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The regatta started with squall-fueled wild and windy conditions on Friday, March 26; a fresh northeasterly made way for glorious sunshine and a thrilling distance race for all classes on Saturday; and Sunday's early breeze oscillated and died before strengthening in the afternoon.
"The weather tested the Race Committee and the sailors," said STYC Commodore Peter Holmberg, an America's Cup veteran and Olympic medallist who served as tactician aboard the largest yacht in the Rolex fleet, Titan XIII. "We all came out looking pretty smart."
Indeed, Titan XIII, a Reichel/Pugh 75 owned and skippered by Puerto Rico's Tom Hill, was as awesome in its performance as it was in its appearance. Launched just last year, the fine yacht handily won the Spinnaker Racing ("Over 50 ft.") Class; its closest match-up was another new boat and class runner-up, Rosebud, a Reichel/Pugh Transpac 52 owned and skippered by Roger Sturgeon of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
"It was so much fun sailing a bigger boat here," said Hill, who has won his class four times before at this event, also sailing boats named Titan but never a Titan so large. "We were going 20-21 knots on the first day."
Holmberg positioned Titan XII to win three of its four races. In race one, the boat hit all the correct shifts and stretched a lead at the first windward mark before the wind died and left much of the back of the fleet in dire straights. "Yes we owed the others time, but we did get pretty far ahead," said Holmberg.
Titan XIII's class had a total of seven boats competing, including past favorites Equation, an Andrews 68 owned and skippered by Bill Alcott (Detroit, Mich.), and the custom 72 Donnybrook, owned and skippered by Jim Muldoon (Washington, DC). Added to the class mix this year was past winner Flirt, a Corby 50 owned and skippered by Richard Matthews (Ipswich, UK); Raincloud, a J/145 48-footer owned and skippered by David Leuschen (New York, N.Y.); and Storm, a custom 44-footer owned and skippered by Les Crouch (Henderson, Nevada). Crew rosters were sprinkled with high-profile names from the America's Cup and Olympic arenas, as well as those famous in these Caribbean parts for their own notable accomplishments.
Bill Dockser (Bethesda, Md.) entered the regatta for his first time and won the nine-boat Spinnaker Racer/Cruiser 1 Class on his chartered "Formula One" Farr 65 Team Atlantic. "I had an incredible time," said Dockser, who has never raced in the Caribbean before but has dreamed of it. "I got to live the dream and accomplish the dream. Four out of four line-honor wins and four wins on corrected time.I am very excited."
Important to Dockser was the fact that his crew was made up of family members, friends, the crew from his Oyster 70 cruising yacht and a few pro sailors "who really made it come together for all the enthusiastic amateurs.
Having their own race circle for the first time were the IC24s, which have exploded growth-wise in the Caribbean. Introduced to the regatta in 2001, the boat is a hybrid design, constructed from an old J/24 hull with a new deck mold similar to the Melges 24. The result is a yacht that is relatively high-performance, very inexpensive and more comfortable to sail than a J/24.
Chris Curreri (St. Thomas), sailing Brand New Second Hand in the nine-race IC24 series, was barely on the radar after a rough start early in the regatta. Sunday, however, he sent off alarms when he went into his last race tied for first with Seahawk, a British Virgin Islands entry co-skippered by Michael and Robert Hirst. "I grew up sailing against Robert Hirst and some of the others here in the fleet," said Curreri, adding that Hirst is an Olympian and national champion from the British Virgin Islands. "and I was always the light one and they blew me away. In the last race, I flashed back to my childhood and thought, 'It's heavy air, a long beat and we're really light--I'll never hold them off.'" The opposite was true, however, and Curreri took the gun, only a quarter of a boat length ahead of the Hirsts. Reflecting on winning the Rolex watch, the 28-year-old noted that he'd crewed in every Rolex event here since he was eight years old, but never had finished aboard a winning boat. Adding an interesting twist to Brand New Second Hand's victory was the fact that Curreri had only the week before launched the boat, having built it himself using J/24 hull #5.
