10th St
Maarten Deep
Sea Challenge
Another Hemingwayesque
performance from Lee Halley (of Lee’s Roadside Grill fame) aboard
Challenge grabbed top honors in the Presidente Deep Sea
Fishing Tournament, organised by the St Maarten Big Game Fishing Foundation,
and held out of Chesterfield’s
on November 11-13.
Halley and crew wrestled onboard a 56lb Yellow Fin Tuna from the
drop-off near Anguilla. None of the other 11
competing boats – coming from afar as Antigua
– could top Halley’s Tuna for weight, leaving the popular island
restaurateur $1,000 richer in prize money.
Although no Billfish were boated during the tournament, the overall haul
was worth the diesel – 62 Wahoo, 9 Yellow Fin, 8
Mahi Mahi.
Bobby’s
Marina has new production manager, car park
Among the many changes taking place at
Bobby’s Marina in
Great Bay
this season is the arrival of a new production manager. Hailing from False Bay,
Simonstown,
South Africa, Graham Heard took over the running of the yard in late
August.
Listening to Heard’s every word will be
a staff of 22 yard technicians, who between them average three hauls a day
minimum, as well as the ongoing maintenance of local charter boats,
inter-island ferries and cruise ship tenders.
“Keeping everyone working together as a team,” and
“communication” are Heard’s
immediate priorities, as well as helping to train local schoolchildren in
marine industry skills.
Visitors returning to Bobby’s this
season will also notice some striking structural changes. A substantial part of
the boat yard has been emptied, levelled and turned into a car park. The
much-needed space was liberated by auctioning off abandoned boats and clearing
junk.
On the water side, pilings are already driven in, ready for the planned
expansion of the marina to incorporate up to 12 mega yachts (see
All At Sea, December 2004). The project
will see the marina expand and modernise, with a parade of small retail outlets
opening up on the dockside currently occupied by the smaller boat lifts.
Still waiting for the rubber stamp, however, is the construction of the
$5 million boat yard in Cole
Bay (see
AAS, September 2004) which will include
a 500-ton travelift.
12-Metre
Yacht Club
A new restaurant with a marine theme has
just opened at Bobby’s Marina,
on the site of the old ‘Blue Peter’. Launched by Colin Percy, the
‘St Maarten 12-Metre Yacht Club’ is a 130-seat, fully computerised
eatery that blends New England, West Coast
Canadian and local flavours. While the Yacht Club is an extension of the
12-Metre ‘brand’, the Canadian team behind the launch has gone
beyond simple yachtie grub. The evening menu is
upscale and eclectic while bar innovations include special Martini chillers and
ice troughs to put your beer bottle in.
Golden
Rock Regatta makes impressive debut
Eight boats and some 60 Dutch and Belgian
sailors made the trip to St Maarten in mid-November for the first Golden Rock
Regatta, in association with the Dutch Flevamore Yacht Club. The seven strong Bareboat fleet, chartering out
of the St Martin Moorings base, completed the five-day regatta that began with
a midnight sail from Great
Bay to St Kitts, which was diverted to
Nevis due to bad weather. Day two was a dash to St
Barths, followed by a more benign run down to Statia on day three. Day
four’s racing was around Statia, as part of the island’s annual
celebration as the first foreign nation to recognise American Independence, in
1776. Day five was a sprint back to St Maarten.
Team La Torsa, sailing a Moorings GibSea 43, captained by Robby Schutte
took overall honors. Day three’s winner was the
only entrant from St Maarten – perennial local campaigner Jan van den Eynde winning the Open Class in his 29-foot Soca. Second
overall went to ez2sail.com, with De Wilgen Vastgoed taking third.
Course
de l’Alliance disappoints
The 2nd Course de l’Alliance, switched this year to November from June,
drew only six entrants, with the Dutch side of the island unrepresented.
Despite an extended format, to include a feeder race from Guadeloupe, and
racing between St Maarten, Anguilla and St
Barths, numbers were disappointingly down on last year’s debut tally of
18 boats.
The Regatta was won by Guadeloupe’s Marina Bas Du Fort, sailed by Daniel Segalowicz,
with St Martin’s Philippe Herve, aboard Vanille, coming in second. Guadeloupe’s
Lynx Optique
took third. Winner in the one-strong Multihull class
was St Martin’s Jean Allaire
aboard Rhavy.
