March 28, 2004 — After two days of variable winds, rains, challenging sea conditions, and one abandoned race, the 31st annual International Rolex Regatta closed with a steady dose of standard Caribbean 15-18 knot breezes. Although the conditions only settled down to standard in the second half of the last day, most of the class winners had consolidated their positions in the tricky first two days of racing.
Rain showers and calms were the order of the day Friday and early Sunday, with big northerly swells and a shifting dying breeze challenging sailors on Saturday. "I was surprised but not disappointed to see the race committee send the fleet out north into the big swells," said St. Thomas Commodore Peter Holmberg. "These races are supposed to bring out the best in sailors and their abilities to race in ocean conditions, and Saturday's race was a good test for everybody large or small."
The Virgin Islands' designed-and-built IC-24 Class sailed on a different course and sailed nine races, far more that any other class.
Chris Curreri, sailing the IC-24 Brand New Second Hand, was barely on the radar after a rough start early in the regatta, but Sunday he sent off alarms when he went into the last of three races tied for first with yesterday's leader, Seahawk, a British Virgin Islands entry co-skippered by Michael and Robert Hirst.
"I grew up sailing against Robert Hirst and some of the others here in the fleet," said Curreri, adding that Hirst is an Olympian and national champion from the British Virgin Islands.
"And I was always the light one, and they blew me away. Today in the last race, I flashed back to my childhood and thought, 'It's heavy air, a long beat and we're really light — I'll never hold them off," Curreri said.
The opposite was true, however, and Curreri took the gun, only a quarter of a boat length ahead of the Hirsts.
Reflecting on winning the Rolex watch, the 28-year-old Curreri noted that he'd crewed in every Rolex event here since he was eight years old, but never had finished aboard a winning boat. Adding an interesting twist to Brand New Second Hand's victory was the fact that Curreri had only last week launched the boat, having built it himself using a J/24 hull #5 and adding the Melges 24-like deck that makes this hybrid class unique if not unusual.
For the remaining eight classes, which sailed on a different circle than the IC-24s, a 180-degree wind shift in today's would-be first race begged the race committee's mercy and resulted in abandonment. A race that followed in 15 knots was completed and determined the class victors.
Locking in to keep the Spinnaker Racing "Over 50-foot" Class lead today was Tom Hill's Titan XII, a Reichel/Pugh 75 launched just last year. Rosebud, the Reichel/Pugh Transpac 52 owned by Roger Sturgeon of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., was Hill's closest competitor and finished second.
"When today's first race was cancelled, we were going the same direction as Rosebud but they were on the opposite tack," said Hill. "We're not sure how we would have made out against them if the race had continued and the wind stayed on their side. It was so much fun sailing a bigger boat here," added Hill, who has won the event four times before, also sailing boats named Titan but never a Titan so large. "We were going 20-21 knots on the first day."
Bill Dockser of Bethesda, Md., also was enjoying going fast again today to win today's race and the series for the Spinnaker Racer/Cruiser 1 Class on his chartered Formula One Farr 65 Team Atlantic. "I had an incredible time," said Dockser, who has never raced in the Caribbean before but has dreamed of it. "I got to live the dream and accomplish the dream. Four out of four line-honor wins and four wins on corrected time … I am very excited."
"Today when the wind shifted and died in the first race, we were way out in front," said Dockser. "We were frustrated when the race committee cancelled, but we were confident that if we resumed another race, we would be able to win."
In Beach Cats, it came as no surprise that Puerto Rico's 2004 Olympic Tornado team of Enrique Figueroa and crew Jorge Fernandez aboard Movistar/Suzuki/Red Bull won its final race to clench a four-race series. This was the first year in recent history that the Beach Cats were not divided into spinnaker and non-spinnaker racing classes.
Sailing to a Portsmouth handicap while other classes sailed to the Caribbean Sailing Association rating rule, the Beach Cats were dominated by Figueroa's Hobie Tiger, sailing with a spinnaker. Close on his heels in second was the Hobie 16 Exodus/Ensysa, sailing without a spinnaker and skippered by another, but unrelated, Enrique Figueroa, also from Puerto Rico.
