Close battle for victory

Penultimate racing day in Aruba for the Heineken Catamaran Regatta

After a lay day, the Aruba Heineken Catamaran Regatta 2007 continued with an eventful fourth day. Awesome racing, capsizes and collisions resulted in a very close battle for victory. Wouter Samama and Sam Frank (NED) came back with a bullet and third, which lifted them to the leading position after nine races. They are tied on points with Eduard Zanen and Mischa Heemskerk (NED), who had an OCS in the last race. Gunnar Larsen and Bastiaan Tentij (NED) dropped to the third place overall, despite their good recovery from capsizing at the beginning of the long distance race this morning. The spontaneous teamwork of several sailors on repairing a damaged hull showed the good atmosphere among the fleet. Due to these joined forces, James and Gillian Power could continue the regatta.

Long distance race 8

After organiser Edwin Lodder warned the sailors for ‘upcoming submarines’ and ‘low flying airplanes’, all 45 competing teams were ready for this year’s long distance race. They first had to sail a sausage, followed by a long reach to Hebo Beach where they headed further south to Barcadera Reef and Palm Island. After rounding the mark, they had to hoist the spinnaker for a tricky downwind run in the lagoon, followed by another extensive reach to Palm Beach and up and down a mark close to the light house. The wind was shifty and puffy, which made it hard sheeting for the crews. Gunnar Larsen and Bastiaan Tentij had a good start and were about third at the first mark, but they capsized on the run. “We set up for a gibe, but I stuck the tiller extension in Bastiaan’s trapeze hook," explained Larsen. "At that moment we got a gust and I could not bear away, so we were lost.” The boys broke four battens, but continued racing.

Meanwhile Wouter Samama and Sam Frank rounded the bottom mark in third position, just behind Pols and Veenstra. “We saw William Sunnucks going low with lots of pressure, so we decided to steer low as well. Other boats around us stayed higher towards the island. After a while, William tacked away and we carried on. We were leading at one stage, but we tacked a little bit too early, so Xander Pols was first to enter the lagoon,” Samama said. Both crews hoisted the spinnaker, but Samama and Frank managed to grab the lead. “We stayed as low as possible, in order to keep the pressure," continued Samama. "Mischa and Xander run out of wind under the lee of the island and we got the puff first and kept it for about 300 meters. That is where we pulled away from them and we extended our lead on the reach.” They finished as first F18 behind the Tornado of Danielle and David Pitmann (GBR). Pitmann said; “We had just enough margin with the rest of the group. On the reach back to the north, Danielle had to repair her trapeze, so I kept on asking her to please come out any time today.”

Just never give up

Larsen and Tentij took a huge risk to gain the most, by going over the reef on the run back to Hebo Beach. Larsen: “I definitely wanted to get to the front, so we pulled the dagger boards up and avoided the rocks.” By doing so, he overtook Stuart Gummer inside of the reef and finished fifth. James and Gillian Power got involved in a collision, which resulted in a big hole in the stern of their right hull. They started to dismantle the boat on the beach, because they thought it was over for this year. But Simon Farren, Mischa Heemskerk and Eduard Zanen joined forces and got out the repair box. Within an hour and a half, the job was done and Heemskerk changed the name into ‘Clapricorn’. The crowd applauded and the British were back in the race.

Setar Race 9

After the starting gun of race nine, the flag for ‘individual recall’ was hoisted. Zanen and Heemskerk were early and tacked just before Gummer and Bogaards, who were early as well. A collision could not be avoided and Zanen and Heemskerk broke their spinnaker pole. Gummer returned to the line, but rounded the pin end at the wrong side. That destroyed his good recovery. He worked his way through the fleet to a fourth position, but that became an OCS due to the wrong start. The front runners showed some close racing again. Pols and Veenstra leaded them in three laps. “Gunnar was chasing us," said Pols. "We were a bit quicker upwind and he was faster downwind, but he gained more than we did. He got us in the third downwind. But I am very satisfied with our performance, since we are the heaviest team and the wind had dropped to force three to four.”

Learning by doing

The Aruba Heineken Catamaran Regatta is not only a playground for cracks, but definitely also for less experienced sailors. A week of racing helps them improving their skills pretty quickly. Miriam Winterink, Vladimir Voute and Paul Stoetzer (all NED) teamed up on their Nacra Inter 18 and decided to enter the class for slower catamarans. “On Saturday we sailed off for the practise race and capsized within five minutes, so we chose the smaller class in order to learn faster," Voute commented. "We race without spinnaker, but it is great to watch the big boys.” On their lay day, Menno Vercouteren gave them a private lesson. Winterink said; “That was fantastic. We are practising now. Today, we finished second twice, so we are getting there.” Voute: “And we really enjoy ourselves.” The trio is in sixth position overall. Manfred Thomasch and Henk Hankart (AUT) still lead the small class of slower catamarans.

In the evening, competitors and their families will enjoy the food at the beach party of Holiday Inn. And tomorrow, there is one more race to decide who will be the 2007 winners.

Top five fast cats:

1-NED - Samama/Frank, F18 Hobie Tiger, 16 points
2-NED – Zanen/Heemskerk, F18 Nacra Infusion, 16 points
3-NED – Larsen/Tentij, F18 Nacra Infusion, 17 points
4-NED – Pols/Veenstra, F18 Nacra Infusion, 24 points
5-GBR – Gummer/Bogaards, F18 Capricorn, 28 points

Top three slow cats:

1-AUT – Thomasch/Hankart, Dart 18, 6 points
2-ARU – Grijpma/Ren, Sil & Mark, Prindle 19, 16 points
3-ARU – Valize/Hoek, 27 points

In addition to title sponsors Heineken and the Aruba Tourism Authority, the 17th Aruba Heineken Catamaran Regatta is also sponsored by Hapag Lloyd, TNG Swiss Watches, KLM, Holiday Inn, Does & Cadushi, Yamaha, Patria, Young Improvement, Magic Marine, Coca Cola, AWA, Anthony Veder & Co, Aruba Watersports Center, Colgate, Palm Tours, Pelican Watersports, Seaworld Explorer, Absolute Real Estate and Aruba Aloe.