Two New Features Added to the 5th Caribbean Multihull Challenge!
Register now for the 5th edition of the Caribbean Multihull Challenge!
Register now for the 5th edition of the Caribbean Multihull Challenge!
It’s an event within an event you really want to win – if you’re fast enough, that is. The Caribbean Multihull Challenge’s (CMC) 60-mile Sprint, sponsored by Fkg Marine Rigging & Fabrication , was a notion put into motion for the first time in 2022. Ocean Racing and Ocean Cruising Multihulls, those able to complete the course in 6 hours or less, raced from St Maarten, around St. Barths, north navigating Tintamarre, and west across the Anguilla Channel to finish at the start in Simpson Bay.
Georges Coutu has chased the wind in his need for speed from Canada to the Caribbean. As a kid, he raced a self-built monohull on a small lake in his native Quebec. In his early 20’s, he discovered windsurfing, finding it the ‘real deal’ way to have a blast going fast. This small board sport proved life-changing for Coutu in two ways. First, he met and raced with windsurfing freestyle champion, Gary Eversole. Secondly, he followed a friend’s tip in the early 1980s to visit Cabarete, in the Dominican Republic.
Spice up a charter by throwing in some competitive fun Chartering isn’t always about lolling around at anchor in turquoise splendor. For avid racers, bareboat chartering offers a chance to enjoy competition in new and exciting venues, with fresh opponents and an international flair. That’s how we ended up at the Caribbean Multihull Challenge, a relatively new event in the winter racing season, organized by the people who made the Heineken Regatta synonymous with seriously fun racing in paradise.
It was a wet and wild weekend of highly competitive yacht racing with a little bit of everything: squalls and sunshine, gusts and lulls, surprising finishes. In other words, the fourth running of the annual Caribbean Multihull Challenge, which took place over the first weekend of February from the 4th through the 6th, was a resounding success. Let’s take a look back at this edition, and ahead to the next, already labelled with a catchy nickname: “Five Years of Flight.”
It was one of those Caribbean days with a little bit of everything: early squalls followed by radiant sunshine, whitecap-flecked waters smoothing in the lulls, then more rain (and plenty of it). In sailing terms, the challenging conditions favored those who could shift gears quickly in up-and-down breeze, reduced visibility and an ever-changing seascape. And on the last day of competition in the fourth edition of the Caribbean Multihull Challenge, the most versatile and persistent skippers and crews were rewarded with class victories.
Simpson Bay, St Maarten, February 5, 2022: They dart to windward like skittish water bugs, spinning through tacks and jibes with speed and precision. Off the breeze, with kites set and windward hulls lifted, they often seem on a razor’s edge between control and disaster. We’re talking about the CSA 3 class in this fourth edition of the Caribbean Multihull Challenge—a division dedicated to the regatta’s five trimarans—and on the second wild and windy day of racing, with easterly trade winds settled in the high teens, they put on a show.
Simpson Bay, St Maarten (February 4, 2022): In a day full of memorable moments, perhaps the most indelible was the smile on Greg Slyngstad’s face. In the marquee matchup on the opening day of racing in the fourth running of the St. Maarten Caribbean Multihull Challenge, Greg’s Bieker 53, Fujin, was the victor in the Caribbean Multihull 60-Mile Sprint, a power reach from the starting line off Simpson Bay, around St. Barth’s, and back to St. Maarten. And in topping the four-boat CSA 1 class, Greg and the team aboard Fujin also beat brother Todd Slyngstad and his talented crew aboard the HH 66, Nemo. “It was Fujin’s conditions,” said Greg, between grins.
The Fourth Annual Caribbean Multihull Challenge kicked off today where it was announced that a special race from Simpson Bay to and around Saba and back will occur during the Fifth Annual Caribbean Multihull Challenge (CMC V). The CMC V is to be held on the 3rd, 4th, and 5th of February 2023 and will receive support from the St. Maarten Tourism Bureau.
The Caribbean Multihull Challenge is getting close and the indications are that stiff competition will be seen on the water. The classes are not finalized but it is already possible to get a picture of the likely competitive groups in what will probably be three classes …maybe four .