The end of a tight three-way battle for the Rolex Cup saw Crash Test Dummies of Trinidad prevail in the last race.
Beautiful sailing conditions in Pilsbury sound between St. Thomas and St. John appeared to favor the A Class boats with Crash Test Dummies leading the class into the top four spots on Sunday. A seventh place fleet finish for Chris Rosenberg's Marriott Frenchman's Reef dropped the defending champion into third behind Mermaid II of the BVI.
Crash Test Dummies, in the hunt for the Rolex win in 1999, has crowned a northern Caribbean racing season that started with a racing class victory in the 2000 St. Maarten Heineken Regatta.
Outgoing champion Rosenberg said of the new winners, "They have a fast boat and sail it very, very well. They earned this victory."
The close loss of Rolex did not keep Frenchman's Reef from garnering the CORT (Caribbean Ocean Racing Triangle) Series prize as champion yacht with Who's Yo Daddy second and Mermaid II third. In the CORT cruiser/racer class Tempest is the series champ.
In all 90 boats competed in the 2000 Rolex making Sunday's racing area a colorful sea of sails. This number of boats in a small starting area caused some problems. The Sunday race was marred by a pre-race collision between Donnybrook, a 72-foot racer and Calvin a 38 foot entrant in the Jib and Main class. The stern of Donnybrook swung around during a turn and holed Calvin toward the bow, both boats retired but neither was in danger of sinking. The damage was a depressing blow to Dan Neri, the owner of Calvin, and former St. Thomas resident and popular racer and sailmaker. "We (Neri, his wife and son) were just cruising through the area and plan to go home in two weeks, now the time will be spent in the boat yard instead of sailing," said Neri.
The results class by class show some of the international nature of the Rolex Cup competition.
Class A: first Crash Test Dummies, Trinidad, second Mermaid II, BVI, third Who's Yo Daddy, USA. Class B: first Umakua, Puerto Rico, second Ex Mero Moto, P.R., third Sun Bum P.R. Class C: first Marriott Frenchman's Reef, St. Thomas, second Airgasm, BVI, third Carib Matra, St. Maarten. Class D: first Twisted Lizard, USA, second Lost Horizon II, Antigua, third Magnificent 7, St. Thomas. Class E: Sorceress, St. Croix, Zing, St. John, TSG, St. Thomas.
For compete results from the 2000 Rolex Regatta check out the Rolex web site at www.rolexregatta.
