Press Release 2024 #6
After literally crushing the competition at the F18 World Championships on the Costa Brava last summer, Pablo Volkër & Federico Polimeni (Saint-Barth Assurances) were naturally among the top contenders at 16th édition of the St.Barth Cata Cup. While they lived up to their reputation by winning the first race of this regatta, they met with some stiff competition from their adversaries, in particular Patrick Demesmaeker & Olivier Gagliani (Les Perles de St Barth – Bativrd). Behind the Belgians by three slim points at the dawn of the day of the final race, the Spaniards prevailed and sailed to victory, succeeding Ravi Parent & Nicolas Lovisa as winners of this regatta!
“It was close, but not meant to be,” laments Patrick Demesmaeker. In fact, he was hoping that he and Olivier Gagliani would succeed in their quest to be the first team to add their names to the list of Cata Cup winners for the third time, having already won in 2015 and again in 2018. “The tour around the island, which the race committee saved for today, started out well enough for us. We were feeling good and moved up to fourth place, in front of our direct adversaries, but sadly, going downwind, our spinnaker tack line broke. That cost us time as we tried to fix it, but we never really succeeded,” explains the Belgian skipper, who fell back four places in the fight to the finish, losing the chance for victory in the overall ratings by three small points. “Of course, we would have liked to have finished in first place, but we are happy in spite of everything. Before the start of the compétition, we’d have been thrilled if they told us we’d finish in second place. But it’s a shame as we came so close to achieving a hat-trick,” notes the helmsman of Les Perles de St Barth – Bativdr, who was able to control his principal rivals and keep them in his rearview mirror until the breakage occurred. But even their top competitors did not rest easy during this highly technical final race, whose results cannot be subtracted from the overall standings.
Kept In Suspense
“There were little problems all day today. On the windward side of the island, one of our trapezes gave way and Federico found himself in the water, which cost us 5 or 6 places. After that, we were able to quickly remobilize and catch up with the leaders but we once again lost ground after catching a fishing trap in one of our daggerboards. Luckily, it freed itself so that we didn’t have to cut it loose, but it gave us a little scare, which lasted right up to the end as once we crossed the finish line, we had to with a few seconds to see the results Patrick and Trois Pommes, and be assured of our victory. In this sense, it was satisfying for us to see them arrive only in eighth position,” relates Pablo, who closes out an already successful season with this victory. ”This year was really exceptional for Federico and me, and this victory at the St.Barth Cata Cup is the cherry on the cake!,” says the current F18 World Champion, who already experienced the podium in this event in 2018 (third place) along with Sergio Mehl.