covered car park of premises adjacent to the Grenada Yacht Club on Thursday 27th January around 9.30pm. It concluded what has to be considered as 'one of our best ever Tournaments'

On Sunday the 'BM-SIBT' Committee got things underway by registering 52 Boats --one more than was registered for the 2010 Event which in itself was an excellent turnout. The Grenada Yacht Club docks were stretched to breaking point to accommodate them all. Two hundred and Forty Seven anglers registered coming from Trinidad & Tobago (32 boats – more than half the entry!), St Lucia (1 boat), Barbados (4), Martinique (1), Guadeloupe (1), United Kingdom (1 boat), Ireland, USA, Canada and Grenada (12 boats). One angler even travelled all the way from Malaysia to be here for this event! Following registration the skippers briefing was well attended and anglers enjoyed the cocktails and happy hour. Next day they were all raring to go after enjoying a sumptuous breakfast provided daily on the fishing days. At 6.45 all the boats paraded through the Carenage creating quite a spectacle on their way out. At 7.30 am the cannon was fired for the Bimini start and they all took off in different directions. Almost immediately there were reports of "Hooked - up and fighting”; Liquid Remedy called in the first release of a blue marlin at 9.00am. Last year’s champions, Papasan released a white and a blue to start their campaign. At the end of the day Majic Lady was ahead with two blue marlin and a sailfish, Gigi II was 2nd with the same catch, Liquid Remedy was 3rd and Luhr’d Away 4th, both with two blues each. In total 40 billfish were released on day 1.

 Day 2  Tuesday 25th saw better weather conditions and quite a bit of drama in the intense action, Iron Man were on fire - they added a blue to their 1st day sailfish release and then got a double hook up and released 2 more blues! They had less good fortune later in the day when they had a bait taken by a porpoise (very unusual) and lost a lot of time fighting that... Their great marlin achievement was then surpassed at lunch time when Gud Tyme had a quadruple hook up on blue marlin and managed to successfully release three of them!! In all 35 billfish were released on day 2 and Iron Man were leading followed by Spherefish who caught 2 sails and a blue, Luhr’d Away moved to 3rd and Gud Tyme were 4th. Anglers enjoyed a barbeque in the evening courtesy of “Anything on the Water” a Florida based yacht broker.

Wednesday 26th was the Lay day and a variety of 'Dishes' were prepared by the Tournament Committee and all the Anglers, Sponsors, guests and quite a large local contingent enjoyed good food.

Thursday 27th saw the weather change for the worse and it became a bit rough outside which slowed the fishing somewhat. Why Worry had a double hook up on blue marlin and released one for Ryan Agar but lost the other - later Ryan released another blue which would eventually place him as first angler with three blues for the tournament. Gud Tyme released 2 sails to take first overall and Temptation worked hard and managed to release two blues and a sail in the choppy conditions to jump into 2nd place ahead of Iron man, Spherefish and Luhr’d Away none of whom scored points on the final day.

In all 19 billfish were released on the last day to give an impressive overall tournament total of 94 releases - no other tournament in the region can match this level. The releases were broken down as 39 blue marlin 20 white marlin and 35 sailfish. A fact that will please conservationists is that no billfish were brought to the scale - possibly reflecting the increased minimum weight for blue marlin of 500 lb... In addition to the billfish releases 44 dolphin fish, 33 wahoo and 17 yellowfin tuna (to 165lb) were landed giving great sport.

As another new feature for 2011, interested parties were able to get instant updates of how the tournament was progressing and who was catching what via Facebook (page = Spice Island Billfish Tournament) - this resulted in an increase in Facebook fans from 93 before the event to over 200 at the end!
After a great tournament which saw everyone congratulating the committee both on the fishing and especially the smooth organisation, the final results were as follows:

First place boat Gud Tyme (Trinidad & Tobago) 2400 points, second: Temptation (Trinidad and Tobago) 2400 points, third: Iron Man (Trinidad & Tobago) 2100 points.

First place angler: Ryan Agar (Why Worry Trinidad & Tobago) 1500 points second: Francois Mouttet (Majic Lady Trinidad & Tobago)1300 points , third: Dominic Wallace (Blue Fever Trinidad and Tobago) 1100 points.