Carlo Falcone's Caccia Alla Volpe out of Antigua maintained his command over Spinnaker Racing Class 1 by winning today's race, while in J/24s, Fraito Lugo of Ponce, P.R., sailed Orion/Coors Light to another victory today after posting three wins in as many races over the last two days. He also won last year's event with all bullets.
In Spinnaker Racing 2 Class, J-Bird, skippered by Dave Janes of Newport Beach, Calif., won, while Spinnaker Racer/Cruiser 2 Class was won by Geoffrey Pidduck's Antiguan entry Trouble. Non-Spinnaker Racing honors were taken by Wildflower, skippered by Ron Noonan of Marion, Mass.
Top three winners:
Spinnaker Racing ("Over 50 ft.")
(7 boats)
1. Titan XII, Tom Hill, San Juan, P.R., 1-1-2-1, 5
2. Rosebud, Roger Sturgeon, Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., 5-2-1-2, 10
3. Flirt, Richard Matthews/J. Alvarez, Ipswich, Suffolk, UK, 4-3-3-3, 13
Spinnaker Racing 1
(7 boats)
1. Caccia Alla Volpe, Carlo Falcone, Antigua/Italy, 1-3-1-1, 6
2. Cosmic Warlord, Mick Shlens, Palos Verdes Estates, Calif., 3-1-3-4, 11
3. Uma Kua, Julio Reguero, San Juan, P.R., 5-3-2-2, 12
Spinnaker Racing 2
(16 boats)
1. J-Bird, Dave Janes, Newport Beach, Calif., 3-1-2-1, 7
2. Lost Horizon II, James Dobbs, St. Thomas, U.S.V.I., 4-2-1-2, 9
3. Magnificent 7, John Foster, St. Thomas, U.S.V.I., 7-3-3-3, 16
Spinnaker Racer/Cruiser 1
(9 boats)
1. Team Atlantic, Bill Dockser, Bethesda, Md., 1-1-1-1, 4
2. Lazy Dog, Sergio Sagramoso, San Juan, P.R., 3-3-2-2, 10
3. Pipe Dream, Peter Haycraft, Roadtown, Tortola, B.V.I., 2-2-4-3, 11
Spinnaker Racer/Cruiser 2
(6 boats)
1. Trouble, Geoffrey Pidduck, Falmouth, Antigua, 2-1-1-1, 5
2. Dehlerious, Bungie Flynn, Roadtown, Tortola, B.V.I., 1-2-2-2, 7
3. Tempest, John Haracivet, St. Thomas, U.S.V.I., 3-4-3-3, 13
Non Spinnaker Racing
(15 boats)
1. Wildflower, Ron Noonan, Marion, Mass., 5-1-1, 7
2. Affinity, Jack Desmond, Marion, Mass., 2-2-3, 7
3. Nemesis, Edwin Cruz Romero, Fajardo, P.R., 4-4-4, 12
J/24
(6 boats)
1. Orion/Coors Light, Fraito Lugo, Ponce, P.R., 1-1-1-1, 4
2. XX Tu, Juan Jose Mari Agustini, San Juan, P.R., 2-2-3-2, 9
3. San Patricio MRI, Carlos Feliciano Sanchez, 4-4-2-6, 16
IC-24
(14 boats)
1. Brand New Second Hand, Christopher Curreri, St. Thomas, U.S.V.I., 6-6-1-2-2-5-1-5-1, 29
2. Seahawk, Robert/Michael Hirst, Roadtown, Tortola, B.V.I., 2-1-2-8-3-4-2-6-4, 32
3. Old & Gray, Chris Rosenberg, St. Thomas, U.S.V.I., 4-2-4-7-1-1-8-3-3, 33
Beach Cats
(12 boats)
1. Movistar/Suzuki/Red Bull, Enrique Figueroa, San Juan, P.R., 1-2-1-1, 5
2. Exodus/Ensysa, Enrique Figueroa, San Juan, P.R., 4-1-6-2, 13
3. HF Mortgage Bankers, Ibrahaim Mustafa, San Juan, P.R., 3-4-4-4, 15
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