Caribbean Compass Yachting Magazine June 2015

REGATTA NEWS
Myths abound on sailing from the Caribbean to South
America... Some say the ferocious currents and contrary
winds make it nigh impossible, while others insist the seas
are rife with pirates bent on pillage and plunder!
Well everyone likes a good myth, and while the reality is
not nearly as exciting, the annual Nereid’s Rally,
scheduled for September, might be just the thing to spice
up an otherwise dull maintenance season.
JOUANY CHRISTOPHE
Growth for Les Voiles de St. Barth
Les Voiles de St. Barth has been growing steadily since its inception in 2010 and
hosted 70 boats in the sixth edition, held April 14th through 18th. The fleet represented
ten overseas countries and nine Caribbean islands.
Boats competing in ten classes ranged from speedy multihulls such as Lloyd
Thornburg’s MOD70 trimaran Phaedo 3 to technologically sophisticated new-builds
such as George David’s Rambler 88 and Jim and Kristy Hinze-Clarke’s Comanche
(at 100 feet, one of the largest boats there) to the more traditional grand prix racers
in the 50- to 70-foot range and smaller racing/cruising boats. There was a onedesign
class for Melges 24s, the smallest boats competing.
High winds for the first two days, followed by a sunny lay day and a grey penultimate
race day settled to 15 to 20 knot winds for the final day’s racing. While teams
in six classes had clinched their overall victories on the next to last day (some did
not have to sail the last race but chose to do so anyway), four classes went down to
the wire.
JUNE 2015 CARIBBEAN COMPASS PAGE 12
And so, rather than hunker down for six months waiting
for the next sailing season, why not indulge in visiting
some of the least known anchorages in the Atlantic...
TEMPTED?
For more information go to:
www.marinaslm.com/rally
The event’s largest, fastest boats sailed in Maxi 1 class, where Rambler 88 won the
four-race series. All eyes had been on Rambler 88 and the larger Comanche during
the first two race days, since no one had yet seen the two boats sail against each
other. The powerful Comanche showed blazingly fast speed, taking line honors in
every race. Rambler 88, prevailed however, with corrected-time performances that
gave the team three first-place finishes in a row. By the last day, when Rambler 88
took second to Hap Fauth’s JV 72, Bella Mente, the focus had returned to who was
doing the best on ratings. Rambler 88 maintained its place at the top of the scoreboard,
but Bella Mente was able to replace the RP 63 Lucky as runner up. Bella
Mente, Lucky and Comanche had all shared the same point score after the last
race, but Bella Mente’s performance handed the tiebreaker to their team.
At the other end of the size range, the St. Martin Budget Marine GILL team topped
the leaderboard in Melges 24s. Having won their class in 2013 followed by a second
place in 2014, the team worked hard to get back into the winning spot for 2015.
Sailing in tough conditions, which covered more than 140 miles over the four days of
racing, the team ended up with two firsts and two seconds for a total of six points,
beating the second-place boat by two points. Skippered by Andrea Scarabelli with
regular crewmembers Christopher Marshall and Lomig Henry, the team this year also
included Daniel Segalowicz and Bernard Sillem, who stood in for Derek Little and
Rene Edwards who were unable to compete this year. This made the victory all the
more impressive, as everyone had to learn new positions and quickly get the teamwork
up to speed.
Lloyd Thornburg’s Phaedo 3 spent its regatta leaving the seven other Multihull class
entries in its wake, winning all four races. “It was a great event,” said Thornburg, who
on the Wednesday established the multihull record for a newly introduced 43-mile
course that will be repeated here each year. (Comanche and the Swan 90 Odin
established the records for Maxi 1 and Maxi 2 classes, respectively.) Of the last race,
Lloyd said, “Today the wind came back, which was nice, whereas yesterday was a
little bit light for us. For our boat, this was the most challenging course, so it was a lot
of fun.”
Not so much fun was Gunboat G4 Timbalero III’s dramatic capsize. No one was
injured, and the brand-new foiling catamaran was righted within two hours.
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