2018 Chronicle - Cata Cup, St Barthelemy

November 15-18, 2018

Cata Cup is one of the best F18 regattas to attend in the world. It is in its 11th edition and has become an annual classic sought out by sailors from around the world. Cata Cup is sailed at Saint Barthelemy (more commonly called St Barts) which is part of France in the West Indies 150 miles (240 km) east of Puerto Rico. A small 10 square mile volcanic island with a population of 9,600 it is one of the most exclusive tourist destinations in the Caribbean with vacation homes for many movie stars.

St Barts hosts this regatta to provide an event where the local F18 sailors are able to race against the best in the world without having to travel far. Some of the local boats are from St Barts, others from the neighboring island of St Maarten who sail their boats to St Barts, and other Caribbean islands from which their boats are shipped by barge to St Barts.

The event is also a major promotional effort for the island with numerous sponsors to reduce the cost to the competitors. This year three 40 foot containers with about 10 boats each were shipped from Europe and one container was shipped from Sarasota, Florida loaded with 11 boats after the conclusion of the World Championships there.

This year there were 50 boats entered with competitors from 17 countries including seven boats that were former F18 World Champions, Continental Champions, Olympians, including some who had won medals, and former Cata Cup champions. Going into the regatta the favorities to win were Danny Paschalidis and Konstantinos Trigonis from Greece who had just won the F18 World Championship in Florida and were the defending champions from the 2017 Cata Cup.

Our container loaded with 11 boats in Sarasota, Florida

This was my second Cata Cup. My previous experience was in 2014 which was an unusually windy regatta with high seas. I was hopefully looking forward to a more typical regatta with moderate winds and seas.

The Team

For this Cata Cup I teamed up with Michael Risoer who is Danish but now living in San Diego. Michael is a former Danish National Team member where he was sailing Tornados (also a catamaran) training for the Olympics. He currently races F18s in San Diego and though we had never raced together before I was confident that he could handle the tough conditions in St Barts.

Logistics and Preparation

On Sunday Michael and I flew from San Diego to St Maarten which has the largest international airport in the area. We spent one night on St Maarten and then took the early ferry to St Barts which was a very rough ride. On the ferry there were other Cata Cup sailors and we heard from them that the weather forecast for the entire week was heavy winds. We spent the first day unloading our boat from the container and reassembling it. The container port is on the opposite side of the island so once the boat was ready we needed to sail it to the regatta beach off St Jean Bay.

By Tuesday afternoon we were ready to sail around. There were periodic squalls coming through the area so we timed our departure right after a squall had passed. We had an easy sail and were surprised when we arrived in St Jean Bay that the wind had decreased so we spent some time practicing as the decksweeper mainsail was new to Michael.

Most of the F18s were based at Nikki Beach with the famous Nikki beach bar and restaurant. There were tents on the beach to serve as race HQ and the restaurant was next door where we ate our lunches and had many of our evening dinners.

As part of the regatta package we were also provided with housing. We were assigned to a villa in the mountains to share with a French team from St Maarten and one of the other American crews. The St Maarten team had sailed their boat to the island on Monday in the very rough seas.

On Wednesday the winds were up in the 20 to 23 knots range so we went for a practice sail. We stayed inside St Jean Bay since it is more sheltered from the big waves and had a good practice. When we got back to the villa we found out that French crew had injured his knee during practice and that it was knocking them out of the competition. They ended up sailing their boat back to St Maarten on Saturday, the windiest day of all, but sailed using only their jib since it was all downwind. Later we heard that they had arrived safely.

The Races

The Cata Cup is different from the typical round-the-bouys race for F18s. For four days two races are scheduled per day with a long lunch break at the beach in between races. Instead of a standard course, the race is invented by the regatta chairperson just before we go out. Each morning there is a meeting at 9:00 to explain the course and then the start is around 10:30. We diligently record the course onto our own chart of the island and then tape it to our mainsail. It helped tremendously that I had raced here once before.

The PRO (Principle Race Officer) presenting the course for the first race

Race Day #1

Thursday, the first race day, there were squalls coming through every 20-30 minutes so the R/C kept us safely at Nikki Beach until after lunch. Around 1:00 the squalls cleared so they sent us out for the first race. The first race was almost a traditional triangle race course because they wanted to keep us in St Jean Bay for safety and to see the capabilities of the fleet. The race consisted of two laps with a finish line near Nikki beach. We had a relatively good start and our boat speed was good. We were in the top tier of the fleet and finished in 10th place. We passed the Greek boat (the 2018 F18 World Champions) 100 meters from the finish line because they went to close to shore where the cliff blanketed the wind.

Race Day #2

When we arrived on Friday the R/C said we would sail again inside St Jean Bay but gave us a slightly different course. When we were race the wind was 20 – 23 knots with good waves 4-6 feet. We finished 12th in this race so became confident that we could stay in the top tier of the fleet.

