Racing starts in St Thomas

Barby MacGowan previews the International Rolex Regatta

Personalities at the 31st annual International Rolex Regatta in St. Thomas, USVI, are proving to be as colorful as rainbow spinnakers against an azure blue sky. With racing at the three-day event starting today, 26 March, and continuing through until the weekend, hundreds of sailors registered on 91 boats have prepared for the regatta's traditional mix of tough competition, warm Caribbean breezes and blue-water courses.

Crew rosters are sprinkled with high-profile names from the America's Cup and Olympic arenas, as well as those famous in these Caribbean parts for their own notable accomplishments.

"I've sailed all over the world," said Geordie Shaver, the bowman on BMW Oracle Racing during the last America's Cup, "but I've never raced here, so it's going to be a real treat." Shaver, from Newport, R.I., is taking his turn as bowman on the Farr 65 Team Atlantic, skippered by Bill Dockser. The boat is entered in the Spinnaker Racer/Cruiser Class 1 and will compete against eight others, including Igoodia, a Jeanneau 52.2 that won its class at the recent Heineken Regatta and was named most worthy boat in that event's 'round-the-island race.

Another America's Cup notable, Josh Belsky, will also transfer his skills - as pit man for Alinghi - to the position of pit man for Tom Hill's Puerto Rican entry, Titan XII, in the Spinnaker Racing (Over 50 ft) Class. The Reichel/Pugh 75 also will have onboard Peter Holmberg, the Commodore of the St. Thomas Yacht Club who is not only an America's Cup veteran, but also an Olympic medallist and past Rolex Regatta winner.

The Over 50 foot Class will have seven boats competing, including past favorites Equation, an Andrews 68 owned by Bill Alcott and the custom 72 Donnybrook, owned by Jim Muldoon. Added to the class mix this year will be Richard Matthew's Corby 50 Flirt, which won its class last year at this event; Raincloud, a J/145 48-footer owned by New Yorker David Leuschen; the custom 44-footer Storm, owned by Les Crouch and Rosebud, Reichel/Pugh Transpac 52 owned by Roger Sturgeon.

Headlining in the Beach Cat division is Puerto Rico's designated 2004 Olympic Tornado team and defending champions Enrique Figueroa and Jorge Hernandez. The duo, known as Team Movistar/Suzuki/Red Bull, decided to sail a Hobie Tiger and which Figueroa, the Hobie dealer in Puerto Rico, is trying to promote in the islands. "It is very much faster than a regular Hobie 18 and more like our Olympic Tornado." Figueroa explained that a Portsmouth Handicap system will keep them honest, however, when it comes to matching up with the other catamarans in their class.

The fun is not all reserved for the top-end racers. Plenty of cruising boats are signed up, one of them a J/30 named Zing built in 1979 and owned by native St Thomian Chris Thompson, whose father, Rudy Thompson, represented the USVI in the Flying Dutchman class at the 1967 Olympics. According to Chris, who has sailed in the event for 20 years and wears one of the three Rolex's he and his father have won here, the regatta isn't necessarily about racing with hot equipment.

"It's about sailing with friends and doing the best you can with what you've got." Chris just took ownership of Zing and will sail in the Non-Spinnaker Racing division with his father, now 75 years old, as one of his crew. Zing's class will sail separate courses from the Spinnaker Racing divisions.

Having their own race circle for the first time will be the IC24s, which have exploded growth-wise in the Caribbean. Introduced to the regatta in 2001, the boat is a hybrid design, constructed from an old J/24 hull with a new deck mold similar to the Melges 24. The result is a yacht that is relatively high-performance, very inexpensive and more comfortable to sail than a J/24. The IC24 class will be packed with local talent, including the class's founder and four-time Rolex winner in the Melges 24 class Chris Rosenberg aboard Old and Gray.