In J/24s, Fraito Lugo of Ponce, PR sailed Orion/Coors Light to four wins in as many races. He also won last year's event with all bullets.
Carlo Falcone's Caccia Alla Volpe out of Antigua establish his command over Spinnaker Racing Class 1 by the end of day two and topped the seven-boat fleet with three victories over four races.
In Spinnaker Racing 2 Class, J-Bird, skippered by Dave Janes of Newport Beach, Calif., topped the 16-boat fleet, having climbed to the top of the scoreboard on the first day and remained there throughout the four-race series.
Spinnaker Racer/Cruiser 2 Class was won by Geoffrey Pidduck's Antiguan entry Trouble, which barely managed to fend off its closest competitor and runner-up in four-race series/six-boat fleet: Dehlerious, skippered by Bungie Flynn of Roadtown, Tortola, BVI.
Non Spinnaker Racing honors were taken by Wildflower, skippered by Ron Noonan of Marion, Mass., after the boat won two of its three races to top 15 boats.
Class winners received commemorative Rolex Submariners, manufactured with a special green bezel and unique black dial to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the timepiece's debut in 1953.
Complete results and photos are online at www.rolexcupregatta.com
(end)
Spinnaker Racing ("Over 50 ft.") (7 boats)
1. Titan XIII, Tom Hill, San Juan, PR, 1-1-2-1, 5
2. Rosebud, Roger Sturgeon, Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., 5-2-1-2, 10
3. Flirt, Richard Matthews/J. Alvarez, Ipswich, Suffolk, UK, 4-3-3-3, 13
Spinnaker Racing 1(7 boats)
1. Caccia Alla Volpe, Carlo Falcone, Antigua/Italy, 1-3-1-1, 6
2. Cosmic Warlord, Mick Shlens, Palos Verdes Estates, Calif., 3-1-3-4, 11
3. Uma Kua, Julio Reguero, San Juan, PR, 5-3-2-2, 12
Spinnaker Racing 2 (16 boats)
1. J-Bird, Dave Janes, Newport Beach, Calif., 3-1-2-1, 7
2. Lost Horizon II, James Dobbs, St. Thomas, USVI, 4-2-1-2, 9
3. Magnificent 7, John Foster, St. Thomas, USVI, 7-3-3-3, 16
Spinnaker Racer/Cruiser 1 (9 boats)
1. Team Atlantic, Bill Dockser, Bethesda, Md., 1-1-1-1, 4
2. Lazy Dog, Sergio Sagramoso, San Juan, PR, 3-3-2-2, 10
3. Pipe Dream, Peter Haycraft, Roadtown, Tortola, BVI, 2-2-4-3, 11
Spinnaker Racer/Cruiser 2 (6 boats)
1. Trouble, Geoffrey Pidduck, Falmouth, Antigua, 2-1-1-1, 5
2. Dehlerious, Bungie Flynn, Roadtown, Tortola, BVI, 1-2-2-2, 7
3. Tempest, John Haracivet, St. Thomas, USVI, 3-4-3-3, 13
Non Spinnaker Racing (15 boats)
1. Wildflower, Ron Noonan, Marion, Mass., 5-1-1, 7
2. Affinity, Jack Desmond, Marion, Mass., 2-2-3, 7
3. Nemesis, Edwin Cruz Romero, Fajardo, PR, 4-4-4, 12
J/24 (6 boats)
1. Orion/Coors Light, Fraito Lugo, Ponce, PR, 1-1-1-1, 4
2. XX Tu, Juan Jose Mari Agustini, San Juan, PR, 2-2-3-2, 9
3. San Patricio MRI, Carlos Feliciano Sanchez, 4-4-2-6, 16
IC-24 (14 boats)
1. Brand New Second Hand, Christopher Curreri, St. Thomas, USVI, 6-6-1-2-2-5-1-5-1, 29
2. Seahawk, Robert/Michael Hirst, Roadtown, Tortola, BVI, 2-1-2-8-3-4-2-6-4, 32
3. Old & Gray, Chris Rosenberg, St. Thomas, USVI, 4-2-4-7-1-1-8-3-3, 33
Beach Cats (12 boats)
1. Movistar/Suzuki/Red Bull, Enrique Figueroa, San Juan, PR, 1-2-1-1, 5
2. Exodus/Ensysa, Enrique Figueroa, San Juan, PR, 4-1-6-2, 13
3. HF Mortgage Bankers, Ibrahaim Mustafa, San Juan, PR, 3-4-4-4, 15
