The St Barth Cata Cup 2014 has started. On the first day the F18 sailors had some real challenging conditions. With a 15 to 20 knot breeze and 2 meter-high waves some teams had a pretty hard time and skipped the the race or had to abandon due to capsize or injury. But overall, two nice races with a well aligned fleet on the starting line. The sporting level for the top racers was very high and the first 5 battled it out well.
The winner of Design Affairs Prize are Franck Cammas and teammate Matthieu Vandame, followed by Morgan Lagravière and Arnaud Jarlegan. Fresh USA F18 Champion Mike Easton together with F18 Youth World Champion Matthew Whitehead, who are both newcomers at the St-Barth Cata Cup, impressed with a 3rd place finish. In 4th position John Casey and Colin Page are sailing a steady course ‘again’. At the F18 U.S. Nationals they ended up on the podium despite the fact that this is just their 2nd regatta they’re sailing as a team. Former F18 World Champion Billy Besson together with his Olympic Nacra 17 crew Marie Riou are just 2 points behind, but also have their own battle with the Belgium team Demesmaeker/Gagliani. Both teams are equal with 11 points.
On Friday two races are scheduled. Conditions are looking good, similair to Thursday.
Top 10 results:
1. Franck CAMMAS/Matthieu VANDAME (3 points)
2. Morgan LAGRAVIERE/Arnaud JARLEGAN (4 points)
3. Mike EASTON/Matthew WHITEHEAD (5 points)
4. John CASEY/Colin PAGE (9 points)
5. Billy BESSON/Marie RIOU (11 points)
6. Patrick DEMESMAEKER/Olivier GAGLIANI (11 points)
7. Emmanuel BOULOGNE/Vincent BOULOGNE (15 points)
8. Anthony BOUEILH/Maxime LOISELLE (19 points)
9. Frederic DUTHIL/Frederic MOREAU (20 points)
10. Orion MARTIN/Charles GATE (22 points)
Full results can be found here. Follow the St. Barth Cata Cup 2014 on the website or Facebook eventpage.
Photo credits: Pascal Alemany