Line up

Yacht	Owner	Hometown			Type
7	Mark Chong	St. Thomas	VI	USA	Prindle 19
Caribbean Auto Mart	Tom Ainger	Christiansted	VI	USA	Inter 20
Exodus / Ensysa	Enrique Figueroa		PR	USA	Hobie Cat 16
HF Mortgage Bankers	Ibrahim Mustafa	San Juan	PR	USA	Hobie Tiger
LoLo Too	Anton Guernica	San Juan	PR	USA	Hobie Cat 16
Love Never Fails	M.Bruce Andryc	Christiansted	St. Croix	USA	Inter 17
Movistar/Suzuki/Red Bull	Enrique Figueroa	San Juan	PR	USA	Hobie Tiger
Rush	Bruce Merced		VI	USA	Prindle 19 MX
War	Barefoot Architect				Inter 20
Waterfit	Dennys Junco	Carolina	PR	USA	Hobie Cat 16
Wow	D. Murray / S. Korzeniewski	St. Thomas	VI	USA	Hobie Cat 16
Yuisa	Rosarito Martinez	Carolina	PR		Hobie Cat 16
Class: IC-24
Yacht	Owner	Hometown			Type
Boat Drinks	Canfield / Nichols	St. Thomas	USVI	USA	IC-24
Brand New Second Hand	Christopher Curreri	St. Thomas	VI	USA	IC-24
Fiona	Frederick W Ruebeck	Roadtown	Tortola	BVI	IC-24
moderation.com	Frank Barnes/Elizabeth Masiello	st thomas	VI		IC-24
No Expectations	Amerling / Miles	St. Thomas	VI	USA	IC-24
Old & Gray	Chris Rosenberg	St. Thomas	VI	USA	IC-24
Red Dog	S. King / J. Rosenberg / M. Williams	St. Thomas	VI	USA	IC-24
Seahawk	Robert / Michael Hirst	Road Town	Tortola	BVI	IC-24
Stinger	John Holmberg				IC-24
Crowley	Simon Manley				IC-24
Tingum	Garry Turpin	St. Thomas	VI	USA	IC-24
One Love	Paul Stoeken	St. Thomas	VI	USA	IC-24
XX	Newbold / Bailey	St. Thomas	VI	USA	IC-24
Voila	Trach Roberts	St. Thomas		U.S.V.I.	IC-24
Class: J-24
Yacht	Owner	Hometown			Type
El Shaddai II	Jeff Fangmann	Christiansted	St. Croix	USA	J-24
KQ-LO	Jose M. Fullana Hernandez	San Juan	PR	USA	J-24
Orion / Coors Light	Fraito Lugo				J-24
San Patricio MRI & CT Center	Carlos Feliciano Sanchez	Caguas	PR	USA	J-24
Urayo	Gilberto Rivera Morales	Guaynabo	PR	USA	J-24
XX Tu	Juan Jose Mari Agustini				J-24
Class: Spinnaker Racing ("Over 50 ft")
Yacht	Owner	Hometown			Type
Titan	Tom Hill	San Juan	PR	P.R.	R/P 75
Equation	Bill Alcott	St Clair Shores	MI	USA	Andrews
Donnybrook	James P. Muldoon	Washington	DC	USA	Custom
Rosebud	Roger Sturgeon	Santa Cruz	CA	USA	Trans Pac 52
Flirt	R. Matthews / J. Alvarez	Ipswich	Suffolk	UK	Corby One Off
Raincloud	David Leuschen	New York	NY	USA	J-145
Storm	Les Crouch	Henderson	Nevada	USA	SOCA Sailboats 44
Class: Spinnaker Racing 1
Yacht	Owner	Hometown			Type
Caccia Alla Volpe	Carlo Falcone			Antigua	Vallicelli Sloop
Soca	Luis Juarche	San Juan	PR	USA	Henderson
Cosmic Warlord	Mick Shlens	Palos Verdes Estates	CA	USA	Express
Umakua	Julio Reguero	San Juan	P.R.	USA	J-105
Uncle Sam	Sam Laing	St. Thomas	VI	USA	Ben 10 Meter Cust.
Sorceress	Paul Lordi	Christiansted	St. Croix	USA	Tartan 10
