Sailors from the Sint Maarten Yacht Club Sailing School Participated in the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta in multiple teams. We have asked three of them to share their individual experience.
In this first article Alex Speetjens, 17 years old, is sharing his Regatta experience, racing a Diam 24.
Photo by Laurens Morel, Salty Colours
“I normally sail and race laser and work as a sailing instructor at the Sint Maarten Yacht Club. Since the beginning of the Caribbean Sailing Season I have been sailing on the Diam Karibuni as well.
On the first day of the Regatta it was a bit of a struggle as we had a new crew on board that never sailed on the diams so we didn’t place very well, but we learned a lot and started working together as a team.
On the second day we started the first race doing a lot better as we started working together as a team and also started to do more callouts and we had our designated jobs to do. In the second race we snapped our furling line for the gennaker, so going into the last race we had to improvise and hoist the gennaker like a spinnaker and also douse it like a spinnaker which made us lose a lot of time but we still managed to not be last.
On the third day we started really picking up our game for the round the island as the wind was a lot better and we had our teamwork down. For the first leg of the race we came around Long Bay in second place and were leading the fleet upwind until we reached the island of Pinel. We raced on a reach but had some trouble with boat balance and were overtaken by Cry Baby. We stayed close to them, but couldn’t catch up.
On the last day the wind was super light so it was a pretty slow race down to Anguilla and back up but we were having a super close fight with Merlin for third place as they were only 2 points behind us, but we just managed to beat them.
It was another great experience racing in the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta!”
Photo by Laurens Morel, Salty Colours
About the Sint Maarten Yacht Club:
Established in 1980 with the goal to promote sailing on the island of St Maarten. It organizes multiple sailing events throughout the year, with the St Maarten Heineken Regatta as its crown jewel. A youth sailing program stimulates local youngsters to become part of the sailing community, teaching them life skills like team work, perseverance and confidence. Always looking to further develop sailing on St Maarten, the Club is active in promoting the sport, as well as the beautiful destination it is located at. For more information visit www.smyc.com