After a big sit-down lunch at Nikki Beach they briefed us on the afternoon race. Since the wind abated a little to 18-21 knots they decided to send us on a long race into the open water. This race had a very long down wind leg to a square rock sticking out of the water which was our leeward turning mark. You have to be careful to not go too close to the “mark” because it blankets the wind. We had a good race to finish in 10th again. We found that everyone in the top 15 boats was fairly consistent in their finishes so it seemed that a pecking order was in place. In this race Enrique Figueroa from Puerto Rico dismasted when his port shroud stay pulled out of the hull of his Scorpion boat. A good team effort that evening fixed to boat so he was ready to race again on Saturday.

Sailing behind the island with our Swedish rival

Race Day #3

Saturday was again very windy in the 20-24 knots range. Though normally they sail a race around the entire island the R/C did not want to risk sending us around the very rough north east corner of the island so they invented a new course taking us half-way around the island in the safer counter clockwise direction and then back. This race took only about 2 hours with the strong winds and was a very fun race. The half-way turning mark had to be set very close to the shore due to water depth so there was nearly no wind there. It was very frustrating for many boats to get around this mark but we managed to get around it quickly. We had some very tight racing with the lead changing often between the boats around us. We were happy to finish 7th in this race. After the poor first race for the Greek boat they were consistently finishing first with a good margin. After this fourth race there is a throw out which put them on top.

After another big sit-down lunch we are sent out for the final race of the day.

The race starts in St Jean Bay but then we go between two of the smaller islands, head off-shore to another island and then return through the Anse Paschal straight where the wind is very strong due to the tunnel effect and the waves are like being in a washing machine because the waves bounce off the shore. It was tricky to figure out which side of the straight to play but after doing several races through here it seemed you want to stay to the right to go along the shore. We finished 11th in this race maintaining our consistency. It felt good going into the last race not needing the throw-out race. The R/C promised us a special surprise race for Sunday but also postponed the competitor’s meeting until 10:00 so people could party longer in the evening.

Race Day #4

For Sunday, since it is the last day of racing, only one race was scheduled. At the race briefing they announce that we are going around the island since the wind strength decreased a little to 18-22 knots. The course was set as clockwise around the island back to St Jean Bay then around a buoy to return to the container harbor so in effect this race was about 1.4 times the distance around the island. The R/C also warned us the on the northwest corner of the island it was very rough and they would have plenty of safety boats along this shore but that if we went too close to shore and capsized they would only be able to rescue the crews and not the boat which would then wash up on the rocks.

We had a good start for this race and were up with the leaders. We ended going a little too far off-shore. The leaders were tacking up the shore to get around Turtle Island. Once we got around the top of the island it was time to reach off. The waves were very hairy here and almost on our beam. I decided to sit in to be safer. Shortly afterwards Michael was slammed by a wave and knocked into me. In the process of recovering we almost tacked and capsized but managed to get the boat going again. If I had not been sitting in most likely we would have capsized. On the leeward side of the island it was golden sailing with flat water and 18-20 knots of wind. At one point we almost ran into a large sea turtle (about two feet across) that would have destroyed our daggerboard.

Then it was back into St Jean Bay with the high winds and waves again to turn around to head back to the container port. We finished 12th in this race. We felt if that we had played the shore going to Turtle Island we would have finished in the top ten.

At the top of the fleet there was drama. The Greek team had an extensive lead but rounded the weather mark in the wrong direction taking it to starboard instead of the required port.I understand their making the mistake because for many of the marks in this regatta the rounding was to starboard.When the Greek team crossed the finish line they did not get a horn and were told they had sailed the course wrong. This mistake pushed them to fourth place because now their 11th place finish in the first race counted in their score.

Boglioli was the sponsor of our boat. They are a high end clothing designer from Milan, Italy.

For the final results there was a three way tie on points for first place, but then on the tie breaker rules Patrick Demesmaeker from Belgium took 1st, Enrique Figueroa from Puerto Rico was 2nd, and Pablo Volker from Argentina was 3rd. Pablo was the 2016 F18 World Champion. We were happy with our 11th place finish: the top team from the US. This was one of my most consistent regattas such that on total points without a throw-out we would have been 9th.

Cata Cup Wrap Up

We then had the afternoon to tear our boats down and get them loaded back into the container before the awards party at 8:00 pm. The next day Michael and I enjoyed one of the scenic St Barts beaches before flying over to St Maarten to head home.

Anse Paschal straight we had sailed often through

St Barts is known for having a very short runway that is especially difficult for landing. Take-off was easier heading straight toward St Jean Bay where we had been sailing the last five days. We could just imagine the sight from all the planes taking off over our F18 fleet racing the Cata Cup.

Taking off at St Barts flying over St Jean Bay

Major kudos to the Cata Cup organizers for hosting one of the premier F18 events in the world. Many thanks to Michael’s wife Sharon for allowing Michael to join me on this adventure having a four month old daughter at home. And thank you to Michael for his enthusiasm for sailing in the high winds and large waves. And of course, many thanks to my wife Alida who supports me in my F18 hobby and who helped me drive the F18 to Florida to participate in the Worlds and Cata Cup!