Race format

Dick Johnson looks at what's going on a St Maarten Heineken Regatta, starting tomorrow

St Maarten’s Heineken Regatta three day format of racing has been essentially the same for many years. Friday, Saturday and Sunday make up the racing days, with the racing tailored to the boats taking part.

For 2006 there have been some changes to give the spinnaker classes, all seven of them, more time on the water by adding two back to back windward leeward races in the morning.

Racing kicks off on Friday morning sharp at 0900 local time on two start lines. The big boat start line is south of Cole Bay, to the east of Simpson Bay, which is the main anchorage for boats visiting the island. The racing multihulls are first away, followed by spinnaker classes one to five and non-spinnaker class one.

The other start line is closer to Simpson Bay where the smaller and slower boats get their starts. Here, the beach cats, spinnaker six and seven and non-spinnaker two. Then come the five bareboat classes, multihull two - the cruising multihulls - and finally the Open Class, more of them later.

Friday’s racing is predicated on a round the island trip. The biggest and fastest boats at the Cole Bay start have a short initial leg which is usually to windward, but the forecast this year looks as though the wind might be such as to make this a reaching start, then they go round the island in a clockwise manner, outside the island’s extremities including the white coral and shell island at the north eastern tip called Tintamarre. The finish is inside Great Bay of the island’s Dutch capital Phillipsburg.

On the other start line, the first ten classes also go round the island, but they sail a slightly shorter course which takes them inside Tintamarre. For the open class, the race is a short one, a couple of loops around buoys between Simpson Bay and Phillipsburg.

What is the Open Class? Open classes normally bring to mind pictures of the Volvo Open 70s, the Open 60s - not this time. St Maarten’s Open Class is for boat owners who don’t want to race too seriously, but still want to join in the fun and games. This year ten boats, mainly comfortable cruising boats, are entered and the Race Committee gives them an arbitrary handicap based on the information on the entry form - length, beam, draught, keel type etc. This handicap is used for the first race of the regatta, but for the second race the handicap is re-computed, incorporating changes made as a result of the race performance of each boat. Then for the third race yet another handicap is devised. Strategic sailing is often used to try to beat the system, but rarely does.

On Saturday morning, the bareboats and their friends - the multihulls one and two, the beach cats, the non spinnaker classes, the Exhibition class which comprises three ex-America’s Cup 12 Metres, and the open class - go on a jaunt from Simpson Bay to Marigot, the length of the course varying on the likely speed of the boat. The racing multihulls and the Bareboat Class one even have a windward leeward section thrown in.

Windward-leewards are the new addition for all the spinnaker classes for Saturday morning. Previously the boats raced to Marigot in the morning and then raced round the buoys in the Anguilla Channel in the afternoon.

The aim is to have two windward leeward races back to back, on a course set to the south of the island. Two quick races - number of rounds to be decided depending on the wind - should give the crews a good workout in the sunshine before a short break and then its off to Marigot after lunch.

On Sunday, the final races of the regatta take the boats from Marigot by various routes to a finish in Simpson Bay. Long races for the big and fast boats, short lazy ones for the small and slow.