Seventeen boats set sail on Saturday, February 15th, for the exciting opening day of the Hoedemaker Series, a key event in the Grant Thornton Dinghy Season Championship. Organized and hosted by the Sint Maarten Yacht Club, the regatta brought together sailors from both French Saint Martin and Dutch Sint Maarten.
Under the guidance of SMYC sailing instructor and race officer Elja van der Horst, the race committee successfully ran six exciting races on Saturday morning. The race committee saw different classes compete: Optimist, Optimist Green, ILCA and RS Zest.
In the Optimist Green fleet, two sailors from the Sint Maarten Yacht Club competed against each other. Benjamin Dekker Aardema and Robert Gumbs proved to be a great match. Benjamin is currently in the lead with four wins after six races, while Robert follows closely behind. The final winner will be decided on the second race day.
In the ILCA fleet competition, which featured four participants, Emilien Le Normand of Club de Voile de Fryers Bay took the top spot. Massimo Lapierre, representing the Sint Maarten Yacht Club, secured second place, while his clubmate Joris Vanden Eynde claimed a well-earned third.
The final fleet of the competition was the RS Zest class, featuring five boats, all representing the Sint Maarten Yacht Club. Currently leading the fleet are Luke Little and Ekamjot Singh in first place, followed by Hunter Radican and Nick Meekhof in second. Rounding out the top three are Isabelle and Charlotte Little, in third place.
Race officer Elja van der Horst reflected on the day’s events, saying, “It was a fantastic morning of racing; the weather was good with a steady wind, although there were some strong gusts.” She also mentioned her upcoming departure, adding, “This was my second-to-last Dinghy race as race officer. I’m really looking forward to my last one, which will also be the final race of the Grant Thornton Dinghy Season Championship.”
The second and final day of the series, and the overall Championship, is scheduled for Saturday morning, March 22nd, 2025. Registration is currently open. It remains to be seen whether the front runners can maintain their positions. And who will be the overall Grant Thornton Dinghy Season Champion?
The results and pictures from Hoedemaker Day 1 can be found on the Sint Maarten Yacht Club website.