Wild and woolly sailing.

On Wednesday November 10th, Carolijn Brouwer (NED) and Sebbe Godefroid (BEL) won their first race at the Aruba Heineken Catamaran Regatta. They climbed to a third position overall. Team Larsen/Pols is still leading, but Hans Bouscholte and Ruurd van Wieren are chasing them.

Wednesday morning, the sky was cloudy and it rained. By the time the boats had to be rigged up, the sun came out and the blue ocean colours were back. The onshore wind was about twelve knots and there was a nice swell. Two races were scheduled.

Tough racing
Although people were thrilled by today’s beautiful sailing conditions with wind and waves, it was also tough racing for some competitors. As a result, the equipment suffered a great deal. John Beech and Andrew Brett (GBR) jumped through the main sail of their Spitfire. Rodolphe Gautier and Axel Meyer (SUI) hit the port hull of Gunnar Larsen and Xander Pols during a jibe. Both teams had damage, but only the Swiss had to go back. Larsen/Pols continued with extra liters of water. Pols: “It must have been thirty to forty liter, because we could hardly pull the boat on the beach.” Two local teams crashed into each other.

From Alinghi to Ventilo
In October, Yves Detrey from Switzerland won Act 3 with the Alinghi. This week, the pitt man crews for Michael Vaucher on the Ventilo F20. Detry: “We have time off until March, so this is my sailing holiday before skiing starts. Normally, I sail the Ventilo just for fun on the lake.” They are the best Swiss team in 20th position. Detrey: “We are always ahead of the other Swiss guys, so we are doing alright. We missed two races, due to damaged equipment and we have a bad rating.”

Top five after 7 races and one discard:
1. Nacra F18 / NED – Larsen / Pols, 11 points
2. Tornado / NED – Bouscholte / Van Wieren, 15 points
3. Tornado / NED – Brouwer / Godefroid, 24 points
4. Spitfire / GBR – Sproat / Burke, 28 points
5. Tornado / NED – Morret / Smissaert, 38 points

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