ANTIGUANICE YACHTING INSIDER NEWSLETTER

Jean Allaire Trophy Winners - Altair

November 29th 2010 - Marigot St.Martin - A fantastic weekend ended on Sunday at La Vie en Rose Restaurant in Marigot with prizegiving for the 7th edition of the Course de L’Alliance. Participants picked up their prizes after a great weekend of competitive racing and fun onshore camaraderie. The regatta had three classes of Multihull, Racer and Racer-Cruiser and the event took participants on a 3 day journey. The first place prize in the Racer class went to Team Budget Marine/Gill; Lost Horizon of Antigua took first in Racer-Cruiser class while Altair placed first and received the Jean Allaire trophy for the Mulithull class.

This three day event took the sailors from Simpson Bay St. Maarten to the neighboring island St. Barths on Friday where participants dealt with increased swells and rough seas on the way over.  During the evening the participants sat down to an elegant meal at Eddy’s in St. Barths and dined on fabulous French cuisine after a hard day's sail.  Saturday gave the competitors a bit less wind and lighter seas allowing for a great sail from St. Barths to Anguilla and a finish in Sandy Ground.  Dinner on the beach with 100 competitors lent to the family atmosphere of this regatta and a beach breakfast and late start set the tone for the final day of sailing back to home port in St. Martin.

In the Mulithull class, 2nd place went to Blanca, an incredibly fast trimaran whose speed put pressure on the finish boat which had to leave each start location an hour ahead of the starts in order to lay the finish line before Blanca made her appearance.  Having learned their lesson from previous years where they barely made it before she crossed the line, organizers were ready for Blanca this year and were treated to a magnificent show of skills as she crossed the line.  Third place went to Guimamalou who sailed a nice steady race all weekend.

Racing-Cruiser class was the largest with eight participants and after a fierce battle all weekend, 2nd place was awarded to Nix, an X 612 who had a rough time of it with only three crew members all weekend.  3rd place went to L’Esperance who slowly increased their crew numbers as the weekend progressed.  Racing class, with a total of four competitors placed Team Coors Light in 2nd place and Panick Attack in the 3rd spot.

This fun filled event had competitors ranging from ages 8 thru 60+ and was a fun time for all.  Organizers were pleased with the results and look forward to an 8th edition next year.  Event sponsor and owner Marina Fort Louis created the event to promote the alliance between the three islands and has done a tremendous job of maintaining a steady flow of entrants and atmosphere.  For more information and complete results visit www.coursedelalliance.com.

For more information contact:

Name:     Heather Tackling
Position:  Director-St.Maarten Heineken Regatta
Email:     director@heinekenregatta.com
Phone:    599-580-8181