3rd place in the Heineken regatta (with interview)

We met in Falmouth Harbour, Antigua on the Montana on February 28th. A day later we sailed to St. Maarten in the most beautiful wind and weather and experienced a spectacular sunset across from St. Eustacia. After spending the rest of the night at anchor in Simpson Bay, we went to Marina Port de Plaisance the following day.
This was our base for the Heineken Regatta races.

Interview by Markus about the Heineken regatta: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TArZkO-MXzA

Overall, the program of the regatta was somewhat smaller this year than in the past due to Corona. But after the regatta was completely canceled last year, it was clear from the organizations that they were happy to be able to organize a regatta again. The organization was very good and there was also a supporting program including a launch party.
We sailed the Montana in class CSA-6. This ambitious class was sailed with a spinnaker/genaker, in contrast to the bar boat classes. Out of 8 registered ships only 6 ships finally started. In addition to the Montana, these were an Antigua crew on a Farr 45 CAROL, a crew from St. Maarten on a 4JH2E (whatever that is ;)) a crew from Canada on a Salona 45 and two Dutch crews on an X-442 and a variant 44.
A race was run on the first day of racing. A long cross to a turning point just before St. Barth and then downwind back again. We were doing very well on the Kreuz until just before the turning mark we were hit by a rain shower with an unfavorable wind shift and the wind abating. Since we were the slowest ship in the group according to the CSA rating, most of the competitors had already passed the mark. On the downwind we were a bit at a disadvantage with our genacker compared to the spinnakers, so that we could be satisfied with 4th place in the daily ranking.
On the second evaluation day “around the island” was sailed. Here we reckoned our chances of sailing among the top three with our new Genacker due to the larger proportion of upwind courses. Despite an unsuccessful genacker maneuver, we managed to do this and took our first podium place. A second place would have been possible without this mistake. It turned out that with five crew members on the Montana we are slightly understaffed in regatta conditions.
Two short races were run on the third day. On that day we had a reporter from “Sail Reporter” on board, who visited the only ship flying the German flag in the field of participants. We showed our best side and were able to take a second and another third place.
The fourth and final day of the competition was quite severe in terms of weather. In winds of more than 20kt, in gusts of up to 40kt, we left the genacker in the sack. The group constellation was such that second place in the overall standings was basically no longer achievable. On the other hand, we were pretty sure of third place. So we sailed defensively and achieved another third place, which also gave us third place overall.
A very nice Heineken regatta had now found a very successful conclusion, which we ended at the party after the award ceremony with a few beers and rum punch.