Reporting: Enrique's Hobie Tiger wins Beachcats at BVI, Hobie 16 Women do Well
In Beach Cats, it came as no surprise that Puerto Rico's 2004 Olympic Tornado team of Enrique Figueroa and crew Jorge Fernandez aboard Movistar/Suzuki/Red Bull defended their title, winning three races to clinch their four-race series and top 12 boats. This was the first year in recent history that the Beach Cats were not divided into spinnaker and non-spinnaker classes. Sailing to a Portsmouth handicap while other classes sailed to the Caribbean Sailing Association rating rule, the Beach Cats were dominated by Figueroa's Hobie Tiger, an 18 footer with spinnaker that is popular in Europe and is similar to Figueroa's Olympic Tornado. Close on his heels in second was the Hobie 16 Exodus/Ensysa, sailing without a spinnaker and skippered by another, but unrelated, Enrique Figueroa, also from Puerto Rico.
Two notable women's skippers--Rosarita Martinez (Carolina, PR) aboard the Hobie 16 Yuisa and Susan Korzeniewski (Liverpool, N.Y.), sailing the Hobie 16 WOW--competed in preparation for the Hobie 16 Worlds to be held in Cancun the first week of May. Martinez, who has sailed this event for the past five years and won her class in 2001, is the 2003 Hobie 16 Continental Women's Champion. Korzeniewski is a past Continental Women's Champion and a veteran of the grueling Worrell 1000 event for catamarans. Martinez and Korzeniewski finished fourth and eighth, respectively.
Read more for the rest of the Rolex Wrap-up and complete results. Hi Res Regatta Pictures
For winners in nine classes at the International Rolex Regatta 2004, three days in Paradise couldn't have ended on a better note: each champion won a Rolex watch for his performance. The Rolex event, in its 31st year at the St. Thomas Yacht Club in the U.S. Virgin Islands, hosted 91 boats and hundreds of sailors who were tested by a variety of wind conditions on the racecourse and never a dull party moment ashore. Two notable women's skippers--Rosarita Martinez (Carolina, PR) aboard the Hobie 16 Yuisa and Susan Korzeniewski (Liverpool, N.Y.), sailing the Hobie 16 WOW--competed in preparation for the Hobie 16 Worlds to be held in Cancun the first week of May. Martinez, who has sailed this event for the past five years and won her class in 2001, is the 2003 Hobie 16 Continental Women's Champion. Korzeniewski is a past Continental Women's Champion and a veteran of the grueling Worrell 1000 event for catamarans. Martinez and Korzeniewski finished fourth and eighth, respectively.
Read more for the rest of the Rolex Wrap-up and complete results. Hi Res Regatta Pictures
The regatta started with squall-fueled wild and windy conditions on Friday, March 26; a fresh northeasterly made way for glorious sunshine and a thrilling distance race for all classes on Saturday; and Sunday's early breeze oscillated and died before strengthening in the afternoon.
"The weather tested the Race Committee and the sailors," said STYC Commodore Peter Holmberg, an America's Cup veteran and Olympic medallist who served as tactician aboard the largest yacht in the Rolex fleet, Titan XIII. "We all came out looking pretty smart."