Top Release Boat – Spherefish (Grenada) 5 releases
Top Release Angler – Francois Mouttet – (Majic Lady Trinidad & Tobago) 3 releases
Top Female angler: Michelle Elliot (Orion Barbados) 300 points

Boat pool (weight of fish brought to the scale): First: Surf n Turf (Grenada) 365 lb, second: Cool Runnings (T&T) 324 lb, third: Wayward Wind (Grenada) 205 lb, fourth: Ocean Strike Her (Grenada) 177 lb.

Top Grenadian boat: Spherefish 2000 points and 4th overall

The BMSIBT committee would like to thank all the participating boats and anglers for supporting the event, and of course their title sponsor Budget Marine, major sponsors Camper & Nicholsons Port Louis Marina, Grenada Board of Tourism, and Carib Beer for making this competition possible.

XXIII Bonaire International Fishing Tournament
JANUARY 27-29, 2011

Following the successful twenty second International Fishing Tournament on Bonaire we look forward to the Twenty Third, which will take place in January 2011. This fantastic event will take place from the 27th to the 29th of January.

As last years International and local fishing tournaments worked so well, the set up for this year will be the same. The sign up and Captain’s meeting will take place Thursday the 27th of January and the fishing days for the international tournament will be Friday the 28th and Saturday the 29th.  This way the fisherman can make their way home peacefully on Sunday.  Last year we had over 40 participating boats in these events and lots of great fish hooked we look forward to even more this year!

As previously, the event will be centered around the Club Nautico Pier, across the street from “It rains fishes” restaurant, the base for the tournament.  The land activities taking place on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings include BBQ’s, Buffets, music with various Dj’s and bands from Bonaire and Curacao, there will also be promotional stands and awards, at our activity center on the property adjacent to the restaurant.

We look forward to many returning boats from Bonaire, Curacao, Aruba and Venezuela.  As we expand this event, we invite boats from other regions in the Caribbean as well.  The grand prize is a Toyota Hilux Pick-up Truck, awarded for breaking the Antillean record which is 803 lbs.  As always, there will be a variety of trophies and valuable prizes, but this year there will also be cash prizes between $2,000 and $5,000.

The international tournament is a catch and release tournament where there is a minimum of 2 fisherman and a maximum of 4 fisherman per boat. 

The organization has reserved many spaces at the Club Nautico pier for participants.  These spaces can be reserved by you on a first come first served basis.  You may also make reservations at other places, such as the Harbour Village marina, Plaza marina or the moorings in front of the town.

Inscription for this event is $750. For more information you can contact Robur de Vries 7861070/5161070 or email info@itrainsfishesbonaire.com or you can visit http://www.itrainsfishesbonaire.com/p/15/116/international-fishing-tournament
 

The First Annual
Budget Marine Spice Island Billfish Tournament

The Marlow One design Championship results

The Budget Marine Antigua team led by Karl James and crewed by Ashley and Ainslie Rhodes of English Harbour decisively defeated other Caribbean teams at the Caribbean Keel Boat Championships in Sint Maarten
held over the past week end. They ended with 10 points clear of the second place.

The team started the event with some poor scores including a last place but towards the end of the regatta they found their "groove" and scored a range of first places. The gusty and variable winds called for quick tactical decisions and James, who is known for his skill in this regard, responded brilliantly.  The racing was held in one design boats which were rotated for every race so that any variations in equipment were effectively eliminated.

Second place went to Frits Bus of Sint Maarten who took this same position for the fourth year in a row. Third was Bernard Sillem and Chris Marshall of the Gill Budget Marine team.

Eighteen races were sailed in the 20 foot Jeanneau boats that carried three crew. Marlow is a British Rope brand that is distributed in all our Budget Marine locations and has supplied high quality rope to the Caribbean market for the past 17 years.

The Marlow One Design Caribbean Keel Boat Championship, June 19th & 20th has once again attracted an excellent line up of Caribbean sailors which will continue to reinforce its position as the leading one design regatta for regional sailors.

With three weeks until the regatta and only 15 spots available 13 teams have so far confirmed that they will take part, confirmed are Michael Green from St.Lucia who won the very first event in 2002 but since then has not been able to regain his title. Out to stop Mr.Green from trying to regain the title will be last years winner Markku Harmala from St.Barths who has no intention of letting go of the title and Frits Bus from St.Maarten who has come so close for so many years getting second place in 2007, 2008 and 2009 he is now very hot to get the coveted win. Karl James of Antigua will also be there to do battle with his experienced crew of Ashley Rhodes and Shawn Malone, in spite of Karl's excellent placings in so many other regattas he has not yet won this event and will now take another swipe at it with the help of sponsor Budget Marine Antigua.

