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JANUARY 2008 CARIBBEAN COMPASS PAGE 14<br />
—Continued from previous page<br />
West Indies Events, anticipate the participation of up<br />
to 30 vintage yachts, schooners, wooden boats, “spirit<br />
of tradition” and other classics in this first edition.<br />
On the Friday, the start will be out of St. George’s,<br />
sailing along the Grand Anse Beach coastline and finishing<br />
back in St. George’s. A lunch buffet and drinks<br />
will be offered to all captains, crew, press and VIPs<br />
compliments of Port Louis Grenada. An evening party<br />
with a live band will be open to the public.<br />
The Saturday will also see the start out of St.<br />
George’s. The yachts will sail along the southern coast<br />
to finish in St. David’s Harbour. A buffet will be offered<br />
to participants, press and invited guests at the Water’s<br />
Edge Restaurant, compliments of Bel Air Plantation. A<br />
beach party for all, starting around 7:00PM with a live<br />
band, is also scheduled.<br />
On the Sunday the yachts will leave St. David’s<br />
Harbour and sail back to St. George’s. An awards ceremony<br />
and cocktail party will be held in the late afternoon<br />
followed by the closing party at Port Louis Marina.<br />
West Indies Events is pleased to announce that several<br />
sponsors have confirmed their participation. Port<br />
Louis Grenada and Bel Air Plantation have signed on<br />
as Silver Sponsors. Additional sponsors include<br />
Shipwrights Ltd. and the Maritime School of the West<br />
Indies. Fred Thomas, well known in the <strong>Caribbean</strong> for<br />
creating several regattas over the years, is the owner<br />
of Shipwrights Ltd. and has partnered with West Indies<br />
Events in the development and operation of the<br />
Grenada Classic Regatta.<br />
For more information visit www.ClassicRegatta.com.<br />
28th St. Maarten Heineken Regatta<br />
The St. Maarten Heineken Regatta 2008 takes place<br />
from March 6th through 9th. This is the largest regatta<br />
in the <strong>Caribbean</strong>.<br />
The first race was in 1980 and 12 boats took part.<br />
The rise of the bareboat altered the <strong>Caribbean</strong> racing<br />
scene forever and the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta<br />
led the charge — but it wasn’t without a fight. For the<br />
first few years, the cruising and racing classes looked<br />
down at the bareboats as a bit of a joke, until they<br />
began to realize that not only were the latest bareboats<br />
fast and highly competitive, they were sailed by<br />
top class sailors who, aboard their own boats and in<br />
their own countries, competed in some of the most<br />
prestigious and arduous races around. Record numbers<br />
of bareboats have entered the 2008 St. Maarten<br />
Heineken Regatta, with one travel agency in Holland<br />
sending more than 500 sailors to the event.<br />
Last year, 165 boats forming 21 classes crossed the<br />
start line. In 2007, the regatta added an extra day of<br />
racing for spinnaker-class boats. Called the Budget<br />
Marine Cup, it now makes the St. Marten Heineken<br />
Regatta a four-day event. As many as six Gunboat<br />
catamarans will inject a shot of adrenaline into the<br />
multihull division of the 2008 Heineken Regatta.<br />
For more information visit<br />
www.heinekenregatta.com.<br />
Puerto Rico’s Culebra Regattas<br />
Carol Bareuther reports: Hot racing. cool parties,<br />
and boatloads of island-style hospitality are what<br />
sailors will enjoy at the 3rd Annual Culebra Heineken<br />
International Regatta (CHIR) and Culebra<br />
International Dinghy Regatta (CIDR). New this year,<br />
West Marine has signed on as series sponsor.<br />
The CHIR marks the second leg of the <strong>Caribbean</strong><br />
Ocean Racing Triangle, or CORT Series, which<br />
begins in February with the St. Croix International<br />
Regatta and concludes in April with the BVI Spring<br />
Regatta in Tortola.<br />
Last year, 74 boats with homeports ranging from the<br />
