Folks have asked, why are you still there? Why are you still in Saint Maarten, you can go anywhere you like but you spent months there already. Its be cause of the parties of course. First it was the Cruisers Party from CruisersOutpost.com – had a great time last year and again this year, then the ultimate Beer Can Regatta – aka, the Heineken party disguised as a boat race was shortly to follow.

Fun times at the 2017 Heineken Regatta held in St. Maarten this year!  We were planning on anchoring around the same area we were last year (right by the start/finish line), but the weather was not cooperating and the seas would have beaten us up.   The Gill’s Commodore’s Cup, the first race on Thursday, Matt and I decided to take Sweet N Low, our dinghy out to the start which sounds all fine and dandy until you get lost in the 1-2 meter seas (for the American followers that is 3-6′) which is HUGE when you are in a dinghy.  But, we braved the waves, the seas, the swamp a$$ in order to be front and center of the race which was truly spectacular.  We lasted a little over an hour before it got “uncomfortable” and headed back to the boat to prepare for the first regatta party at Port de Plaisance (PDP) marina which was loads of fun ($1 beer and $2 vodka drinks), dj, dancing, and ran into some new friends

Emily and Tim from “Play”, the Ogre and Princess from Contrary Mary, and Sugar Shack

Then the ladies had some fun at a photo booth (Princess, Emily, and the Easter bunny)

Hank and Cathy Schmit from Avocation (who run Offshore Passage Opportunities)

On Friday, the first official race day of the Heinken Regatta the boats are to sail around the island and we decided to take the big boat out as the dinghy was just too small for the weather conditions.  We loaded our friends from Contrary Mary, several coolers of cold beverages and took Sugar Shack out into the middle of the race!  Matt expertly navigated out the way of the racers while maintaining a great position to see the start of each of the different races.  Once most were across the start line we headed to the first marker (by Rue Baile Longue) to watch the boats jockey for position to make the best tack.  Just as we were approaching the marker, we heard on the live broadcast and caught a glimpse of the 40′ Nautitech catamaran that t-boned a small 30′ monohull, Solstice.  Luckily nobody was hurt, but Solstice had to “retire” from the race but they were able to race again the next.  Super exciting to be anchored at such a pivotal  point in the race.

These two photos were taken by Tim Wright Photoaction.com and found on the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta Instagram account – he captured the collision and impact on Solstice.

And another unfortunate event, the Green Dragon was de masted. Boats are pushed to their limits during this competitive race and it doesn’t always work out for the best.

Before, on the way out

After the carbon decided it had enough

Spinnaker on the loose

Racing action.

Friday nights part was in Philipsburg  which is a long bus ride so we opted out of these festivities and stayed in Simpson Bay instead.  Here is the official Heineken Regatta’s Facebook page with tons of photos from the parties and races.

Sugar Shack outpacing the racers with our twin Volvo 50 engines

This is one of the gunboats–either Flow or Momentum

And this beauty is Morticia, first time racing and she won her class!!

Saturday, race day 2, we hosted 6 friends (Contrary Mary and 4 friends from Toe Jam).  We took Sugar Shack out to the start and bobbed around watching the windward/leeward races between all the different classes.  Matt of course jockeying to stay out of the race course while trying to get the best vantage point.  Of course we had to be the first boat to cross the finish – even if we were not entered into the race 🙂  We feasted like kings and queens with the Ogre’s mouth watering ribs, smoke salmon and cream cheese pinwheel crepes, bruschetta and fresh baked cookies.  Our intention was to head to Kimsha Beach to attend the regatta party, but we ended up staying on our boat, enjoying spritzers, beer, and fabulous stories!

Sunday, the final day of the race was a “recovery” day and we watched the boat races from our anchorage which is far enough away to be comfortable on the boat, but close enough to see them finishing.

All in all the Heineken Regatta 2017 was exhilarating!  It is always a spectacular site to behold!