Indeed, Titan XIII, a Reichel/Pugh 75 owned and skippered by Puerto Rico's Tom Hill, was as awesome in its performance as it was in its appearance. Launched just last year, the fine yacht handily won the Spinnaker Racing ("Over 50 ft.") Class; its closest match-up was another new boat and class runner-up, Rosebud, a Reichel/Pugh Transpac 52 owned and skippered by Roger Sturgeon of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
"It was so much fun sailing a bigger boat here," said Hill, who has won his class four times before at this event, also sailing boats named Titan but never a Titan so large. "We were going 20-21 knots on the first day."
Holmberg positioned Titan XII to win three of its four races. In race one, the boat hit all the correct shifts and stretched a lead at the first windward mark before the wind died and left much of the back of the fleet in dire straights. "Yes we owed the others time, but we did get pretty far ahead," said Holmberg.
Titan XIII's class had a total of seven boats competing, including past favorites Equation, an Andrews 68 owned and skippered by Bill Alcott (Detroit, Mich.), and the custom 72 Donnybrook, owned and skippered by Jim Muldoon (Washington, DC). Added to the class mix this year was past winner Flirt, a Corby 50 owned and skippered by Richard Matthews (Ipswich, UK); Raincloud, a J/145 48-footer owned and skippered by David Leuschen (New York, N.Y.); and Storm, a custom 44-footer owned and skippered by Les Crouch (Henderson, Nevada). Crew rosters were sprinkled with high-profile names from the America's Cup and Olympic arenas, as well as those famous in these Caribbean parts for their own notable accomplishments.
Bill Dockser (Bethesda, Md.) entered the regatta for his first time and won the nine-boat Spinnaker Racer/Cruiser 1 Class on his chartered "Formula One" Farr 65 Team Atlantic. "I had an incredible time," said Dockser, who has never raced in the Caribbean before but has dreamed of it. "I got to live the dream and accomplish the dream. Four out of four line-honor wins and four wins on corrected time.I am very excited."
Important to Dockser was the fact that his crew was made up of family members, friends, the crew from his Oyster 70 cruising yacht and a few pro sailors "who really made it come together for all the enthusiastic amateurs.
Having their own race circle for the first time were the IC24s, which have exploded growth-wise in the Caribbean. Introduced to the regatta in 2001, the boat is a hybrid design, constructed from an old J/24 hull with a new deck mold similar to the Melges 24. The result is a yacht that is relatively high-performance, very inexpensive and more comfortable to sail than a J/24.
Chris Curreri (St. Thomas), sailing Brand New Second Hand in the nine-race IC24 series, was barely on the radar after a rough start early in the regatta. Sunday, however, he sent off alarms when he went into his last race tied for first with Seahawk, a British Virgin Islands entry co-skippered by Michael and Robert Hirst. "I grew up sailing against Robert Hirst and some of the others here in the fleet," said Curreri, adding that Hirst is an Olympian and national champion from the British Virgin Islands. "and I was always the light one and they blew me away. In the last race, I flashed back to my childhood and thought, 'It's heavy air, a long beat and we're really light--I'll never hold them off.'" The opposite was true, however, and Curreri took the gun, only a quarter of a boat length ahead of the Hirsts. Reflecting on winning the Rolex watch, the 28-year-old noted that he'd crewed in every Rolex event here since he was eight years old, but never had finished aboard a winning boat. Adding an interesting twist to Brand New Second Hand's victory was the fact that Curreri had only the week before launched the boat, having built it himself using J/24 hull #5.
In J/24s, Fraito Lugo of Ponce, PR sailed Orion/Coors Light to four wins in as many races. He also won last year's event with all bullets.
Carlo Falcone's Caccia Alla Volpe out of Antigua establish his command over Spinnaker Racing Class 1 by the end of day two and topped the seven-boat fleet with three victories over four races.
In Spinnaker Racing 2 Class, J-Bird, skippered by Dave Janes of Newport Beach, Calif., topped the 16-boat fleet, having climbed to the top of the scoreboard on the first day and remained there throughout the four-race series.
