Puerto Rico's Angel Ayala, who is also regatta director, sails his J/80, Sun Bum II.

Winds gusting to near 20 knots made a fitting finale at the Puerto Rico Heineken Regatta and Puerto Rico International Dinghy Regatta. The conditions allowed several boats to shore up and solidify class wins.

"We didn't sail the last race today. It wouldn't have affected our standing," says Mike Petievich, crew aboard the St. Croix based J/100, Bad Girl.

Bad Girl sailed to a string of first place finishes over the three days of racing, only conceding that position a few times to second place finisher, St. Maarten's Frits Bus on his Melges 24, Coors Light, and third place, Soca, a Henderson 30 skippered by Puerto Rico's Luis Juarbe.

In Spinnaker Racing B, St. Thomas' John Foster held on to his lead, sailing a final day of flawless bullets as he did the first day aboard his Kirby 25, The Good, The Bad & The Ugly.

However, fellow islander, Paul Davis, helming his J/27, Mag 7, wasn't far behind. "We've sailed together five years together as a team and we have Anson Mulder from the North Sail Loft in Ft. Lauderdale sailing with us."

Puerto Rico's Kike Gonzalez, aboard his J/80, Otrakosa, rounded out third place in the class.

The Performance Cruise class saw Puerto Rico's Carlos Camacho, on his J/105, Abracadabra, finish in first with nothing lower than a first place.

"Light winds are tough, but today we saw gusts to 18 knots and then ran us on windward-leeward courses, which is what we like," says Camacho.

St. Croix's Tony Sanpere, driving his J/36, Cayennita Grande, finished in second place. "It was a good regatta," says Sanpere.

Rounding out third in class were Puerto Rico's Jim and Heather Baus aboard their J/46, Miss Majik.

In Jib & Main, Puerto Rico's Edwin Cruz, on his Hunter Legend 43, Nemesis, handily won with all first place finishes, while St. Croix's Jeff Fangman's Thomas 35, El Presidente, ended second and fellow Crucian skipper, Stan Joines, on his Alberg 35, Windflower, took third.

Finally, this regatta saw two one-design classes compete.

In the IC-24 Class, the BVI's LIME, sailed by Colin Rathbun, ended with nothing lower than a first place finish. "We want to keep up our winning streak," said Rathbun, on the way out to the final day of competition, and he and his crew indeed did.

An outstanding performance by Puerto Rico's Sal Pa Fuera, sailed by Willie Olivo, landed the boat in second in this highly competitive fleet, while Puerto Rico's Artimana, driven by Rafael Martinez, rounded out third.

The J/24 class was one of the most competitive of the regatta. Puerto Rico's Fraito Lugo, who will compete for his island in this summer's Central American and Caribbean Games (CAC), won. Two boats from the Dominican Republic, which are also practicing for the CAC games, entered the regatta and one, Colibri, driven by Eduardo Ortiz, took second in class. The always-competitive Gilberto Rivera, from Puerto Rico, finished third aboard his Urayo.

The Puerto Rico International Dinghy Regatta ran concurrently with the big boat event. Puerto Rico's Eric Torres won the Advanced Optimist Class, Kyle Fink placed first in Optimist Green, Ramon Gonzalez led Laser Radial, Rogelio Fernandez won Laser 4.7 and Kike Figueroa won the Hobie 16 class.

Kite boarding was a new addition to this year's event. Alex Soto and Robinson Hilario, two professional freestyle riders from Cabarete, Dominican Republic, joined the near 30-competitor fleet from Puerto Rico. The kite boarders put on an exhibition in front of the host Palmas del Mar Yacht Club on the final day of competition that wet everyone's appetite to see more of this sport.

The Puerto Rico Heineken International Regatta and Puerto Rico International Dingy Regatta were held out of the beautiful new 162-slip marina at Palmas del Mar.

For complete results, visit result.vg

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