They don’t have passports or visas. They don’t clear customs and immigration. Yet they are welcomed like royalty and Hollywood celebrities everywhere they visit. In fact, there is hardly an island in the Caribbean that doesn’t pay homage to the blue marlin and its fellow billfish by way of hosting a sport fishing tournament. Here [...]

This year’s 33rd running of the annual St. Maarten Heineken Regatta concluded in spectacular style, with scores of racing boats flying down the coast of St. Maarten on the final race from Marigot to Simpson Bay. It was classic Caribbean sailing, fueled by the pumping trade winds and conducted on turquoise seas flecked with whitecaps. [...]

In a stunning preview of coming attractions, forty-five boats in four spinnaker-flying divisions set sail in the sparkling waters of St. Maarten to race in the Gill Commodore’s Cup, the tune-up event to the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta. The traditional warm-up series is sponsored by Gill, the regatta’s official technical apparel supplier. On a day [...]

SINT MAARTEN MARINE TRADES ASSOCIATION The right stuff After much hard work and enthusiasm by the students, volunteers, the St. Maarten Sailing School and the Kids at Sea Foundation, the St. Maarten Marine Trades Association’s ‘Build Your Future’ project was successfully launched in March on St. Maarten’s Kim Sha Beach in Simpson Bay. In attendance [...]

Sint Maarten’s infamous Simpson Bay Lagoon played host to Budget Marine’s 2nd Interlux Open Regatta on February 2-3, its notoriously shifting breezes creating the usual havoc among a skilled fleet of one design sailors. This is a series that sends a hero to zero in the blink of an eye or lifts an unassuming weekend [...]

With a flawless performance from start to finish, 24-year-old Virgin Islands sailor Taylor Canfield did not lose a race en route to a dominating victory in the fifth running of the Budget Marine Match Racing Cup sailed February 26th. Canfield and his stellar crew—four-time Canadian Olympian Richard Clarke, and accomplished Caribbean sailor Mark Plaxton—went undefeated [...]

Maritime Experience Day on The Eye of the Wind Several youngsters from St Maarten-St.Martin had the opportunity to go on board The Eye of the Wind in January to experience a day on a Tall Ship and take an active part in the sailing. Students from the SBO Maritime program, the Maritime School of the [...]

Organized by the St. Maarten Yacht Club (SMYC) for the first time in its nine year history, La Course de L’Alliance, sailed in late November, was an outstanding success and added one more regatta to the clubs already impressive list of sailing events. The regatta is unique in that boats make overnight stops in St. [...]

As the March edition of All At Sea hit the stands, the 33rd Sint Maarten Heineken Regatta got underway and this year a new event has been added to the world famous sailing event. Visitors to the St. Maarten Yacht Club and those interested in match racing will have seen the fleet of one-design Jeanneau [...]

The Caribbean’s winter regatta season is jam-packed with events for every sailor. Here’s what’s happening when and where and how you can join in the fun. Caribbean Sailing Regatta Calendar for January to March 2013 January 18th – 23rd: Mount Gay Rum Round Barbados Race Over 40 yachts including record-holders such as the 105ft Brigantine, [...]

Sint Maarten Sportfishing Foundation Follow Me 5 from French St. Martin was named Champion Boat at the 5th Annual Budget Marine Wahoo Tournament with a massive catch of 336.6lb of fish. Follow Me 5 also sailed off with the Top Angler trophy. Second place went to Yellow Whip from St. Martin with a total 243.5lb. [...]

  In response to the  ever-increasing demand for more flexible dockage programs from its customers, IGY Marinas announces a new 365-day berthing plan for yachts over 80 feet: The Anchor Pass. The Anchor Pass includes 8 IGY destinations, significant dockage discounts and a new refund program on unused dockage. Captains and owners of yachts over [...]

It’s the season to enjoy merry-making. Since the Caribbean region is more sea than land, there are several ways to enjoy nautical-themed holiday celebrations, everything from boat parades to dockyard parties and raft-ups to watch fireworks. CHRISTMAS BOAT PARADE The evening of December 8th is a big one for parades. Club Náutico de San Juan [...]

