Match race St Maarten

Peter Holmberg to headline at a new feature of this year's Heineken regatta in March

In the latest in a long list of innovations that have made the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta one of the sailing world’s best-known and favorite events, for the first time ever in the history of Caribbean regattas, this year’s edition will introduce a dedicated Match Racing series in the lead-up to the main event. The inaugural Budget Marine Match Racing regatta will take place on 3 March.

“There’s a tremendous amount of interest among sailors in match racing,” said Budget Marine founder, Robbie Ferron. “This new event gives us the opportunity to promote new and exciting forms of racing to the Caribbean.”

Fittingly, the top seed among an international fleet of five teams competing for the Budget Marine Match Racing title is one of the Caribbean’s most accomplished and successful native sons: USVI skipper Peter Holmberg. Among his many triumphs - including a Silver Medal in the 1988 Olympic games and an America’s Cup victory with Alinghi in 2007 - Holmberg also has held the Number 1 spot in the International Sailing Federation’s World Match Racing rankings. In that capacity, he’s won some of the world’s top match-racing regattas, including the Bermuda Gold Cup and the Congressional Cup.

“Peter Holmberg needs no introduction to the sailors around the world who’ve followed his amazing career,” said Ferron. “It’s going to be fantastic to watch him against a very interesting fleet of sailors here in St. Maarten.”

The Budget Marine Match Racing regatta is an ISAF-sanctioned Grade 5 event with a total purse of $9,000: $5,000 for first place; $3,000 for second; and $1,000 for third. Racing will be conducted aboard Jeanneau 20s with three-person crews in the protected waters of the Simpson Bay Lagoon.

“There will be plenty of access for spectators to enjoy the racing,” said Ferron. “And the Jeanneau 20s are very suited to this sort of racing. They’re fairly light and maneuverable so the racing should be very dynamic and active.”

If Holmberg and his crew - Ben Beer and Maurice Kurg - hope to cash that first-place check, they’ll first have to ward off the advances of a strong international field comprised of veteran match racers and talented, young up-and-comers. Among the former is Russian sailor Eugeny Nikiforov, currently ranked third in his homeland and 49th in the ISAF world rankings.

Among the youth brigade is 20-year-old skipper Francisco Siemsen Bulhões from Brazil who, despite his tender age, recently finished fifth in his country’s Junior National Championship and is ranked in the top fifteen in the Brazilian National Rankings.

The remainder of the five-team fleet is composed of sailors from the United States. Michael B. Hoey is representing Team Chippewa, named for Clay Deutsch’s Swan 68, Chippewa, which is a regular and prominent presence on the Caribbean racing scene. Along with this role as strategist on Chippewa, Hoey is the tactician for Team Van Tol, the Number 1-ranked match-racing team in the US.

The lone woman in the field is Jamie Haines, who’s done extensive inshore and offshore racing, including a victory in the 2006 Newport-Bermuda Race. Haines has competed in numerous national championships and Grade 1 match-racing events as both a trimmer and tactician. She is currently campaigning for a spot on the US Sailing national team with one of the top US women’s match racing teams. A good showing in St. Maarten would be a giant step toward reaching her goals.

“The Budget Marine Match Racing event will bring a different approach and flavor to the competition,” said Ferron, who also serves as steering committee chairman for the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta. “We know there’s huge interest in match racing. This is going to be a lot of fun and a great experiment.”

Along with the Budget Marine Match Racing event, the 2009 St. Maarten Heineken Regatta will also include the IGY Commodore’s Cup, for the top racing boats, on March 5th, and the 29th running of the main event, on March 6-8.