SMYC Keelboat Boat-of-the-Year Captured by Team Budget Marine
On Saturday night June 29 the Sint Maarten yacht Clubs keelboat racing season 2012-2013 was concluded with the prize giving ceremony.
Commodore of the SMYC, Ian Hope-Ross was the master of ceremony. The Racing Class a very successful season, where new boats came out to join this season’s racing. This resulted in a bigger and more competitive fleet. It is hoped that this trend will continue, and that for next season the Cruising Class will also grow. The keelboat committee, headed by Leo Ligthart and Peter Mazereeuw was thanked for organizing the races.
In the Cruising Class, third place went to ‘Bell Aurora’ skippered by Roger Petit,Second place captured by “L’Esperance” captained by Bobby Velasquez, and first place was won by ‘Vanille’ of led by Garth Steyn, who sailed most of the races with a new crew of students from Milton Peters College, a secondary school on St Maarten.
In the Racing Class, third place went to ‘Kick ‘M Jenny 2’, the new Melges 32 captained by Ian Hope Ross. 2ndplace went to ‘Island Water World’ led by Frits Bus. And first place was captured by ‘Budget Marine’, co-skippered by Andrea Scarabelli and Chris Marshall.
The battle between 2ndand 1stplace overall came down to the last race, when ‘Budget Marine’ won after an equipment failure on the ‘Island Water World’ Melges. Just half a point separated the two teams at the end.
The new season will start in November 2013 with the first keelboat race, followed later that month with the ‘Course d’Alliance’ Regatta. Dates to be announced at a later date
For more information visitwww.smyc.com