Rhumb Squall	Thomas Mullen	CAMPTON	NH	USA	Antrim 27
Abracadabra	Calos A Camacho	Guaynabo	Puerto Rico	USA	J-105
Class: Spinnaker Racing 2
Yacht	Owner	Hometown			Type
J-Bird	Dave Janes	Newport Beach	CA	USA	Olson 30
2ContactCarib2	Frits Bus/Peter Hout				Melges 24
Crew Clothing	Andrew Thompson / Peter Tarn				Melges 24
Don Q Limon	Enrique J. Torruella	Guaynabo	Puerto Rico	USA	Melges 24
Dr. Lightning	Jorge Torres				Melges 24
Ming The Merciless	Richard Burks	St. John	USVI	USA	Melges 24
Mistress Quickly	Orangeplan Ltd./Guy Eldridge	Road Town	Tortola	BVI	Melges 24
Willy T (Rushin Rowlette)	Kevin Rowlette				Olson 30
KosaLoka	Kike Gonzalez	Guaynabo	PR	USA	Olson
Lost Horizon II	James Dobbs	St. Thomas	USVI	USA	Olson
Sun Bum II	Angel M. Ayala	Carolina	P.R.	USA	J-80
Broken Drum	Jack Bishop				J-29
Sweetness	Peter Clark				J-29
Runaway	Bruce Pettie	Glasglow		Scottland	Est
Manificent 7	John Foster	St. Thomas	USVI	USA	J-27
Class: Spinnaker Racer/Cruiser 1
Yacht	Owner				Type
Team Atlantic	William Dockser	Gosport	Hampshire	UK	Farr 65R
Spirit of Minerva	Formula 1 Sailing	Gosport	Hampshire	UK	Farr 65
Igoodia	Milt Baehr	Incline Village	NV	USA	Jeanneau 52.2
Great Escape	GE Partnership/Phil Munday	East Sussex		UK	Jeanneau Odyssey 52.2
So Far	Larry Hillman				Swan 48
Lazy Dog	Sergio Sagramoso	San Juan	PR	USA	Beneteau First 40.7
Wild at Heart	John Thompson	80538 Muenchen		Germany	Jeanneau OD 35
Natural Magic	David Cook	Hull		UK	Beneteau First 42s7
Pipe Dream	RTW Co. Ltd.	Road tOWN	Tortola	BVI	Sirena 38
Class: Spinnaker Racer/Cruiser 2
Yacht	Owner				Type
Jahazi	A. Mc Shea / M. Johnston	Sandy	UT	USA	J-120
Tempest	John Haracivet	St. Thomas	VI	USA	Beneteau First
Avalon	Jason Walsh	New York	NY	USA	Sloop
Solidarity	Andrew W. Piotrowski	Chicago	IL	USA	Optima 101 -sloop
Trouble	Geoffrey D. Pidduck	Falmouth		Antigua	Six Meter
Dehlerious	Bungie Flynn		Tortola	BVI	Dehler
Rodaventos	Mariano Ruiz	NY	NY	USA	C&C
Class: Non Spinnaker Racing
Yacht	Owner	Hometown			Type
Affinity	Jack Desmond	Marion	MA	USA	Swan 48
Monhegan	Sound Sailing Center	Norwalk	CT	USA	J-44
Kracker Jack	Michael Bailey		Isle of Man	GB	Olson 40
Add to Life	Steve Martin	Road Town	Tortola	BVI	Jeanneau I50
Equinoxx Too	David Weisher	St. Thomas	VI	USA	Kaufman & Ladd
Nemesis	Edwin Cruz Romero				Hunter 42
Balaju 2	Jose Sanchez	carolina	PR	USA	Sloop
Wildflower	Ron Noonan	Marion	MA	USA	Sabre 402
ATN	Marcus Compton	St. Thomas	VI	USA	J-27
Keen Edge	Keith Keen	St. Thomas	VI	U.S.V.I	Formula 28
Zing	Chris Thompson	St. Thomas	VI	U.S.V.I	J-30
Wiinds Glory	Paul Davis	St. Thomas	vi	U.S.V.I	Cal
Farcry	Herve Chassin	Charlotte Amalie	St. Thomas	U.S.V.I	Bombay Clipper