Sunnucks and Farren up to third

The British team have risen through the ranks on day five of the Aruba Heineken Catamaran Regatta

William Sunnucks and Simon Farren (GBR) climbed into third position overall on the fifth day of the Aruba Heineken Catamaran Regatta. Two out of three scheduled races were sailed, as a heavy tropical rain shower came with poor visibility in the morning. Once it cleared up, the wind increased to 14-18 knots and the fleet enjoyed the stronger conditions. Dutchmen Booth and Nieuwenhuis took again two bullets and are already unbeatable for the overall victory. Mischa Heemskerk and Eduard Zanen (NED) scored an early start (OCS) and second. They remain in second position on the leader board with one more race to go.

“We do win, but we definitely have to work hard for it”, said Pim Nieuwenhuis after six bullets out of nine races. “We started badly in the last race and had to work ourselves through the fleet. There are enough options on the course, which is good. It is a percentage game. If you make less mistakes than the others, you will come first.” They do dominate the competition, but Nieuwenhuis still likes the battle: “There are some good teams and everytime there is another one fighting for the lead, like John Casey (USA) and Jorden Veenman (NED) in the second heat.” Casey and Veenman were in the lead for three laps and finished third, but back on the beach they found out about their OCS. Xander Pols and Frank de Waard (NED) miscounted the number of legs and carried on for a sixth one, which cost them their third podium position.

Eduard Zanen and Mischa Heemskerk commenced with an OCS and blew the next start. “We hit the pin-end and had to take a penalty. We were forced to continue on port-tack and were eleventh at the top mark. By gybing and tacking in the pressure, we were able to come back in the leading pack,” Zanen commented. The last year’s winners finished second. “The top is broader this time. There are at least six teams interfering in the battle for podium places,” Zanen adds.

“The lottery raised 1,400 euro and the auction about 1,500 euro”, said Vladimir Voute (NED) proudly. He and his colleague Meriam Winterink organized the fund-raising event within four weeks. “It is heartwarming how everybody offered prizes. Our employer Atos Origin will double this amount, so that will make it 5,975 euro. We are very happy with this result.” According to the initiators, most tickets were sold during happy hour. “Meanwhile, we showed a special video message of silver medalist Annemieke Bes.” The action was associated with an imaginary case, called ‘Passion for Kassy’. Kassy represents a boy in Sudan, who wants to play and practice sports with his friends. “The money goes to his village.”

Results:

1-NED – Booth and Nieuwenhuis, F18 Hobie Tiger, 8 points
2-NED – Zanen and Heemskerk, F18 Hobie Tiger, 16 points
3-GBR – Sunnucks and Farren, F18 Nacra Infusion 23 points
4-NED – Pols and De Waard, F18 Nacra Infusion, 24 points
5-GBR – Gummer and Bogaards, F18 Capricorn, 32 points

Small cats:

1-ARU – Van der Velden and Van der Velden, Dart 18, 9 points
2-AUT – Thomasch and Westera, Dart 18, 13 points
3-ARU – Grijpma and Hankart, Dart 18, 15 points

The Aruba Catamaran Regatta is sponsored by Heineken, Aruba (ATA), Martinair, Hapag Lloyd, Holiday Inn, Setar, AWA, Coca Cola, TNG, Does & Cadushi, Aruba Aloe, Palmtours, Aruba Watersports Center, Atlantis, Pelican Nest, Moomba Beach, Zwitserleven and Alfons de Letter.