A familiar face at the St Barth Cata Cup, Didier Flamme ended up heading the race committee for the past eight years strictly by happenstance. He first found out about the event when replacing a colleague, then serving as race manager, who was unable to make it to St-Barth. That was in 2009 and he’s been there every year since.

Didier is the national technical advisor in charge of windsurf, high-level funboard and the French team in the FF Voile. He is also responsible for organizing major light sailing events (cata, dinghy and windsurf) in France, and is the international race officer for the St Barth Cata Cup.

We reached Didier between two events to chat with him about his years with us and ask him what he likes about the St Barth Cata Cup.

The St Barth Cata Cup brings me a great deal of pleasure, wonderful human contacts. This event is special: it combines the world’s top-level F18s on the water with a great deal of camaraderie and interaction. Both the organization and I have been it saying for the past eight years: in the St Barth Cata Cup, there are rules but above there is all the spirit of competition.”

I like the technical aspect, the varied courses every day and the pace of the race. Seeing the teams coming back with smiles on their faces, and the high-level of sailing. And over eight years, friendships have been forged, either by children who were into windsurfing or directly in the race, and now these friendships go beyond the competition itself: this, too, is the St Barth Cata Cup.