Caribbean Compass Yachting Magazine June 2016

— Continued from previous page
This earned a cowbell being rung by one of the
many young volunteers serving endless five-dollar
drinks. Vanessa, for example, worked all day at the
laundry by the airport, then rushed to work behind
the bar all night, just to be part of the merriment this
event offers.
Bruno Magras, the longtime President of the St.
Barth Collective, told me that the economic impact of
Les Voiles is hard to measure but it certainly extends
the season and it is good to see the shops, restaurants
and beaches full of people enjoying the island. “We like
to think of this event as special, since it epitomizes our
spirit here and our welcoming nature.”
When two grinders off the Maxi 72 Momo, both
America’s Cup veterans for New Zealand in the most
recent disappointing loss to USA in San Francisco,
were asked why they enjoy coming to this regatta in
particular, one said, “At most regattas we are not
housed close to the beach where we can spend some
time relaxing and swimming among the locals. We also
can’t imagine better views from the boat as we circle
islands and dip into gorgeous bays.” The other just
said, “The girls!”
The Awards
Awards were given to all daily race winners and the
final ceremony featured shiny silver plates, bottles of
Veuve Cliquot (more champagne of course!) to the top
three in each class and a week’s stay in a St. Barth
villa to each class winner. The ceremony ended with a
wonderful fireworks display from Fort Gustavia, which
protects the harbor.
For his team’s impressive performance over the
course of the regatta, George Sakellaris, owner of the
Maxi 72 Proteus, was presented with an RM 60-01
Regatta Voiles de Saint Barth watch from Principal
Partner Richard Mille. “This is a great win for us,” said
Sakellaris. “We had some great racing, and maybe we
wish we had stronger wind, but at the end of the day
it worked out okay, and we are delighted.”
The TP52 Vesper with Jim Schwarz at the helm
claimed its fourth victory in the CSA 0 class at Les
Voiles, while engaged in a spirited duel with the TP52
Spookie, with Steve Benjamin driving. Team tactician
Gavin Brady said the team feels very at home here:
“Some events are not as much fun on land, but St.
Barth is special on the water and off the water. It
hasn’t been a windy Les Voiles, but it has been a lot
of really hard technical light-wind sailing, which
is challenging.”
Sergio Sagramoso, skipper of Class CSA 1 winner
Lazy Dog, a Melges 32, joked, “I can’t think of a better
place to have no wind; I was kind of hoping there’d be
no racing on the last day!”
Tom, crew aboard the 1979-built trimaran Triple
Jack, was incredulous that they won their class over
such powerhouse performers with lifting foils as
Phaedo3 and Fujin, with three bullets: “All I know is
that we won, and I am so happy; I can’t wait to drink
the magnum of Veuve Clicquot champagne and return
to enjoy our one week stay at a WIMCO villa with the
whole crew. We will find a way to fit everyone in the
villa for sure!”
One organizer, Xavier Marchal, Sea Logistics Director,
when complimented on what a great “job” they had
done despite challenging wind conditions responded:
“We don’t look at this as work. We enjoy bringing pleasure
to all participants and attendees so that a good
memory of St. Barth will remain and that they will
return again!” After speaking with many sunburned
and impressed crews and owners, they have NO reason
to doubt that!
Next year’s dates are April 10th through 15th, 2017.
Visit www.lesvoilesdesaintbarth.com for full results
and more information.
Racing with Nina
When the wind is light, boats often discard extra
crew to create less drag, thus finding a ride in this
regatta was not easy. Nonetheless, I stumbled upon
the very pretty Bordeaux 60, Nina, with only four crew
and the owner, moored stern to between one all-female
boat — The Sirens — and another with six female crew
out of eight. Nina’s skipper, 24-year-old Miles, from
England, and his crew and stew Kaitlin, from Kansas,
had just flown in the day before to manage the boat
and deliver her to St. Thomas for the container-ship
ride back to England. From the overstocked almostall-female
crew next door, Frasier, 25, from Toronto,
joined us on the foredeck, and Jacks from France, a
friend of Milan — the Serbian owner who is based in
London — rounded out the team, all donning bright
red Nina shirts.
Once aboard, I was handed a crew shirt and learned
that Nina displaced a heavy 41 tons and was less than
two years old. Built in France, she is a racer/cruiser;
though obviously not designed for high-performance
racing, she sported clean lines with an uncluttered
flush deck and an open-stern cockpit. Milan did not
actively participate in the crew work; I asked why he
didn’t drive any of the legs and his response was, “I
have never driven anything in my life, including a car!”
So I was awarded the mainsheet duties, which thankfully
utilized electric winches and no traveler.
Coming from a catamaran lifestyle, it took me a few
tacks before I was comfortable standing at an angle
and climbing over or around the cockpit table on occasion.
In the variable winds, Miles emphasized safety so
we attempted to begin battle on Day One with the
staysail instead of the jib. Lack of sail area combined
with dirty air from our fleet meant that we arrived at
the line last; then we headed for the southeast shore
in search of that inevitable Caribbean lift that didn’t
really materialize.
Nina did not go to weather very well, and we soon fell
farther behind our racing-oriented competition. Around
the first weather mark, we opened the asymmetrical
spinnaker and tried to use our waterline speed to
catch the fleet. Boat speed still escaped us and soon
the Maxi boats were barreling down on us, flying huge
chutes with the sounds of sheets being eased and
grinders grunting echoing against the sails. I had a
great vantage point for photos, though the glare on the
phone made viewing difficult. Somehow, the viewfinder
had switched to “selfie” mode, so, unfortunately, all I
have now are 14 great shots of my nose!
‘Finding a ride in this regatta was not easy.
Nonetheless, I stumbled upon the very pretty
Bordeaux 60, Nina, with only four crew
and the owner’
It was then I noticed that Che Guevara was graphically
represented on our chute with a large black
imprint on the dark red nylon. Milan explained that
when he was younger, he admired the man, only to
learn later of his brutal tactics at the side of Fidel
Castro. Nonetheless, he paid homage to his onetime
inspiration.
After a few tacks and sets, the crew settled down and
our errors decreased while our speed increased. But
we had dug ourselves too big a hole and without the
pointing ability of the other boats, we had little chance
of catching up. Out came the sandwiches and we
enjoyed the great vistas of islands on the north and
west sides of St. Barth. The course covered 27 miles,
with our elapsed time just over 4 hours and 47 minutes,
finishing eighth in the ten-boat Class CSA 2,
while at least earning the satisfaction of beating our
sister ship Zampano in the process.
Nina, named after Milan’s wife and daughter, settled
back into her berth among the fleet and we rinsed and
chamoised her into shiny existence. I thanked the
crew and Milan for the ride and when Milan shook my
hand, he had only one thing to say: “Give me back the
shirt, please.” Oh well, at least I got to keep the STB7
cap that was included in the press kit!
JUNE 2016 CARIBBEAN COMPASS PAGE 21