March 24, 2008 – Peter Holmberg St. Thomas native, America's Cup helmsman and Olympic silver medallist, has teamed up with ONDECK Ocean Racing to drive one of their high-performance Farr 40s in this weekend's 35th annual International Rolex Regatta.
"This is the first time that we've had quality race boats available for charter in the Virgin Islands," Holmberg said. "It's a great opportunity for our islands and for the International Rolex Regatta to have a performance charter fleet available to sailors who come here to sail from around the world."
The International Rolex Regatta marks Holmberg's first local sailing event since returning home after being one of the helmsmen for Team Alinghi, the Switzerland-based syndicate that successfully defended the 32nd America's Cup in July in the waters off Valencia, Spain.
ONDECK, which began offering its fleet for charter in 2004, has offered its Volvo 60, Farr 65s and 40s and Beneteau 40.7s for charter for the International Rolex Regatta.
The company, with Caribbean bases both in St. Thomas and Antigua, also offered race charters this year for the Port Louis Grenada Sailing Festival, St. Croix International Regatta, Regata Presidente Cup at Casa de Campo in the Dominican Republic, and St. Maarten Heineken Regatta. Charters are also available upcoming for the BVI Spring Regatta & Sailing Festival and Stanford Antigua Sailing Week, of which ONDECK is a sponsor.
ONDECK, known locally for its crewed racing excursions for cruise ship passengers and hotel visitors, has enlisted Holmberg to help them tune up the race-charter side of their business.
"In the run up to the International Rolex Regatta, we've been upgrading ONDECK's boats to a highly-competitive race-ready condition so they are also well-prepared for future race charters," Holmberg said, "We've also trained several of the ONDECK crew to become high caliber sailors better able to assist in future competitive race charters."
In addition to himself on the helm, Holmberg will have some ace local talent onboard with him for the International Rolex Regatta. Maurice Kurg will call tactics, brother John Holmberg will work pit/crew boss, and Dean Cole will lend power. From ONDECK, Travis Ross, J.C. Burke and Beren Argetsinger will round out the crew.
"I think it will benefit the International Rolex Regatta and all Caribbean regattas to have a business offering race pedigree boats for charter," Holmberg said. "This enables sailors from afar to just fly in and charter a competitive boat, and not have to ship their boat down."
Closer to home, Holmberg adds, " I am also happy to see a first class sailing business invest in St. Thomas, and help revitalize our marine economy."
