Caribbean Compass Yachting Magazine - April 2022

ST. MAARTEN HEINEKEN REGATTA 2022
“I CAME HERE
TO WIN!”
After competing in this event five times in the past, Pamala Baldwin declared at
the beginning of the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta 2022, “I came here to win!” And
win she did.
Fresh from being named Best Caribbean Boat in the 2022 RORC Caribbean 600 (the
third consecutive time for that honor), Baldwin’s Antigua-based J/122, Liquid, came
away from the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta 2022 with its third overall class win and,
for the first time, the top honor of Best Performance Overall for the entire fleet.
The venerable St. Maarten Heineken Regatta was back with a bang after last year’s
pandemic-induced cancellation. Celebrating 42 years of serious fun for sailors hailing
from more than 35 countries, the 2022 edition was held March 3rd through 6th. The
fleet saw 97 boats racing in eight CSA classes, one bareboat class, three multihull
classes and a relaxed “Island Time” class. In what was described as “big wind,” with up
to 35 knots on the last day, most classes got in four races while CSA 8 completed six.
Despite taking three third places in the four-race series, Baldwin’s Liquid,
skippered by Julian White, performed consistently over the four days, ending up in
first place overall in the super-competitive CSA Class 7 by only one point. White, who
turns 28 this month, has skippered Liquid for five years. Baldwin prides herself on
providing a steppingstone for young sailors to professional racing, saying, “I am
hellbent on promoting youth who wish to make a career in racing. This year we
added to our crew a 16-year-old who races Lasers in Antigua.” Baldwin also won the
St. Maarten Heineken Regatta 2022’s “Most Inspirational Yachtsman” trophy for
representing women in sailing.
On Day One in CSA 7, the top three boats were Steve Rigby’s British-flagged
J/122, El Ocaso, Liquid, and Sam Talbot’s US-flagged J/111, Spike.
White said, “We didn’t get the best start to the race — in fact, we weren’t really in
the race for a vast majority of it. So it shows that over a long race like that, you just
have to keep pushing and never give up. We came in right behind the other J/122,
which was good fun, and we had Spike there as well. I think we just got them by six
seconds corrected, which just goes to show how close the racing is.”
On Day Two, the majority of the fleet tackled the Round the Island Race. The
30-nautical-mile course around St. Maarten is challenging and tactical with shifty,
puffy winds on the long upwind leg across the top of the island. CSA 7 continued its
close competition, with the first seven places determined by less than a minute
between each place on corrected time. Spike and Liquid switched places, taking
second and third respectively. Meanwhile, the St. Maarten-based Beneteau First
47.7 Dauntless and El Ocaso did a swap, with Dauntless taking first place today and
6th place yesterday while El Ocaso did the opposite. Spike and Liquid ended the day
tied for first place overall in class.
ARTHUR DANIEL FOR RORC
Liquid took first place overall in the super-competitive CSA Class 7
and Best Performance Overall.
On Day Three, Spike’s spinnaker burst on the fast reaching leg, which caused
them to take fifth place and drop down to third place overall. Meanwhile, Liquid slid
into first place in class by virtue of another third place. Nipping Liquid on the podium
was El Ocaso in second.
On Day Four, CSA 7 saw the battle play out with wind over 30 knots at the start.
Taking a third 3rd place in a row enabled Liquid to take a class win in the St.
Maarten Heineken Regatta for a third time. Second and third places overall were tied
on total points, taken by Spike and Dauntless, with Spike losing the tie-breaker. El
Ocaso had a sixth place on the day and dropped to fourth overall in class.
Baldwin tells Compass, “Liquid SWEPT the Heineken — first in class, first overall
for the regatta, and I won most inspirational yachtswoman of the year. It was epic!”
She added, as this issue went to press, “Aside from the pandemic cancellations last
year, I believe we raced all the major Caribbean regattas for past five years.” Liquid
won the Caribbean Sailing Association’s Traveller’s Trophy in 2019 and 2020 for
effort in traveling to “away” regattas and excellence in Caribbean racing events.
“Next week we head to the BVI Spring Regatta, followed by Les Voiles de St. Barths,
and wrap up the season back home in Antigua for Sailing Week.”
May the winning continue!
For full results across the fleet, visit www.yachtscoring.com.
“You just have to
keep pushing and
never give up.”
TIM WRIGHT / WWW.PHOTOACTION.COM
LAURENS MOREL / WWW.SALTYCOLOURS.COM
APRIL 2022 CARIBBEAN COMPASS PAGE 15
Inset above: The Liquid crew accepting
the prize for Best Caribbean Boat at
the recent RORC Caribbean 600.
Baldwin (at center) prides herself
on providing a steppingstone
for young sailors to professional racing