Aruba International Regatta veteran(s) Sunbelt Realty Dash with captain Remco van Dortmondt won the coveted Budget Marine Cup in the sixth edition of this event. 28 teams competed for the award during the regatta weekend of August 16 and 17 at Surfside Beach and in the harbour of Oranjestad, Aruba. Despite the strong winds that required a lot from the teams, not only to win the races but also to keep safe, participants enjoyed the most successful edition of this regatta ever. The challenging sailing conditions in combination with great ambiance on shore and a beautiful self built boat exposition made sure that hundreds of sailing enthusiasts had, as one participant from Curacao called it : “A weekend I’ll never forget”.
124 participants registered and participated, ranging from the young optimist sailors to sunfish, beach cats, yachts, kitesurfers and windsurfers, but also micro boat competitors with some of the more senior participants in the regatta. The micro boat competition is new to the regatta, but not to the island of Aruba, it is a traditional competition in which the skippers trim their 30, 35 and 40 inch boats minutely for the races that provide color and tradition to the regatta. 14 microboat captains participated with several boats each, next to over 100 sailors in other classes, resulting in over 100 sails on the water.
The sailing conditions were quite rough with winds that started at around 20 knots on Saturday morning but built up to 28 knots with gusts up to 38 knots on Sunday afternoon. One yacht, the Chipi skippered by capt. Javier Galdo was dismasted, luckily nobody was harmed and thanks to the good seamanship of race director capt. Anthony Hagedoorn and capt. Galdo they were towed back to the regatta beach in no time. A series of mishaps took place in the beach cat class. Due to a navigation mishap in the lead boat, the full beach cat class overshot a buoy and hit shallows, 4 boats damaged their rudders, and another beach cat lost its rudder later in the races.
The upwind – downwind courses of only 6 miles designed by race director Anthony Hagedoorn ensured fast tactical racing where participants had to dodge currents and changing wave patterns, deal with wind shifts and variable wind speeds. Overall cup winner sv Sunbelt Realty Dash from Curacao with captain Remco van Dortmondt beat the competition in the racing class, Nawati with captain Werner Haan was second and the Aruban team of Ocean 505 with captain Maurice Hagedoorn finished third. In the open class sv Eva Luna, sailed by regatta founders Eric and Anita Mijts and their crew took first place and finished second overall. The strongest competition in open class came from Curacao: Venus Callipyge with captain Hans van der Straaten and Melody with captain Winfried Merkies came in second and third.
The first place in the beach cat class was for father and son Rob and Sil Grijpma, they outwitted the competition of Francis Grijpma (yep, the mother) and Henk Steenbergen and third place was for Patrick Melchiors and Frank van Kan. In the Sunfish class Richard van der Wal, the Aruban champion, won the class ahead of Robbie Ferron from St Maarten and Randy Brown. In the Optimist II class Alexander van der Velde finished ahead of Vivian Hankart and Tijn Hartmans, the Optimist I class was won by Jort Hartmans and Luna Upegui and Enric Braamskamp were second and third. The youngest Optimist sailing class was won by Feike Benega who beat Lucas van Hest and Sophie Dings.
Kitesurfing and windsurfing: winner in the ladies competition of kite surfing was Noortje Derksen, Agnes Verduijn came in second. In the men’s competition Pechi Pecachek prolonged his Aruba International Regatta title and beat Arnold Lieuw and Frank Miroslav. Windsurfing under 15 was won by Melvin van der Linde, Tom Croes won the main trophee in under 17, followed by Sam Kaffener and Malik Hoveling. The rising stars Ethan Westra and Nick van den Eerenbeemt battled in the under 20 competition, Ethan won and Willem ten Ham was took third place.
The organizing committee, consisting of Eric Mijts, Joost Horward and Anthony Hagedoorn got great feedback from participants. More and more sailors recognize the goal of the Aruba International Regatta: it’s all about sailing. Next year, same spot, same time, join the seventh Aruba International Regatta for even more action and fun on the Aruban waters. Visit www.aruba-regatta.com or facebook for more information on details and exact dates.