The Build Your Future Project, a joint initiative of the St. Maarten Marine Trades Association (SMMTA) and the St. Maarten Sailing School, focuses on the building of a vessel known as a Skerry by high school students. The Skerry is a 15-foot Norwegian-style boat that weighs only 90lb and arrives in kit form, a bit like [...]

Changes benefit Grenada Sailing Week The newly formed Grenada Sailing Week (GSW) has a new logo, created by Dwayne Grainger, to go with their new website. The regatta has also embraced social media and news and views about the event can be found on their Facebook page – Grenada Sailing Week. In a press release, Grenada Sailing [...]

  The St. Maarten Harbour Group of Companies has agreed to host the A Class tall ship Christian Radich when it arrives in St. Maarten January 3-6 2013 as part of the Norwegian vessel’s Caribbean itinerary that includes stop-overs in St. Lucia and Antigua. The news was announced by President of the Caribbean Sail Training [...]

Perfect time for you to make your Christmas list for Santa! The Island Water World NEW Catalog 2013 printed in high resolution is due to arrive in the middle of November in St Maarten.  You can find copies of the catalog immediately distributed to the Island Water World islands (and there are quite a lot [...]

Lyman-Morse Opens Service Yard in Panama Yachts visiting the western Caribbean can now enjoy the services offered by Lyman-Morse. The new facility, located in Shelter Bay, Panama, is strategically located near the Caribbean entrance of the Panama Canal and will provide yachtsmen and women a familiar and recognized source for pre-canal transit prep and logistics, [...]

Wavecraft USA continues to expand sales of its new product, the Waveblade.  Two new distributors, Brownie’s YachtDiver and Budget Marine, will now carry the ingenious hand-held power maintenance tool. Brownie’s YachtDiver stores include Brownie’s Palm Beach Divers in Riviera Beach, Florida, and Brownie’s Southport Divers and Brownie’s Yacht Toys, both located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.  [...]

Around St. Maarten Multihull Regatta changes format A statement issued by the St. Maarten-St.Martin Classic Yacht Club Foundation and the Sailing Club St. Maarten Foundation (SCSMF) has named the SCSMF as the new organizing authority for the Around St. Martin Multihull Regatta. The multihull regatta was started three years ago as a race organized by [...]

The prowess of some of the best dinghy sailors in the Caribbean was put to the test August 10th to 12th at the annual Caribbean Dinghy Championships, hosted by the Antigua Yacht Club and Caribbean Sailing Association. Four teams hailing from Antigua, Trinidad & Tobago, Barbados and St. Maarten met at the Falmouth Harbour-based Club [...]

The joy of chartering knows no limit when it comes to age. Just ask 84 and 87-year-old Claire and Dick Reed. The two seniors accompanied their son Glenn and daughter-in-law Heather Dawson on a family yacht charter aboard Select Yachts’ 47ft Beneteau, Piggybank, for this year’s St. Maarten Heineken Regatta. Dick worked the starboard Genoa [...]

Much has changed in the charter world since Commander Nicholson cast off on his first crewed yacht charter in 1949 and Virgin Islands’ sailors followed suit less than a decade later by chartering their homes for $400 dollars a week for a party of four. Today, yacht chartering continues to evolve and it’s shaped both [...]

Abandoned vessels under scrutiny French Saint Martin – Métimer, the French Marine Trades Association, met in July to discuss the number of abandoned vessels and wrecks littering the Simpson Bay Lagoon. At least 25 wrecks have been identified on the French side of the Lagoon and Métimer say they would like to see them removed. [...]

Not many Caribbean junior sailors can say that the competitive spirit behind their successful sailing career was born on snow-covered mountains. Yet this was the case for 16-year-old Rhône Findlay. Rhône’s Olympic racer and ski instructor father, Ruargh, taught him how to ski as a toddler and by the age of five he could ski [...]

Hurricane season is the prime time to haul boats for routine maintenance and repairs. Yet, during the peak of the Caribbean’s winter yachting season it’s good to know that there are a variety of boatyards throughout the region that can offer a number of state-of-the-art services. Here’s a round-up of ‘What’s New’ at a sampling [...]

The eagerly anticipated 15th Annual Saint Martin Billfish Tournament held May 30th to June 2nd on the Marigot waterfront was won by the French St. Martin boat Yellow Whip whose crew revelled in the victor’s spoils … a trophy, copious amounts of champagne (mostly sprayed over the crowd), and a cool $19,150 in prize money. [...]

