Wednesday, March 16, 2016

EL OCASO King of Gill Commodores Cup!

J/39 sailing Heineken Regatta (Simpson Bay, Sint Maarten)- The 10th edition of the GILL Commodore's Cup featured a record entry of 84 boats for the stand alone event prior to the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta. David Pritchard, President of Gill North America, was delighted with the record entry and the long association with the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta. “Coming to the Caribbean is a joy for us and working with an outstanding partner like Heineken really energizes us. Heineken is not just a co-sponsor but a customer of this regatta and ours lets us collaborate with Heineken and many of our customers, as well as several Gill race teams. These connections with our customers and partners are very valuable to us. In addition, I must mention the great effort by over 80 volunteers working at the Gill Commodore's Cup and I would like to say thank you to every one of them. Without them giving up their precious time, this event would not be possible.”

With a rough sea state and the wind piping up to over 20 knots, boat handling was at a premium in the racing off Marigot Bay. The big boats reveled in the conditions, Race Officer Stuart Childerley; officiating at the regatta for the first time, set three windward leeward courses.

Rick Wesslund's J/122 EL OCASO scored a perfect three bullets to win Gill 1 Division.  In Gill 3 Division, Jordan Mindich’s J/105 SOLSTICE took third place despite having led the fleet after the first two races.  Sir Robbie Ferron’s J/39 TEAM BUDGET MARINE MICRON 99 took 4th place and Remco van Dortmondt’s J/35 SUNBELT REALTY DASH was 6th.  For more GILL Commodore’s Cup sailing information