June 21, 2009-St.Maarten, Netherlands Antilles—This past weekend’s ever changing winds created a challenge for competitors during the 8th annual North Sails Caribbean One Design Keelboat Championships. With 12 teams competing for 1st place the competition was intense, and in the end the point difference between first and second place was only 0.7. A total of 18 races were sailed over the course of two days with a one pool format, with 12 teams competing in eight boats thus allowing four teams to take a break in between races. Both regatta organizers and the main sponsor were thrilled with this weekend’s results, and according to Ernst Looser, owner of Tropical Sail Loft, agent for North Sails St.Maarten “it went very well, very enjoyable as the racing was closer than normal. North Sails is proud to be part of such high quality event with much credit going to the volunteers, especially Cary with organizing the event and Race Officer Andrew Rapley's excellent work, which kept all competitors happy”.

Teams competing from around the Caribbean, with sailors such as Simon Manley of St.Maarten, Markku Harmala of St.Barths and Frits bus of St.Maarten battled it out over two days, twelve races each and eighteen total races for the fleet which allowed for the first time ever, each team the opportunity to drop one race from their results. The winner was decided by 0.7 of a point leaving Markku Harmala, Team St.Barth Libre, with the win of 27 total points, and Frits Bus, Team Aqua Mania, placing second with 27.7 points. Third place went to Simon Manley, of team Scuba Shop with 33 points overall. Speaking to Markku after the event, he stated “fun, very fun. Nice people to race with, good organization even with the shifty conditions. It was perfect one design racing!”

The teams raced on the Sun Fast 20’s over the course of two days in the Lagoon, using a raft up using floating dock and change boat “SANTINO” courtesy of Aqua Mania and a Lagoon 41 as the committee boat. Together teams watched their fellow sailors battle it out each race and the overall atmosphere was total joy being able to be out on the water in such splendid conditions, and although they were competing against each other, those who were resting on the change boat were cheering and rooting for their fellow competitors. The camaraderie was outstanding to say the least.

When asked how he felt the weekends racing went, Frits Bus, of team Aqua Mania stated “Interesting!! With the wind shifts and the ups and downs of wind strengths. It was good sailing conditions for this regatta, lots of different types of weather; light, breezy, shifty then steady!” Racing was finished by 1:00pm on Sunday and once all the boats were back at the dock at the Sint Maarten Yacht Club, sailors sat down to a fantastic BBQ lunch and the prize giving ceremony. Yacht Club board member and competitor Simon Manley thought “It was a fantastic event, and a really great weekend. The wind shifts were challenging along with the quality of the other crews.”

The points score was more compact than in most regattas. In spite of the leaders pulling away on points overall. Each of them spent many moments in the “pack” trying to break out. The first positions were to be found on the score card as low as 10th place. A great many sailors had a place in the top three at different times.

The rules knowledge of sailors was high which resulted in very little contact and dissension, in spite of the very short course. Starts were consistently high level with boats lined up right across the line showing an elevated level of starting.

So now that the sails are put away, the boats neatly tied to the docks and the competitors on their flights back home, it’s fair to say that the sailing conditions in St.Maarten are ideal for one design racing and regardless of the constant wind shifts, all the competitors had a great time and look forward to returning to St.Maarten in 2010 to battle it out once again.

FINAL RESULTS - North Sails Regatta 2009

	Name	Team	R.1	R.2	R.3	R.4	R.5	R.6	R.7	R.8	R.9	R.10	R.11	R.12	R.13	R.14	R.15	R.16	R.17	R.18	TOTAL
1	Markku Hamala	St Barth Libre	3	-	1	2	-	3	-	2	3	-	4	5D	1	-	3	3	-	2	27
2	Frits Bus	Aqua Mania St Maarten	4	-	5D	-	3	2.7	-	4	2	-	1	1	4	-	4	-	1	1	27.7
3	Simon Manley	Scuba Shop St Maarten	-	2	3	-	7	4	-	1	1	-	2	7	-	2	1	-	8D	3	33
4	Robbie Ferron	Budget Marina St Maarten	-	1	2	-	2	2	5	6	-	7D	6	-	-	1	2	-	4	6	37
5	Bernard Sillem	Dutch Connection St Maarten	-	6	4	3	5	-	3	3	-	1	3	-	-	4	7D	2	5	-	39
6	Paul Solomon	Emzyme Trinidad	2	3	-	1	1	-	2	5	-	6	7	-	2	7	-	6	7D	-	42
7	Benoit Meesemaecker	St Barth Attitude	6	5	-	6	4	-	7D	-	6	5	-	2	3	6	-	1	3	-	47
8	Guy Redmile	Last Minute St Maarten	1	-	6	8D	-	5	1	-	5	4	-	6	5	-	5	4	-	7	49
9	Chris Marshall	Budget Marine/Gill St Maarten	5	7	-	4	-	7	4	-	4	3	-	3	6	5	-	8	-	8D	56
10	Luc Knol	St Maarten	-	4	7	-	8	1	-	8	7	8	8D	-	-	3	6	-	6	4	62
11	Bernie Evan-Wong	Antigua	7	8	-	5	6	-	8	7	-	2	-	4	8	8D	-	7	2	-	64
12	Paul Johnson	Saga Boy ll Racing BVI	8	-	8	7	-	6	6	-	8	-	5	8	7	-	8D	5	-	5	73