Spinnaker Racer/Cruiser 2 Class was won by Geoffrey Pidduck's Antiguan entry Trouble, which barely managed to fend off its closest competitor and runner-up in four-race series/six-boat fleet: Dehlerious, skippered by Bungie Flynn of Roadtown, Tortola, BVI.
Non Spinnaker Racing honors were taken by Wildflower, skippered by Ron Noonan of Marion, Mass., after the boat won two of its three races to top 15 boats.
Class winners received commemorative Rolex Submariners, manufactured with a special green bezel and unique black dial to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the timepiece's debut in 1953.
Complete results and photos are online at www.rolexcupregatta.com
(end)
Spinnaker Racing ("Over 50 ft.") (7 boats)
1. Titan XIII, Tom Hill, San Juan, PR, 1-1-2-1, 5
2. Rosebud, Roger Sturgeon, Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., 5-2-1-2, 10
3. Flirt, Richard Matthews/J. Alvarez, Ipswich, Suffolk, UK, 4-3-3-3, 13
Spinnaker Racing 1(7 boats)
1. Caccia Alla Volpe, Carlo Falcone, Antigua/Italy, 1-3-1-1, 6
2. Cosmic Warlord, Mick Shlens, Palos Verdes Estates, Calif., 3-1-3-4, 11
3. Uma Kua, Julio Reguero, San Juan, PR, 5-3-2-2, 12
Spinnaker Racing 2 (16 boats)
1. J-Bird, Dave Janes, Newport Beach, Calif., 3-1-2-1, 7
2. Lost Horizon II, James Dobbs, St. Thomas, USVI, 4-2-1-2, 9
3. Magnificent 7, John Foster, St. Thomas, USVI, 7-3-3-3, 16
Spinnaker Racer/Cruiser 1 (9 boats)
1. Team Atlantic, Bill Dockser, Bethesda, Md., 1-1-1-1, 4
2. Lazy Dog, Sergio Sagramoso, San Juan, PR, 3-3-2-2, 10
3. Pipe Dream, Peter Haycraft, Roadtown, Tortola, BVI, 2-2-4-3, 11
Spinnaker Racer/Cruiser 2 (6 boats)
1. Trouble, Geoffrey Pidduck, Falmouth, Antigua, 2-1-1-1, 5
2. Dehlerious, Bungie Flynn, Roadtown, Tortola, BVI, 1-2-2-2, 7
3. Tempest, John Haracivet, St. Thomas, USVI, 3-4-3-3, 13
Non Spinnaker Racing (15 boats)
1. Wildflower, Ron Noonan, Marion, Mass., 5-1-1, 7
2. Affinity, Jack Desmond, Marion, Mass., 2-2-3, 7
3. Nemesis, Edwin Cruz Romero, Fajardo, PR, 4-4-4, 12
J/24 (6 boats)
1. Orion/Coors Light, Fraito Lugo, Ponce, PR, 1-1-1-1, 4
2. XX Tu, Juan Jose Mari Agustini, San Juan, PR, 2-2-3-2, 9
3. San Patricio MRI, Carlos Feliciano Sanchez, 4-4-2-6, 16
IC-24 (14 boats)
1. Brand New Second Hand, Christopher Curreri, St. Thomas, USVI, 6-6-1-2-2-5-1-5-1, 29
2. Seahawk, Robert/Michael Hirst, Roadtown, Tortola, BVI, 2-1-2-8-3-4-2-6-4, 32
3. Old & Gray, Chris Rosenberg, St. Thomas, USVI, 4-2-4-7-1-1-8-3-3, 33
Beach Cats (12 boats)
1. Movistar/Suzuki/Red Bull, Enrique Figueroa, San Juan, PR, 1-2-1-1, 5
2. Exodus/Ensysa, Enrique Figueroa, San Juan, PR, 4-1-6-2, 13
3. HF Mortgage Bankers, Ibrahaim Mustafa, San Juan, PR, 3-4-4-4, 15
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