Great sail wins for Enzyme - See you in Antigua!

With all the various regattas and sailing festivals taking place in the Caribbean, early 2008 has been a blast for the MACO-sponsored, Trini yacht – Enzyme. In the recent CSA Spinnaker Racing I at the Rolex International St Thomas Regatta in the US Virgin Islands, Enzyme took 3rd place, and then 1st place in Spinnaker racing B at the Nanny Cay BVI Spring Regatta and sailing festival. This was at the end of March. Photography by Tim Wright of www.photoaction.com What’s Next The MACO girls will be accompanying the Enzyme boys to the Antigua Stanford Regatta, which takes place from April 27-May 3, where we are hoping to place first again in this very competitive regatta. We’re also really psyched because we know we’re going to have loads of fun, much like Neysha did when she accompanied the guys to the Grenada Sailing Festival in January. A Regatta Tale Here’s the rundown from Enzyme’s Pierre LaBorde about the March 2008 St. Maarten Heineken Regatta: There were two "Trini" boats in the St. Maarten regatta this year – Enzyme and Storm. We were in the same racing class along with other tough competitors such as Yani, Oystercatcher XXVI (you know they're experienced when this is their 26th boat), Caccia Alla Volpe, and the aptly named Minnie the Moocher. Now, because there are about seven regattas every season that the boat may compete in, the regular Trini crew would not be able to do them all. Thus most regattas have a mixture of regular crew and crew from other boats, or friends from away. In St. Maarten the regular crew were myself, Mark Francois, Peter Baillie, Gregory Pantin and Michael Trestrail. The extra crew were Aaron Alkins, Kevin See Tai, Cai Swenson and Gualberto Rodriguez. The winds were blowing fairly strong and our new crew members took a few days to adjust to the boat and the conditions. Our transport crew were also our foredeck crew - Aaron "the Trini-Vincie-Bajan" Alkins and his sidekick Kevin "Mowgli" See Tai. Our guest skipper Cai "the Cigar man" Swenson had sailed on the boat two years ago but his friend Gualberto Rodriguez was a newcomer. The Enzyme guys celebrate at the Rolex Regatta in the US Virgin Islands Our arch-rival Caccia Alla Volpe got the better of us on the first day, but for the rest of the regatta, we had their number. Enzyme performed beautifully under spinnaker, at one time hitting 15.1 knots, our highest ever speed, with a red sail christened "Digicel"; so called jokingly because we have two other spinnakers sponsored by Bmobile and Blackberry. We did have one big faux-pas, out of several, when the boat broached (spun out of control) and lay on her side for what seemed like ages, because a certain crewmember forgot to release the line he was holding. The Around The Island Race was especially fun as we had the crew howling with glee as we regularly hit 14 knots down the Atlantic swell. By the final day, we were a red hot crew once again. We eventually tied for 6th place out of 15 boats so there was some disappointment, but not overly so. Mark "Admiral of Vice" Francois was promoted to Vice Commodore but did not utilise this privilege, instead preferring to be Minister of Law'n'Order when he hauled us out of a party at the Soggy Dollar Bar just when alcohol was about to make things interesting. Nevertheless, great quantities of Heineken were quaffed, and as I write this piece, the Enzyme crew is currently campaigning for several more regattas. Good Luck guys. For more of the guys' sailing adventures, check out MACO Destinations.