Puerto Rican mainland and elsewhere in the<br />
<strong>Caribbean</strong> to as far away as New England and<br />
Germany competed, with 39 junior sailors racing in<br />
the dinghy event.<br />
Set for March 14th to 16th, the 2008 edition will once<br />
again base out of the Costa Bonita Resort, where onshore<br />
lodgings plus a regatta village with food booths<br />
staffed by local restaurateurs await. “Courses will be a<br />
mix of round-the-buoys and round-the-islands,” says<br />
regatta director, Angel Ayala.<br />
Classes of entry to the CHIR will include CSA Spinnaker<br />
Racing, CSA Spinnaker Racer-Cruiser, CSA J/24, IC24,<br />
CSA Performance Cruiser, CSA Jib & Main, Beach Cat<br />
and native-built Chalanas. “We would be happy to<br />
dual score IRC-rated yachts that request it, but they<br />
must also have a CSA rating,” Ayala says.<br />
Seven miles long by two miles wide — and located<br />
17 miles east of the Puerto Rican mainland and 15<br />
miles west of St. Thomas — Culebra is a sailor’s dream.<br />
Only 2,000 people inhabit the island. There are no marinas,<br />
nor is there overnight anchoring allowed in several<br />
bays due to their protected wildlife refuge status. There<br />
also aren’t any big chandleries, boatyards, or supermarkets.<br />
Yet, it is the unspoiled beauty, easy access via<br />
a short voyage from either Puerto Rico or the US Virgin<br />
Islands, and just enough creature comforts to keep<br />
boaters happy that makes Culebra an ideal cruising<br />
destination both before and after the regatta.<br />
For more information visit<br />
www.culebrainternationalregatta.com.<br />
Grenada’s Round the Island Easter Race<br />
This year will see the relaunching of the Grenada<br />
Round the Island Easter Race, with a new start and<br />
finish at Le Phare Bleu Marina and Resort, Petit<br />
Calivigny Bay, on the island’s south coast.<br />
The Round The Island Race has a long history, with<br />
the first race taking place in 1969. Over the years,<br />
interest grew, but the organization ran out of steam in<br />
1991. In 2003, The Grenada South Coast Yacht Club<br />
was formed to breathe new life into the event, which<br />
it has done with huge success for the last four years.<br />
Now it’s time for a change again, with new organisers,<br />
a new location and an impressive venue for the<br />
associated festivities.<br />
The organizers of the 2008 Round The Island Race will<br />
Competitive start at<br />
the 2007 Culebra<br />
Heineken<br />
International Regatta<br />
be Swiss couple Jana Caniga and Dieter Burkhalter,<br />
who are the owners and managers of Le Phare Bleu<br />
Marina and, of course, enthusiastic sailors. The intention<br />
with this year’s event is to go back to basics, concentrating<br />
on the Round the Island Race itself. The<br />
whole event will be a relaxed occasion, hopefully with<br />
just the right amount of competitive spirit to make the<br />
race attractive to sailors and spectators!<br />
The event will be held over three days, commencing<br />
on Good Friday, March 21st with registration, a<br />
skippers’ briefing and a Welcome Party. Saturday will<br />
see the main event, the Round The Island Easter<br />
Race, with activities for children taking place closer to<br />
shore while the serious sailors are racing. The race will<br />
be followed by the prizegiving, a barbecue and live<br />
music. Sunday will be the “wind-down” with a familyfriendly<br />
Easter Brunch.<br />
For more information visit<br />
www.aroundgrenada.com.<br />
Bequia Easter Regatta — Great in 2008!<br />
The Bequia Sailing Club, organizers of Bequia’s everpopular<br />
Easter Regatta, are looking forward to a<br />
bumper turnout for three days of racing, from March<br />
20th to 24th, with the prospect of very strong J/24 and<br />
Racing Classes, great fun racing for cruisers and liveaboards<br />
in Cruising II Class, and thrilling action from<br />
the 30-plus local double-ender fleet.<br />
For more information visit<br />
www.begos.com/easterregatta.<br />
—Continued on next page<br />
DEAN BARNES