Team IWW 1, wins Sint Maarten Yacht Club Keelboat 2022 series opener

The Sint Maarten Yacht club organized the first Keelboat racing of the ‘22-23  season now that the hurricane season is almost finished.

The Keelboat series consist of several races through the season until June when hurricane season starts again.Boats are being stored and packed away so the first race is always a challenge to shake the cobwebs off and get the teams working in cohesion again. The weather and conditions for the day could not be better for the rusty sailors with a mild South Easterly causing many wind shifts and pressure differences.

Joylon Ferron showed up with his new Melges 24 adding to the previous racing 4 Melges 24 ‘s Budget Marine  and showed to be a force to be reckoned with . With 2 wins in the first races with Team IWW 1 in second . Unfortunately they made a mistake in the 3 rd and last race while in 2nd position behind Team IWW 1.

Team IWW performance was remarkable because  helmsman Frits Bus ( the current commodore of the YC) broke his shoulder a few weeks ago snd managed to helm with one hand.

Garth s Steyn J-70 sailed  excellent consistent race s finishing in 3 rd as the only non Melges 24 in the CSA 1, racing class.

In the multi hull class only 2 Diams participated. Cry Baby, with Pierre Altier at the helm, in first.

Next event for the Yachts will be the Course d’Alliance from 2-4 December when the old format will return since Covid with racing to St Barths , to Anguilla and back to SXM.