Winners decided

Gummer and Power win the Aruba Heineken Catamaran Regatta with one race to spare

British teams dominated on the fourth day of the Aruba Heineken Catamaran Regatta. In the morning race, Stuart Gummer and Gillian Power (F18, GBR) beat Chris Sproat and Georgina Burke (Spitfire, GBR) by just three seconds after calculation. The Dutch Tornado sailors Eduard Zanen and Mischa Heemskerk won the Gaastra long distance race in the afternoon, followed by Gummer and Power and Allen and Farren. With one race left, Gummer and Power are unbeatable, so they can start to dismantle their F18 Capricorn.

“We had a good race with Mischa”, told Richard Allen in the morning. “We were up to three laps in the lead, when he took it over. We caught them back and we rounded the last gate together, but we both choose different marks and Mischa finished just ahead of us.” After calculation, Allen and Farren got a seventh position and Zanen and Heemskerk a sixth.

Stuart Gummer and Gillian Power, the current leaders, did not win the eighth race because of a good start. “We were too conservative," explains Power. "We rounded as fifth Formula 18 at the first windward mark. It was a terrible feeling to see all the Tornado’s and then the F18’s in front of us, but in every downwind leg we caught one up and we ended as first F18.” Chris Sproat and Georgina Burke came very close to victory with their Spitfire in the morning race. “We had a good start at the committee boat, so we had clear air. We zig zagged through the middle and reached the mark just behind Stuart. We increased our speed downwind, so we seemed to do very well. It was a good day for us so far.” commented Sproat

James Power and Marcus Lynch finished second F18, which put them in third position on handicap. Power sailed a Spitfire last year, but he enjoys his Hobie Tiger (F18) now: “It sails smoother and you can push it much harder, but we want to have some ‘Capri speed’ upwind,” he said. The British sailors had two bad results, due to a broken jib and an OCS. After eight races, the second result could be discarded and that is why they came back into third position overall.

After a lunch, the competitors sailed out for the traditional Gaastra long distance race. The conditions were good with a nice seabreeze of force three to four and lots of sunshine. Event’s organizer Edwin Lodder at the briefing said: “There is sometimes a surprise in the lagoon, as a submarine could come up all of a sudden. But don’t worry, we communicate with them and will warn you.” Fortunately, it did not appear on the surface of the Caribbean Sea. Gummer and Gillian were first at the upwind mark. “We put up the gennaker and ended up going to Venezuela. We went back and our spin block broke, so initially we couldn’t set the gennaker. The fleet caught up on us, but I fixed it and put the spi up again. On the downwind reach, Stuart said to me: “Don’t let it flap.” It was just great and we made up for our loss, as we were first F18 over the water.” explained Gillian.

Sacha Larsen and Albert van Houdt (NED) finished as second F18 and fourth boat after calculation. Van Houdt said “Finally we had a good race, we have had so much bad luck this week. We sailed the perfect course in the long distance, as we went inshore close to the islands. We entered the lagoon in sixth or seventh place. On the last sausage, we caught a few more boats by going to the left.” Eduard van Zanen and Mischa Heemskerk (NED) took the line honours, followed by Richard Allen and Simon Farren (Tornado, GBR), who got a third position overall. “We smoked. We were the fastest boat downwind,” commented Farren. Jurgen Kerstens and Paul Smissaert (F18, NED) had a good day as well. They climbed to the third position overall, after a fourth and fifth place today.

Results:

1. GBR – F18 – Gummer/Power, 8 points
2. NED – Tornado – Zanen/Heemskerk, 16 points
3. NED – F18 – Kerstens/Smissaert, 34 points
4. GBR – Tornado – Allen/Farren, 37 points
5. GBR – Spitfire – Sproat/Burke, 39 points

In addition to the head sponsors Heineken and Aruba Tourism Authority, the Aruba Heineken Catamaran Regatta is sponsored by Hapag Lloyd, TNG Swiss Watches, KLM, Holiday Inn, Does & Cadushi, Magic Marine, Coca Cola, Gaastra, AWA, Anthony Veder & Co, Aruba Watersports Center, Kodak, Palm Tours, Pelican Watersports, Seaworld Explorer and Aruba Bank.