—Continued from previous page

Three new partners have joined the Voiles de
St. Barth: Richard Mille Watches becomes the head-
ine partner, with the Banque des Antilles Fran¢aises
and the St. Barth’s Hoteliers Association as official part-
ners. The French fashion photographer Patrick
Demarchelier, also a successful sailor who happens to
ive in St. Barth’s, has agreed to become the patron of
he Voiles de St. Barth.

A poet and well-known artist, Titouan Lamazou ¢the
irst winner of the Vendée Globe) has designed the
official poster for the Voiles de St. Barth. He will be
present during the races, maybe out on the water,
but certainly ashore, as some of his works will be on
show in a gallery in Gustavia.

Placed among the Heineken Regatta, the Bucket
Regatta and Antigua Week, the Voiles de St. Barth
has filled a gap in the racing calendar with a week of
intense racing using various formats, with racing
scheduled to finish each day around 4:00pm; then the
un will continue inside the special Voiles Village. The
best pictures of the day’s racing will be projected as
night falls. The village will be open the next moming
or the crews’ breakfasts, before racing starts again at
10:00am.

For the final day of the event, a Richard Mille picnic
will be organized on the beach in Colombier with all
of the crews. The aim is to mark this first edition of the
Voiles de St. Barth with a friendly gathering before
everyone lines up at 4:30pm for the start of the rally to
Antigua for Sail Week and the Classic.

For more information see ad on page 17.

 

‘| Had a Dream...’

Kirsty Morrison reports: | first attended the Antigua
Classic Yacht Regatta in 2007. | sailed up from Bequia
on the 62-foot Herreshoff schooner Perception and
sailed her home to Martha’s Vineyard after the regat-
ta. The regatta was, for me, a life changing experi-
ence. | could not believe the wealth and variety of
beautiful boats and had to keep pinching myself that
| was actually racing among them. Although the larg-
er boats, the Js especially, were breathtaking, what
really caught my eye were the beautiful little, brightly
colored Carriacou sloops. | was in love.

During my passage up to the States | sat alone on
night watch and began to hatch my plan. | would go
to Carriacou, build a sloop on the beach, paint her
pink, gather an all-female crew dressed in pink bikinis
to tum up in Antigua looking like a bunch of bimbos,

and then show those boys who’s boss and WIN!

Two years later | was on charter down in the
Grenadines. We sailed by Palm Island and as we drew
closer something caught my eye — a perfect little
pink Carriacou sloop anchored off the golden beach
sitting in the turquoise water. | reached for the binocu-

nu

*

 

If Kirsty gets her way, the all-female crew of the
Carriacou sloop Pink Lady will show the guys a thing
or two at the Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta

lars and focused on her stern. Pink Lady was her name
and | knew she had to be mine.

| discovered the owner of my baby was Robert
Barrett (he also manages the Palm Island resort). |
found an e-mail address on the resort’s website and
started to make enduiries. | finally heard back from Mr.
Barrett himself, who was very firm in his response that
she was neither for sale nor available for charter. The
e-mails and the phone calls continued over the next
year; | wasn’t giving up. Each time he came back
with “No* and “No”. When | felt | had hit a wall |

played my final card, spilled the beans and told him
my dream. “Perhaps we could use it to promote the
resort in some way,” | said. “Let’s talk,” was his near-
instant reply.

| returned to the Caribbean this winter to be told that
Mr. Barrett was traveling until February. So the e-mails
continued and hotted up as
January came to a close.
Finally, a phone call, and a
begrudging voice telling me
“Lam going to let you take
the boat”. | commented that
he did not sound very happy
about this decision. “I’m not,”
he replied. “It’s against my
better judgment. You are
some strange woman who |
have never met and know
nothing about, but GODDAM
you are persistent!”

So | am gathering my
female sailor friends as |
type, ordering our pink biki-
nis and preparing to go
down to Palm Island to see
what needs to be done in
order to get this lovely lady
into racing condition for this
year’s Antigua Classic
Yacht Regatta, April 15th
through 20th. Antigua
we comin’!

For more information about
Team Pink Lady contact
morrison. taisiy@iemnaal: com

For more information on the Antigua Classic Yacht
Regatta see ad on page 10.

ARC Europe to Start in May

ARC Europe, the transatlantic yacht rally from the
Caribbean to Europe, will depart from Tortola, BVI on
May 6th. A sister fleet from St. Augustine, Florida, will
start on the same day and join the rally at its first stop,
Bermuda. From Bermuda, the combined fleet will cross
to the Azores, and then sail onward to Lagos, Portugal
for the final prizegiving on June 20th. Whether you're
a European sailor retuming home or it’s your first visit to
the continent, ARC Europe is a great way to go.

For more information
visit www. worldcruising.com/arceurope

 

“4
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‘Race in Les Volles de St. Barth the

1 st Edition @

ORGANIZER

Sater Eoaert Gade (tial!

GOLD PARTNER

_ RICHARD
Ze MILLE

2 a PREMIUM PARTNERS

© Banque des
0 5 Antilles Francaises

ASSOCIATION DES HOTELIERS
DE SAINT-BARTHELEMY

OFFICIAL PARTNERS

Vil
GC Sa

SUPPLIER PARTNERS

CHAMPAGNE INCE 2 17s

TAITTINGER MOUNTGAY.RUM

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