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PRESS RELEASE 16 June 2009
Countdown to Caribbean Competition

June 15, 2009, St.Maarten, Netherlands Antilles—The North Sails Caribbean Keelboat Championships will take place this coming weekend June 20-21 2009 in the Simpson Bay Lagoon. Competitors from around the Caribbean will meet on the island of St. Maarten for what organizers think will be yet another exciting event. Both new and old skippers will take to the waters and try to finish on top of a well represented group of Caribbean sailors.

Local St.Maarten sailor Robbie Ferron, who races the Sun Fast 20’s on a regular basis, and Simon Manley who’s best place in this event was a 2nd in 2002, will go head to head against the likes of Chris Marshall who will be helming for the first time this year and Frits Bus who placed 2nd in the 2008 Championships. These St.Maarten sailors race against each other on a regular basis in other series hosted by the Sint Maarten Yacht Club, but this time they will also have to compete against sailors from around the region.

Visiting teams such as Eric Baray from Martinique will be returning and will try to take a win as this year he will be more familiar with the boats. Other teams will be competing from Trinidad, Antigua, Tortola as well as a second team from St.Barth skippered by Benoit Meesemaecker who is new to the event. Will he rival his countryman Markku Harmala who’s best placing was a 2nd in 2006.

The event begins with registration at 6:00pm Friday June 19th 2009 at the Sint Maarten Yacht Club in Simpson Bay. Directly following registration will be a skippers briefing scheduled to start at 7:00pm. Racing will take place on the lagoon with the first start to commence at 9:00am on Saturday. Sunday will give the competitors one last chance to show their skills before prize giving which will begin as soon as racing is completed and scores have been tallied.

Tropical Sails Loft, agent for North Sails in St.Maarten, has been the supporter of the event for the last 8 years and is pleased with the entry list thus far.

For More information contact Cary Byerley at director@bigboatseries.com or call 588-2474.

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PRESS RELEASE 8 June 2009
One Design Racing, Caribbean Style!

June 4, 2009-St.Maarten, Netherlands Antilles-The 2009 North Sails Caribbean One Design Keelboat Championship, which takes place June 20th and 21st, shows no discrimination to profession. Doctors, Dentists, Businessmen, Sail makers and more will battle it out as equals when they race against each other at this one design event, proving that Sailing is any man (or woman’s) sports. With wide representation from the North thru the South, this event shows a clear mix of sailors from around the region with 13 teams already confirmed.

In 2008 the event saw Team Drunken Money, skippered by Paul Amon from Trinidad take the win, with Frits Bus of St.Maarten and Mike Green of St.Lucia taking 2nd and 3rd respectively. Registered for 2009 are some of the same sailors who have been competing at this event for years, all hoping to take the win. They include some of the regulars of Caribbean racing like, Markku Harmala of St. Barths, Luc Knol who placed 4th in 2007 and Chris Marshall of St.Maarten who will attempt to take a win while taking the helm for the first time at this regatta.

One contender who has not sailed this event since 2007 is Bernie Evan-Wong, who recently completed the Caribbean 600. Bernie has made waves all over the Caribbean and is a big fan of one design racing. Sergey Boer of Curacao who took a 1st in the Racing 4 fleet of Antigua Sailing Week is also trying to better his results of 2008, where he placed 9th in this event. Emma Paull of BVI (the lone female competitor of the group) will also try to stake her claim to the top prize after finishing 5th in 2008. This Championship brings together a very diverse group of sailors from around the Caribbean and pits them against each other in identical Sun Fast 20’s for a weekend of fierce competition and fun camaraderie.

Organized by Lagoon Sailboat Rentals and Sponsored by Tropical Sail Loft, St.Maarten North Sails Agent, this event aims to offer the participants superior racing, surrounded by a great atmosphere and overall good time. For 8 years since the event was first launched in 2002, North Sails has continued to lend its name to an event that brings together the best sailors from around the Caribbean.

For More information contact Cary Byerley at director@bigboatseries.com or call 588-2474.

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2008 North Sails Regatta
Caribbean One Design Keelboat Championships.............. More info. and photos

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2007 North Sails Regatta
Caribbean One Design Keelboat Championships.............. More info. and photos

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2006 North Sails Regatta
Caribbean One Design Keelboat Championships.............. More info. and photos

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2005 North Sails Regatta
Caribbean One Design Keelboat Championships.............. More info. and photos

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2004 North Sails Regatta
Caribbean One Design Keelboat Championships.............. More info. and photos

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2003 North Sails Regatta
Caribbean One Design Keelboat Championships.............. More info. and photos

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2002 North Sails Regatta
Caribbean One Design Keelboat Championships.............. More info. and photos