SINT MAARTEN (SIMPSON BAY) - On Sunday, March 25th, thirteen teams split into two fleets to race in the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta Warm Up. In the first fleet, the Diam Fleet, nine teams battled it out, with five teams from Texas and four local ones.
The Texas teams had just wrapped up two days of training led by Pierre Altier and Sam Peeks. The second fleet, CSA 1, included three local boats and one from Germany, all racing in the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta as well.
The weather was very good for sailing, around 14 knots of southwest wind. “It was a really nice day for a keelboat race. I enjoyed being the race officer, and I think this was a nice conclusion to my era of being a race officer at Sint Maarten,” said Wessel Tangenberg, race officer, and sailing instructor at the Sint Maarten Yacht Club.
The race officer started and finished three races in the Diam Fleet, Team Wet Farts ended in third place, Team Salva Vida came in second, and Team Merlin ended in first place.
“It was very enjoyable to see new Diam teams during this race. The new teams learned a lot during the training days; you could see that very well,” said Wessel Tangenberg.
The CSA 1 Fleet raced 4 races. Team IWW took the win followed by Team Budget Marine and Solstice in third place.
Wishing all the boats joining the official Saint Maarten Heineken Regatta the best of luck this week!
The St. Maarten Heineken Regatta Warm Up is the third event of the in total five of the Sint Maarten Yacht Club's Grant Thornton Season Championship. The next keelboat race will be held on May 5th.
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