Booth and Nieuwenhuis take the lead

Last year's winners, Gummer and Burke, slip to second position for the first time at the Aruba Cat Regatta

Shifty conditions on the third racing day of the Aruba Heineken Catamaran Regatta caused a competition in both fleets. especially the top ten big multihulls.

Olympic medallist Mitch Booth and Pim Nieuwenhuis, sailing an F18 Hobie Tiger, finally managed to take over the lead by one point. Last year's winner Gummer and Burke (GBR, F18 Capricorn) are now in second position. Although the small cats showed more resistance, Rijks and Liefhebber from the Netherlands again scored two bullets. Today's third race was intended for VIPs, who teamed up with participants of the Aruba Regatta.

Winning and losing Winning and losing characterized the morning race. Stuart Gummer and Hannah Burke won in the second beat by going furthest to the left side of the course. "We overtook the mark a little bit, but it paid. There was loads more breeze in that corner," explained Gummer. And also a shift, according to his crew Burke. They overtook four boats and finished second behind Richard Allen and Simon Farren on the Tornado, which was good enough for the victory on handicap.

John Moret and Paul Smissaert started off very well, but lost out during the race. They dropped from first to seventh position overall. "We destroyed it at the first bottom mark, as we had to alter our course for Mitch. We were approaching the downwind mark on starboard tack and Mitch came in on port tack. He was in the two boat length zone and asked for water. We had to bear away for him and nearly gibed, but there was a Dart underneath us, so we steered up again. That is when our tiller extension broke between our and Mitch's hull," said Moret.

James and Gillian Power had bad luck again and lost control over their Capricorn. They capsized in the last downwind. A fifteenth place was the result, but they say they have not given up on a podium finish.

There was a new boat up in front of the small catamarans. Ronald Paul and Marjolein Gase (NED) sneaked in with their Nacra 570. They lead the fleet for two laps after which the Dutch Dart 18, crewed by Mark Rijks and Brenda Liefhebber, overtook them. "It was fantastic. We chose a different tack in the third lap. That was not a good choice, because the Dart passed us," explained Paul. They finished second and got a fifth position on handicap.

Right from the start the F18 teams of Power and Power and Booth and Nieuwenhuis were smoking. Throughout the race, they built up a substantial lead and swapped first position several times. Finally, Mitch Booth and Pim Nieuwenhuis won the battle. "It was good competition. Especially when you win. It was shifty and we were never more than fifty meters apart from each other. They sailed very well and we were pushing each other hard," commented Booth with a smile.

Training was the biggest motivation for Booth and Nieuwenhuis to come to Aruba. It is their first regatta as a team and next month they will compete on the highest level in the Tornado Worlds in Argentina.

The Austrian Dart 18 team Thomascha and Hankart leaded the small cats for a change. They lost their position on the very last tack to the finish. "After the gate, we tacked to the right and Mark went straight. At was close on the finish line, but they beat us," said Thomasch.

Tomorrow will be a lay day. The sailors and their families will enjoy some Caribbean activities on Aruba.

Results:

Pos	Helm	Crew	Class	Nat	SCHRS	Total	Nett
1	Booth, Mitch	Nieuwenhuis, Pim	Hobie Tiger	NED	1.01	31	12
2	Gummer, Stuart	Burke, Hannah	Capricorn	GBR	1.01	17	13
3	Samama, Wouter	Buyse, Paul	Nacra infusion	NED	1.01	49	25
4	Moret, John	Smissaert, Paul	Capricorn	NED	1.01	38	31
5	Breur, Hans	Leeuwen, Jeroen van	Capricorn	NED	1.01	46	36
6	Sproat, Christopher	Burke, Georgina	Spitfire	GBR	1.04	48.5	37.5
7	Pols, Xander	Veenstra, Tjiddo	Nacra infusion	NED	1.01	52	40
8	Vink, Peter	Pols, Mark	Nacra infusion	NED	1.01	80	44
9	Power, James	Power, Gillian	Capricorn	GBR	1.01	81	45
10	Hemery, Quillaume	Usandizaga, Nicolas	Hobie Tiger	FRA	1.01	66	51
11	Beech, John	Farr, Alex	Capricorn	GBR	1.01	92.5	56.5
12	Allen, Richard	Farren, Simon	Tornado 2001	GBR	0.94	82	58
13	Smith, Gary	Tomlin/Whitmore	Spitfire	GBR	1.04	109	73
14	Diks, Marcel	Diks, Daniel	Tornado 2001	NED	0.94	95	78
15	Vercouteren, Menno	Straakenbroek, Jaap	Capricorn	NED	1.01	106	84
16	Zaanen, Eduard	Houwing, Willem	Tornado 2001	NED	0.94	114	88
17	Ambtman, Leo	Kroon, Maarten	Tornado 2001	NED	0.94	133	97
18	Manser, Alan	Clark, Alfie	Spitfire	GBR	1.04	130	107
19	Plokker, Wim	Voogt, Jantina	Dart Hawk	NED	1.01	141	116
20	Hall, David	Stephens, Martin	Tornado 2001	GBR	0.94	143	117
21	Devanneux, Charles	Daniel, Jacques	Nacra infusion	FRA	1.01	155	119
22	Noordzij, Ad	Alards, Marion	Capricorn	NED	1.01	157	121
23	Richardson, Peter	Millar, Jenny	Spitfire	GBR	1.04	158	122
24	Galen, Paul van	Meer, Lex van der	Tornado 2001	NED	0.94	151	123
25	Wiersema, Kees	Krijnen, Esther	Capricorn	NED	1.01	160	133
26	Cock, Axel de	Geirnaert, Luc	Hobie Tiger	BEL	1.01	163	134
27	Dalmeijer, Rob	Hoog, Jacco de	Tornado 2001	NED/AUA	0.94	188	152
28	Hoefnagels, Bart	Otto, Bart	Nacra infusion	NED	1.01	195	159
29	Zwamborn, Jan	Zwamborn, Lia	Tornado 2001	NED	0.94	207	171
30	Kok, Willem	Carlen, Jan	Nacra Inter F20	NED	0.95	213	177
31	Heijden, Willie v..d.	Antheunisse, Michiel	Nacra Inter F20	NED	0.95	216	180
32	Bakker, Friso	Kranenbroek, Marco	Hobie Fox F20	NED	0.95	219	183
33	Jenlis, Christopher de	Zeven, Harmen	Hobie Fox F20	FRA	0.95	238	202
34	French, Susannah	Rowe, Shane	Hobie Tiger	GBR	1.01	243	207
35	Coriat, Robert	Chanteret, Bertraud	Hobie Tiger	FRA	1.01	252	216