Keep track of the regatta with Twitter

Join this ultimate cat-race/holiday now!
Download here a subsribtionform for the Aruba Heineken Regatta 2010 and send it to Discover bv (adress below).

Organisation/Information/Subscription
Discover bv, Edwin Lodder
Aluin 3
2719 TS Zoetermeer 
The Netherlands
Tel/Fax +31 (0)79 3429868
Mobile : +31 (6)51134452
E-mail: info@arubaregatta.nl

www.arubaregatta.com

"I have never ever started with 40 knots breeze", said Xander Pols on the beach. Just before the first race in the afternoon, a squall with gale force winds came over. John Moret and Paul Smissaert tried to bear away for the line, but pitch poled merciless. That was already the second unfortunate moment for the Dutch F18 sailors on this fourth day. Their mainsail came undone in the morning, so they missed the first gun and fought back to a sixth position. But the second time of bad luck put an end to today's racing, as they fell through the mainsail and they struggled to get the boat upright again. Leo Ambtman and Maarten Kroon (NED) sailed their Tornado well and overtook the second position overall.

Although the Pols brothers won every race, there were also some surprises on the course. The Dutch F18 sailors Willie van der Heijden and Arthur Moerman finished second and third in the afternoon. And the mixed Aruban/Dutch team of Friso Bakker and Henk Hankarth was first over the line in the morning. Bakker with a smile: "We finished ahead of Xander, which is a legendary moment." They are sailing a Dart 18 and have to do one lap less. Bakker: "We were too late with entering the Worlds. That is why we are participating at the Aruba Regatta, but we are enjoying it very much."