Press Release 2024 #5
This week, it has been impossible to predict what might happen in terms of the weather conditions in Saint Barthélemy. Actually, there was more wind than predicted on Thursday and Friday, which allowed the race committee for the St.Barth Cata Cup to validate four races, against all odds, but the reverse played out on Saturday. Even if the wind was less constant than expected, it was possible for the 53 duos in competition to sail one good race between the Bay of Saint Jean and the small islands of Pelé and Le Boulanger. A race whose results tightened the difference between the leaders in the overall standings. Case in point, in the lead, Patrick Demesmaeker and Olivier Gagliani (Les Perles de St. Barth – Bativrd) are now only three small points in advance of Pablo Völker and Federico Polimeni (Saint-Barth Assurances), winners of the “ St Barth Assurances Allianz” Prize. To win their bet of being the first team to add their names to the winners list of the regatta for the third time, the Belgians do not have the slightest room for error on Sunday!
After being quite pessimistic for the past two days, the meteorologists were a bit more optimistic when it came to Saturday. While the 10-15 knots expected didn’t amount to more than light breezes, it didn’t matter as the race committee got one race completed before the wind died down out on the water completely. “The race course, almost in the shape of a long rectangle between Chevreau, Pelé, and Le Boulanger, was absolutely magnificent!,” relates Benjamin Amiot (Stickerman 2), who was clearly more at ease today than over the past two days of the regatta. “Since the debut, the conditions have not been favorable for heavier crews, but today there was a little bit more wind (between 7 and 12 knots, editor’s note) and we really enjoyed ourselves. We were even able to sail with a double trapeze a few times,” adds Amiot’s teammate, happy with their third place at the end of the race. “We were seventh or eighth at the starting buoy, but gained time under spinnaker, at the end, passing the islands. Sometimes it’s easier when you are a little behind as you can observe what is happening up ahead. That gave us the chance to weigh our options,” indicates Benjamin, having catapulted from ninth to sixth place in the overall standing at the end of this fifth race.