John Casey wins first raid

The race committee had a small surprise in store for the racers, launching the event with a counter clockwise round-the-island raid. The race started at 2:45 p.m. under ideal conditions, with medium winds between 8-10 knots.

These favorable conditions were followed by a sudden rainfall, thereby complicating matters for the fleet. According to Didier Flamme, President of the race committee for the St-Barth Cata Cup : « We had a good start, passed Gustavia and when we reached Coco Island the wind dropped which made it more complicated to reach the last mark at La Tortue Island. At La Tortue, we were hit by a big downfall, which allowed the leaders to finish. »

The first racers crossed the finish line after 2:30 hours at sea, while the last crews took more than 4 hours to finish the race, the low winds playing against them. « At 5:05 p.m. the Americans crossed the finish line. Then the wind speed dropped again making it difficult for the sailors to finish the race. The last crews got in at nightfall», added Didier Flamme.

In the end, it was all fun and the racers appreciated this new raid formula at the St-Barth Cata Cup.

Casey, winner of the first race

The winning crew of the Design Affairs Prize is US representatives John Casey and Colin Page (St-Barth Properties), followed by Elke Delnoozand and Jeroen Van Leeuwen (ODP). Jean-Christophe Mourniac and Alexandre Dekyspotter Jouannot closed off with a 3rd place finish.