Also in the mix will be Benoit Meesemaecker from St.Barths who competed for the first time last year, Bernie Evan-Wong from Antigua who has yet to find his winning form in this regatta. Also coming from Antigua is Tanner Jones this will be his first time at this regatta but he has had a taste of these boats when he came and competed at a regatta in early February.

Sergey Boer will lead a team sponsored by Curacao Marine with a team of young Curacaoleneans who generally get very little opportunity to race against the sailors of the Eastern Caribbean, Curacao has enormous sailing talent and very regular one design racing in Sunfish and Ynglings. This team will also be competing in the CAC Games in Puerto Rico in J 24's at the end of July so they very much want to see how they match up to the rest of the Caribbean sailors.

The Championship is being hosted by the Sint Maarten Yacht Club and will be based at the clubs facilities on the Simpson Bay Lagoon. The event is held every year in June and is open to Caribbean based sailors from clubs who are members of the Caribbean Sailing Association. The boats being sailed are the Jeanneau SunFast 20, these one design boats owned by Lagoon Sailboat Rental are maintained in a perfect level of equal equipment.

The Championship is sponsored by Marlow Ropes, the globally recognized manufacturer of high end yachting rope based out of the UK, Marlow Ropes supply yachting cordage to yachts from small dinghies to maxi sailboats. Marlow Ropes are sold at all Budget Marine locations.

Budget Marine/Gill take BVI podium place

St. Maarten’s Budget Marine/Gill Race Team fought their way to a podium place after scoring six points in the last two races of the BVI Spring Regatta. 

In what has been described as picture perfect conditions the Budget Team, led by Budget Marine General Manager Christopher Marshall, pushed their Melges 24 to the limit to claim third place overall in Spinnaker Class C. Their podium place was made all the sweeter as, going into the final day, Budget Marine/Gill and St. Maarten’s Frits Bus and his Melges Team Coors Light were tying on points. 

Much is made of the rivalry between the two teams although, according to Marshall, they are all friends. In a prerace interview Marshall described how the two teams compare notes after the race. “If their boat is faster we try and work out why. We ask them what they do and how they trim. We’re both quite open about how we sail. It’s a nice rivalry although we are always looking out to see where he is,” Marshall said. 
Around 109 boats divided into 16 classes took part in the three day BVI Spring regatta which came to a close on Sunday.

Christopher Marshall, General Manager for Budget Marine noted that getting the boat to the Virgin Islands was an adventure in itself as the Melges 24 is an open boat. “Three crew will sail the boat over a hundred miles to get to the two regattas. We have a very experienced crew, made up of guys from both the Dutch and French sides of the island. So we are carrying the flag for St.Maarten and St.Martin,” Marshall said.

At the end of their Virgin Island’s campaign, the Budget Marine/Gill Race Team will finish the season with regattas in and around St.Maarten.
 

The second annual Budget Marine Match Racing proved to be an intense one day event that displayed outstanding sailing skills by eight teams from a wide range of countries. A full round robin of ten flights preceded a petit final and a final series.

In the end the most experienced three teams dominated and Peter Holmberg showed his broad range of skills as he showed that he could dominate on strategy, wind tactics, boat handling and persistence. He did get beaten in two races and particularly in one of the races of the final he looked for a moment like finalist Gavin Brady was going to take him out. He persisted and got lucky and finally took the series and the usd 5,000 prize money.

Gavin Brady a many time World Match Racing series competitor and two times finalist was close to the win but needed a little more luck to raise his prize money above the usd 3,000 he came away with. Peter Isler won the petit final with a best of three win over young San Diegan team helmed by Chris Nesbit who showed their substantial skills but came just slightly short of the prize money of usd 2,000.

BVI sailor Colin Rathburn showed he was one of the top in the Caribbean and played hard and intelligently but luck was not on his side in the tie breaking out of the round of ten flights. Marc Fitzgerald did not show the same form as last year and the young Polish team of Jakub Pawluk battled valiantly but came short.

