2008
Heineken Regatta - Mar 6-9
|
Budget Marine Commodores Cup, putting the ‘Serious’ into ‘Serious Fun’
The St.Maarten Heineken Regatta 2007 served as the first platform for the additional somewhat prestigious race ‘the Budget Marine Commodores Cup’. Due to the excellent turnout and extreme enthusiasm of the racing vessels, Budget Marine has chosen to continue the sponsoring of the race that takes place the day before the Heineken Regatta, inviting all spinnaker carrying yachts to compete.
The intention of this race is to add a day of the more ‘serious’ side to the ‘serious fun’ regatta, known throughout the world.
The courses are set as windward - leeward courses, keeping the fleet close together and ensuring competitive racing and amazing views once the colorful spinnakers are raised.
The Budget Marine commodores Cup is also organized by the St.Maarten Yacht Club and a welcome addition to continuous improvements in quality to the St.Maarten sailing circuit.
Some of the most prestigious yachts in the world competed during the 2007 edition with the winning yacht of the Volvo Ocean Race, the ABN AMRO, taking first place overall.
The 2008 edition is expected to be a great spectacle, should you be in St.Maarten during the regatta days, make sure to take a peek onto the water on Thursday March 6, 2008, that is if you are not on the water already! |
Who
is the SMYC Commodore?
Originally from Curacao, SMYC Commodore Frank Hoedemaker
is a very dedicated club person who makes things happen.
He rolls up his sleeves and that's how you will probably
see him and his A-team during the regatta! Frank has
made contributions to the SMYC, and if it wasn't for
him we probably wouldn't have that great new club house!
Thanks Frank!
 |
 The
Excitement of Windward Leeward Courses
From a non-racing sailors point of view the idea of going
around sausage like courses seems a lot less desirable
than a sailing course that passes close to land masses
or goes into picturesque bays, interesting creeks and
esoteric estuaries. In practice the exact opposite is
true. Racing sailors far prefer the sausage like courses
(known as "windward leeward courses") because
they eliminate those factors in boat speed that are not
manageable, maximize the strategic interest, and focus
the excitement of their racing experience.
With these courses the playing field is leveled as much
as is possible. With the shorter courses and multiple
races the excitement and the effort is maximized however,
and after a day of windward leeward courses, crews are
likely to be thouroughly exhausted, especially if the
wind is up and they have been raising the spinnaker dousing
it and packing it on many occasions. They might raise
the spinannker ten times on a day like this and on many
other long distance races raise it just once over the
same period. Intensity, excitement, level playing field
and full effort... just the sort of thing that matches
Budget Marine’s style. |
Fort
Amsterdam in Divi
