… or was it two step right and one left? Shifty conditions challenged fourteen teams from Trinidad to the BVI in the 2008 North Sails Caribbean Keelboat Championship. Sailed June 21 – 22 in the Lagoon in St. Maarten, local sailor and skipper of the second place team, Frits Bus said that he had never seen conditions as shifty as they were in the Lagoon on Saturday morning. By late afternoon, the wind direction had settled down and was back to normal by Sunday.

The wind direction was not the only inconsistency on Saturday morning. Each race coughed up a new winner and not one team had back to back first place finishes. By the end of the first day, and with four races left to sail, six teams shared a five point spread.

Sunday proved to be an entirely different day for all sailors with stronger and steadier winds. The final placing came down to the last race as most of the top teams were within four points of each other. In the end Mike Green, from St.Lucia, placed third, while local sailor Frits Bus walked away with a second. Thanks fo a first place finish in the last race, Trinidadian Paul Amon, placed first overall. After racing Paul said "I had a lot of fun; the partying was just as good as the sailing. We changed tactician since last year and that made a big improvement. We are now back sailing with our regular crew and that helped." Third place winner Mike Green commented "It is always nice sailing one design boats against the best in the Caribbean, I enjoyed being on the "EXPLORER", which is great for the spectators and for the teams changing boats. This event is always well organized and it shows."

Perhaps the most amazing performance of the event is credited to Eric Baray of Martinique. After an early lead, the jib halyard broke. Rather than drop out and ask for redress, the crew quickly re-hoisted the jib using the main topping lift. After dropping behind the group during the mishap, the Martinique team managed to climb back up to the front and finish in first place.

Andrew Dove, area manager for North Sails in the Caribbean was very pleased with the event. "North Sails has been involved with this event from the beginning. North Sails was born on the race course and will definitely continue to support this event in the future.” For more information about this event please contact Cary Byerley at 588-2474 or via e-mail at director@bigboatseries.com

Results:
1. Paul Amon, 29.25
2. Frits Bus, 34
3. Mike Green, 35
4. Andrea Scarabelli, 36
5. Emma Paull, 37
6. Eric Baray, 40
7. Simon Manley, 41
8. Bernard Silem, 42
9. Sergey Boer, 43
10. Shag Morton, 50
11. Markku Harmala, 50
12. Robbie Ferron, 53
13. Donald Stollmeyer, 58
14. Ian M Hope-Ross, 76

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