The Budget Marine Match racing is a pre-event to the Commodores Cup and the Heineken Regatta and organized by the Sint Maarten Yacht Club every year on the Tuesday before the Heineken Regatta. It is a grade 5 event and participation is by invitation.

With all eight entries now confirmed, this year’s Budget Marine Match Racing Cup at the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta is set to establish itself firmly on the ladder as one of key match racing events in the Caribbean. As well as entries received from Peter Isler, Gavin Brady, and Peter Holmberg – three of the world’s most respected match racing skippers – there’s some other interesting names in melting pot who’ll be racing for cash prizes totalling $10,000 at this ISAF-sanctioned Grade 5 event, including Colin Rathbun, Eugeniy Nikiforov, Jakub Pawluk, Chris Nesbitt and Marc Fitzgerald.

The racing, to be held on Tuesday 2 March during the run-up to St. Maarten Heineken Regatta, will be based on a round-robin format and sailed in Lagoon Sailboat Rental’s fleet of six Jeanneau SunFast 20s, without spinnakers. The one-day format of this event, and the fact that there are just six boats for eight teams, means racing will be exceptionally action-packed with crews swapping boats after every flight to ensure racing is kept as fair as possible.

With a silver medal from the 1988 Games, and a win for Alinghi at the 32nd America’s Cup in 2007, listed among his exceptional sailing achievements, it wasn’t particularly surprising to see Peter Holmberg clean up at last year’s inaugural Budget Marine Match Racing Cup. The good news is, he enjoyed it so much; he’ll be back to defend his title this year.

 Holmberg who is no stranger to island life, having been brought up on the US Virgin Island, is always an avid supporter of Caribbean regattas and says as well as competing in the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series in New Zealand in January last year, he made sure he did most of the big events in the Caribbean. “The Heineken is the big opener to the Caribbean season so I'm looking forward to racing against all the hot boats coming this year.”

Sailing with team mates Ben Beer on jib, and Maurice Kurg on mainsheet, Holmberg says the match racing is a great lead-in to the Heineken Regatta, commenting: “Match racing puts a premium on all aspects of racing, from crew work, to speed, to rules, so it's a great way to get me and my team in racing shape just before the big regatta.”

Joining Holmberg at the event this year is the equally talented match racing pro Peter Isler. Isler who is two-time winner of the America’s Cup and has a total of five America’s Cup campaigns under his belt including the position of Oracle’s navigator in 2007 at the 32nd edition of the Cup, says he’s really looking forward to getting back on the helm as a match racing skipper. Isler was a really active and successful skipper on the pro match racing tour in the late 80s and early 90s and sees the Budget Marine match racing event as a chance to get back on the helm and have some fun. He commented: “It’s been so long since I steered any sort of regatta, my expectations are certainly tempered... but it will be a lot of fun… and that's why we are coming!” 

Isler will be racing with a couple of his teammates from Titan 15 – Artie Means from San Diego, and CT Olander from Newport, Rhode Island. He says when he saw publicity about the match race, he thought it would be a fun start to Heineken Regatta. “Because it’s only one day, I can afford the time – we start practice on Titan the day after the match race.”

With Gavin Brady, another highly talented match racing helmsman, and multiple America’s Cup campaigner, joining the line up at the Budget Marine Match Racing event, there’ll be no shortage of top ranked competition on Simpson Bay Lagoon in March. Brady enthusing about the event, said: “This will be the first match race event I will sail in 2010, and with good teams and great winds I am really looking forward to the racing.”

Colin Rathbun from the BVIs is another Caribbean race week regular and although he is known more on the fleet racing circuit sailing his IC24, he won the 2009 Pete Shiels Match Race, and notched up a creditable fourth place overall at the 2009 Carlos Aguilar Match Racing Regatta in St Thomas. ‘Our claim to fame at that event,” said Rathbun, “is to have beaten US match racing pro Dave Perry. We barely slid through in front of him, but it’s not every day an amateur sailor can say that.”

Russian sailor Eugeniy Nikiforov who’s currently ranked 45th the ISAF Match Racing placings, will be back for the second year running and hoping to improve on last year’s third overall, while Marc Fitzgerald from the British yacht Sojana hopes to at least match the second place he achieved last year. Jakub Pawluk from Poland will make his debut at this event, while Chris Nesbitt and his team of Brian Janney and Isao Toyama who’ve been match racing together for a year hope to turn a few heads as they pit themselves against the professionals. Nesbitt confessed he is very much looking forward to sailing against Peter Isler. "It’s not often that we get to sail against America’s Cup veterans and it should be a great learning experience for a new team like ours."