Time to move, been right here too long weather looks good so we left.  Left the spot, not the island.  We did go to the french side tho, Grand Case by way of Friars Bay.  We swam ashore, walked the beach, and had an over priced drink at the beach bar before swimming back to the boat.

Another beautiful sunset

Waiting on the green flash.

Snorkeled some, thought about going more out on the rocks but decided to go swim with the turtles out at Tintamarre, a little day stop of an island on the north side of Saint Marten.    Also should be a good vantage point to watch the RORC600 racing boats go by.  Of course the fast ones would come by at 2am in a dark and moonless night.  Yes, I got up to watch them, but all I could see was a little mast head red light zooming up the Anguilla channel.

Tintamarre is cool, most folks use it as a day stop, but there is a nice beach there and if the weather is correct very pleasant as the wind blows over the island and you can just park or pick up a mooring next to shore and swim with the turtles and fishies, also there are some paths on the island to explore the old house, an helipad, and old plane.

Beach and island for exploring

Almost all to ourselves

We had a nice lunch after arriving and then set about the exploration.  We swam ashore, remembering to bring hiking shoes this time as barefoot are no match for the stickers and rocks on the trails.  And by hiking shoes, I mean flip flops of course.  We started on the left of the beach and scampered up the slippery gravel hill, dropped the snorkel gear and set off to find parts unknown.  Well once we got to the top, we found nothing but billy goats.  What else do we have to do today – explore the place. Scamper over rocks and under scrub brush where only billy has been before.   We could see the other side of the island which we had been to before, just no real way to get there.  Forage On!

Normal wind direction, there are rocks a head of us

About an hour later we found the well traveled path, and found an over look that looked over the anchorage and Sugar just floating nicely in the calm waters behind the island.   Then hiked over to the windward side as we had done before.  This time I pushed on, and climbed the rocks and foraged to the next beach around the rocks and motioned Christine to follow.  She had to time it right between the waves which she did, but also got a bit too close to the fire rock, the rocks that look like Edward Scissor hands – and slammed her leg right on to the sharpness, drawing blood.  She took it like a trooper and continued on to explore the long deserted beach for another 1/2 mile, being sure to keep tingling salt water away from the wound, till  we turned around and tried like the dickens to find another way back that didn’t involve that fire rock challenge.  At the last minute we found a trail that lead back nice and easy like, no climbing and no salt water.

Back at the beach, we retrieved the snorkel gear and walked to the closest area giving us the shortest swim back to the boat.  The salt water didn’t help, Christine swam in circles as she was avoiding using the wounded limb.  Till she saw a pretty puffer fish and wanted to follow it.  I was the buzz kill and motioned her to continue to the boat as having a fresh wound in the presence of the barracudas I had seen on the swim in just didn’t seem like a good idea.

All good, we had made water and a shower was in order a couple of grimaces and healing can begin.

Nursing the wounded leg

Sunset over Saint Marten

At the 2am look out for the race boats, the wind had shifted.  It wasn’t really forecast to be as drastic, but we ended up on lee shore.  What that means is that if the anchor or mooring decided to part ways – we would have just minutes to react/recover.  We had snorkeled and I dove down to see the large hunk of concrete that held us in place and was pretty confident it wasn’t going anywhere, but still made the boat very uncomfortable with the constant pull on the mooring competing against the wind.  So we decided to pack it in and run to the sheltered side of the island.

As we left, I asked Christine which way around she would like to go.  Against the grain and see the RORC600 boats coming at us, or down the east side of the island.  Race boats it was, we did catch some pretty awesome boats heading up the Anguilla channel.  We also made a little water on the way as it was nose into the wind for most of the trip.

Some passing action in the Anguilla channel.

RORC600 boats are fast but I think Air France is faster

Adela is beautiful, also will be in the St Bart’s Bucket Regatta

Back to Simpson Bay, found our spot – settled back into a routine and prepared for the Heineken Regatta.

Getting ready for the Heineken Regatta

Cheers to all those arriving for the Heineken Regatta