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Anguilla
According to organisers the third annual Anguilla “Mix-Up” Regatta held last weekend was a great success with increased participation over last year and three days of great wind and sailing conditions.
Friday’s Around the Island course saw all five classes start in a small squall that passed through as the yachts were heading to the line. The rain, along with some light wind conditions, passed as the yachts made their way up to the Shoal Bay area and the winds grew to about 20 knots for the remainder of this long course. Sint Maarten’s Robbie Ferron and Frits Bus competed fiercely in their Melges 24’s in the spinnaker class for all three days, with Bus’s Carib Buccaneer Bar taking first in class and fastest monohull in the around the island race with an elapsed time of 4:20:44. The fastest boat around Anguilla was Aquamania Carib Cat captained by Garth Steyn of Sint Maarten with an elapsed time of 4:06:47. Each fastest boat was given a magnum of Laurent Perrier Champagne for their success.
Saturday saw the yachts on a buoy course with conditions similar to Friday’s. The non-spinnaker class was hotly contested on all three days and saw third place being taken by Anguilla’s own classic schooner, Charm III captained by Richard West. Second went to Phillippe Herve in Vanille and the top spot went to Bobby Velasquez, who has competed in all three Anguilla “Mix-Up” Regattas, captaining L’Esperance.
Saturday was also the third annual “Battle of the Banks” where the two indigenous Anguillian banks, The National Bank of Anguilla (NBA) and The Caribbean Commercial Bank (CCB), face off in real America’s Cup racing boats provided by St. Maarten 12 Metre Challenge. NBA won the 2003 prize while CCB took it in 2004. After a close race, Stars & Stripes crossed the line a mere 11 seconds ahead of the defending champions, and NBA won it for the second time taking a 2-1 lead. The prize for the 12 Metre race was given by Colin Percy, owner of the St. Maarten 12 Metre Challenge and captain of Antares, who competed over the three days as well.
Saturday afternoon’s third race was a local Anguillian Boat Race for the perpetual “Sir Robert Velasquez Trophy,” sponsored by Bobby Velasquez of Bobby’s Marina in Sint Maarten. Miss Anguilla, captained by Ponto, took first place and will have the honor of holding the trophy for the 2005-2006 season. Satellite, with Emile Lloyd at the helm, came a close second.
Mix-Up racing, where local Anguillian Racing Boat crews and yacht crews sail on each other’s boats, has become a major reason that people come from far away to participate in the Anguilla Regatta, and Sunday’s mix-up racing will bring sailors back once again. Local racing boat crews met early on the beach to get spots on the visiting yachts for the Caribbean Cable Communications Mix-Up Yacht Race and many Anguillian sailors raced on the yachts in the morning before preparing their boats to take on their visiting crew in the afternoon. The Tropical Flower Mix-Up Local Boat Race began after a short delay, as the local boats took off on a triangular course. Satellite, with six visiting crew, touched the buoy first. She was followed by UFO, Miss Anguilla, Light & Peace, De Tree and Superstar.
Overall results saw Bobby Velasquez’s L’Esperance take the first prize in non-spinnaker, Robbie Ferron’s Sea Jet received top honours in the spinnaker class. Eddie Barreto in Moonshadow took the open class while Leo Ligthart in Langouste won the bareboat class. Garth Steyn’s Aquamania Carib Cat was the winner of the multihull class.
The racing was followed each day by great parties at various locations throughout Road Bay.
The Anguilla Sailing Association (ASA) has already scheduled instructors classes for their youth sailing school which will be operational this summer during the school break. The ASA’s mission is to bring sailing to all of Anguilla and to be the premiere sailing body on the island.
© Copyright 2001/2002 caribbeanracing.com
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