After six consecutive years of placing second, Frits Bus clinched the win at the 2012 Marlow One Design Regatta. Hosted by the St. Maarten Yacht Club (SMYC), St. Maarten teams took all three top positions. For two days, sixteen teams from six countries battled for the podium in a grueling competition in which boats were [...]

Orient Bay, French St. Martin, is famous for its golden beaches and nude sunbathing. This year Orient also played host to something less risque, the 23rd Heineken Light Open Caribbean Laser Championships. “This is the biggest really interisland Laser regatta in the Caribbean, and that’s what makes it so important,” says organizer and competitor Frits [...]

Clean Marina Award given to THREE IGY Marinas   IGY Marinas announces the granting of the ICOMIA Clean Marina Award (from The International Council of Marine Industry Associations) to its three marinas in the Yacht Haven Grande Collection. Meeting all of the ICOMIA criteria for an environmentally aware facility, Yacht Haven Grande in St. Thomas, Rodney Bay [...]

The in-form Melges 24 Budget Marine Gill received the accolade of Most Worthy Boat at the 8th Annual Captain Oliver’s Regatta, presented by Coors Light and held May 18th-20th, after dominating Racing Monohull Class on Saturday and Sunday. No wonder Chris Marshall wore a grin as broad as a Cheshire cat’s. The local Budget Marine [...]

Many things have changed in the Caribbean since I first tacked into these gin-clear waters in the ‘70s—but one thing has remained constant: the Caribbean is still a sunny place for shady people. The marine community of the Lesser Antilles is primarily (if not exclusively) composed of maladjusted maritime misfits, wonderful waterfront wackos, and colorful [...]

In June 2011 All At Sea published a remarkable front cover: an aerial shot of the ocean-going raft An-Tiki as she approached St. Maarten after a 2000 mile voyage from the Canary Islands. The raft’s arrival caused a media storm. In April, An-Tiki left Sint Maarten to continue her voyage to Eleuthera in the Bahamas. [...]

Gill Commodores Cup is a Breezy opening to 32nd St. Maarten Heineken Regatta There are many adjectives one might employ to describe the sailing conditions in Simpson Bay, off the south coast of St. Maarten, for the running of the Gill Commodores Cup, the kick-off to the 32nd annual St. Maarten Heineken Regatta. “Sporty, sunny, [...]

In absolutely perfect Caribbean racing conditions, with steady trades pumping out of the east at anywhere from 12 to 25 knots, a solid fleet just shy of 200 boats—including a record-setting twenty catamarans and trimarans—set sail in early March in the waters off St. Maarten for the 32nd annual running of the sudsy St. Maarten [...]

The annual migration of billfish and gamefish along the Caribbean island chain makes for great fishing year-round. Even more fun are the tournaments that combine fantastic fishing with nightly dock parties and prizes that span from spiffy trophies to luxury gifts, cash and of course bragging rights until the next tournament rolls around. Here’s a [...]

As some Caribbean regattas struggle this season, it was encouraging to see the St. Maarten Multihull Regatta continuing to grow and attract sponsors. Although in the shadow of the Heineken Regatta a week later, the event, now in its third year, generated much excitement and earned praise from the participants. Ten multihulls, in two classes, [...]

Budget Marine’s Annual Customer Party – A Rocking Success Sint Maarten –Budget Marine treated their customers to a Rock Star Party for their Annual Customer Appreciation night in February. Guests were encouraged to turn up dressed like rock stars and many spared no effort to do just that, the crew of the Mega Yacht Paraffin [...]

Moving freight under sail In February crowds gathered at the St Maarten Yacht Club (SMYC) to watch Tres Hombres – a 32-meter engineless brigantine – pass through the Simpson Bay Bridge. Despite delays, due to the engineless vessel struggling in gusty winds, the brigantine was given a warm and friendly welcome by spectators and mega [...]

This year’s St. Maarten Heineken Regatta has again attracted top sailors from around the world. While competitors can expect the usual exciting competition, the event will go ahead without regatta founder and head of the steering committee, Robbie Ferron, whose shock resignation over policy came just weeks before the first boat crossed the line. This [...]