For full information on the Budget Marine Match Racing, the Gill Commodore’s Cup, and the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta, including entry lists, entry forms and news, visit www.heinekenregatta.com.

CLEARWATER CHALLENGE 3: The Journey Continues

After much anticipation Ryan De Jongh and his crew departed from Curacao on 2^nd of December to head off to St. Maarten. At their arrival in St. Maarten they visit Budget Marine one of their main sponsors for an interview and photos. On Saturday the 5th of December Ryan De Jongh and his crew left from St. Maarten at 06.00 am to their first destination which was St. Eustatius. Ryan and his crew were in an enthusiastic mood and eager to experience this new challenge. The weather was nice, the sea was calm and they arrived at their first destination around 11.00 pm without any hassle.

Early in the morning on 6 December Ryan and his crew went on to their next destination, St. Kitts. On route to St. Kitts the calm sea became pretty rough and they had to deal with 3 meter high waves. The extra effort to paddle through produced some blisters on Ryan’s hands. The crew was also touched by the surly seas; most of them became seasick but soon recovered. As soon as there was calm Ryan was able to board the Monsoon and received treatment for his hands and rested a few hours. 

On their way to Montserrat and Guadeloupe they moved through some heavy rains and high seas but they are doing well and right on schedule. While making their way towards Martinique they’re facing very strong currents and high winds. Once they’ve reached that point the most challenging part of this trip will be coming close to the end.  The island gaps are now shortening and the winds will be behind them as they near Grenada.

For more information visit www.natureislife.org, for the latest footage visit http://www.caribbean.tv/

The Budget Marine Challege Curacao - 15 June 2009

Every year, mid-June, the annual Budget Marine Challenge takes place. The race starts in Curacao’s ‘sheltered’ Spanish water with a downwind start. Then all boats head out to sea to complete the first leg. At Lunch time they all set course to Fuikbaai , where the Budget Marine crew is serving drinks and lunch. After lunch the second part of the race takes place with an “anchor start”. All boats are at anchor with the sails down. 5 Minutes before the start all crew should be below deck.

At the start signal, all crew race all over the boat to hoist the sails and lift the anchor. It’s a very spectacular start with lots of difficulties to overcome such as: Anchor is not holding when the crew is down below or the anchor is caught behind a coral block. It’s hilarious to see these crews fighting with rope, chain and finally the anchor while the other yachts are already sailing over the starting line! The finish is again in Spanish Water and in the evening prize giving at Jan Sofat Yacht Club.

Budget Marine National Dinghy Sailing Rankings

In Trinidad this dinghy racing season, recognizing that sailing skills can only improve with many hours of competitive practice, Budget Marine Trinidad is sponsoring the Budget Marine National Dinghy Sailing Rankings that take place regularly for Laser Standard, Laser Radial and Laser 4.7, 420 and Optimist Class sailors. By supplying bottled water for those long hot hours out on the sea and after race refreshments, medals, trophies and prizes at the end of each term, the company aims to encourage young people in their efforts to compete both nationally and internationally.

On 13 December 2008 Budget Marine staff members were present at the end of term rankings to give out trophies and prizes to 1st and 2nd places in each of the 6 Classes and everyone who participated got one of a selection of Budget Marine promotional items - a lip balm, a cap strap, a sunglass strap or a pen.

Two more national rankings end of term prize-giving events will take place on 4 April and 6 June 2009 respectively. With limited grants from official sources, Budget Marine’s support for dinghy sailing, including substantial contributions towards safety boats and equipment, team t-shirts and funding for competitors traveling to regattas outside Trinidad, has been all the more appreciated.

Budget Marine Race Day in Trinidad 17th May 2009 at TTSA

Budget Marine Trinidad will be sponsoring a Race Day as part of the Trinidad and Tobago Sailing Association 2008/9 Racing Season. As in the past, this Budget Marine Race Day is likely to be the highlight of the TTSA racing calendar, as chandlery staff go all out to make the event special, with support craft, skippers’ packs, plenty to eat and drink at the after race party and nautical prizes selected from Budget Marine’s great range of sailing gear.