For the first time in recent years racing sailors of St. Maarten are participating in the Triskell Cup. Teams of the French islands regularly participate in events such as the Heineken Regatta and Voile de St. Barths and it was time to return the gesture and participate in their regatta as well.
The Triskell Cup in Guadeloupe is the equivalent to the Heineken Regatta in St. Maarten and is set to take place on the 8th, 9thand 10thof November. Budget Marine and two other local Melges 24 teams were willing to race the Triskell Cup in Guadeloupe. However, Gonzalo interrupted the plans, and so the only local team going is the Budget Marine/Gill Team.
Lomig Henry, manager of Budget Marine St. Martin in Sandy Ground has been pushing for the participation some time. Lomig, Christopher Marshall and Derek Little are part of the crew of the Budget Marine/Gill team. Two regular members of the team, Andrea and Rene, are not able to come and are replaced by Ryan Hope Ross from Kick’em Jenny 2’s Melges 32 as well as stand in Skipper Bernard Sillem from the Megles 24 team ‘French Connection’
Christopher Marshall, manager of Budget Marine St.Maarten in Cole Bay states: ‘We will race the Triskell during three days around Islet Gosier in the proximity of the Route du Rhum finish line. We expect to meet some tough competition. There is a very active group of Melges 24s in Guadeloupe and Martinique. We expect to have as many as 6 or 7 boats in the class. We will be up against the Le Fort Clim team who won the Voiles de Saint Barth earlier this year and we also expect to be up against Carib Marine that won the Heineken Regatta many years ago when we first started racing.’
