The keel boat racing fleet in Sint Maarten is in better shape than most years and would be well prepared for a big regatta season if there were to be one. Sunday 17th January saw 8 boats sailing very competitively in Simpson Bay with Melges 32 Kick em Jenny, the highest rater winning the day. It is not always easy for the highest rating boat to win on short courses but Kick ’em Jenny managed in most cases to break away from the pack at the start and took two wins in four races.
Second place went to FKG who covered all positions scoring 1,2,3, and 4. Third place went to Jan van den Eynde’s Wanna Be, who took three third places. Team Island Water World, who have been very strong this season would have been on the podium had it not been for a misunderstanding about the weather mark in the final race and ended up with a painful 7th place.
Sailing was in light to medium conditions with some unusual shifts from the South East that some were able to benefit from. Many of the finishes were very close with the final race seeing four boats finishing within 18 seconds on corrected time for instance.
This event was part of the Grant Thornton Season Series. The last race sailed in December will unfortunately not be scored due to technical challenges. La Course d’ Alliance will however be included in the scores but have not yet been inserted also for technical reasons. The results and times can be viewed by all on the web site of “Yacht Scoring”.
January will see a second keel boat race on Sunday 31st January and in between the Sint Maarten Yacht Club will host the second day of the Hoedemaker series for dinghies in the lagoon. Experienced sailors are invited to join as there is equipment available.
For more photos go to www.smyc.com/photo-albums
More information about the Grant Thornton Keelboat Series can be here
