Final day of the Regatta
sees a flat sea and rain

The final day of the International Bonaire Sailing Regatta started off with hardly any wind at all - the first starts of the day for the yachts could be compared to snail races and the boats drifted rather than
sailed their shortened courses. But around noon a south-westerly breeze came up and things started to look up for the captains and their crews.

Race director Viktor Wijnand therefore chose for a less short short course for the afternoon session.
However, a severe downpour resulted in a return to the same conditions as during the early morning hours. Tonight the awards ceremony of the 45th edition of the Regatta will be held at Kas di Regatta, always a social happening that everyone is looking forward to. As the winners in the various categories are called on stage for their trophies and applause, the annual question is always the same: who is going to win the Niki Tromp Overall trophy?

Kudos for the many volunteers of the Regatta, who have made this year's event yet another success; most kudos go of course to Byron Tromp, whose continued dedication and enormous drive keep the Bonaire Regatta an event which he can justly be proud of. Well done!

Fantastic freestyle show
during Expression Fashion

The lay day of the 45th International Bonaire Regatta started off with a flat sea and hardly any wind. No condition, therefore, for a rousing freestyle demonstration from the famous Bonaire windsurf experts. Race director Viktor Wijnand came up with a fantastic solution, however: he re-scheduled the freestyle session, re-named it Expression Session, arranged to have four giant spotlights illuminating the water in front of Kas di Regatta and had a sea-doo driver with a long rope ready for action. And action it was: when the sea-doo captain came whizzing past, towing a freestyler, the public waited with bated breath for the incredible jumps and moves that were truly awesome. Due to the great speed, Tonky, Tati, Kiri, Bjorn, Endro and Juvanni gave a show that no one will forget. Double loops, twists, turns, jumps and acrobatics were performed with ease and grace. The fact that jellyfish were spotted in the water close to the shore, made the freestylers even more heroic.

On Thursday morning the first start of the day was at 9 am as usual; due to lack of wind the race director had chosen to sail the A Course, a short race, which took more than one and a half hour to complete for most yachts. Therefore the second morning race was abandoned in the hope that the afternoon would see some more wind.  The fishing boats had a morning start and again Arantsa came in first. The wind condition was even too low for the microboats in the morning – Vurnon Cecilia, race director of the microboat division, said, however, that he expected the wind to pick up in the afternoon. Any races that would be abandoned could be sailed in the morning on Friday, the last day of racing.

Thursday evening is traditionally the day of the Working Boat parade, a festive line-up of all kind of vessels. Some of them are gaily decorated with balloons and flags; others come as they are. The parade is a feast for the eye for those on board as well as for those on shore.

Smooth sailing on Day Two

Day two of the 2012 International Bonaire Sailing Regatta started off without a hitch: all starts in all categories went smoothly and there were no protests.  Quite a difference from day one, which was filled with a host of problems, small and large.  As almost all regattas experience bumpy starts, save for professionally organized ones, this was nothing new. However, the fact that two faraway buoys were missing in the course caused the protest committee a bit of a headache: they had to decide to void the third race of the afternoon and give redress to the protesting captains for lost time in the previous races. This means that they will be compensated time-wise. The problem with missing buoys is continuing – regatta organizer Byron Tromp called it `acts of vandalism’ during the daily press conference. One of the other protests regarding a collision, resulted in the Queen of Hearts being disqualified.  Hernan Salcedo from Colombia is the head judge of the protest committee.

At the starting boat, called `Zeeleeuw’, the team of Viktor Wijnand  slowly found its rhythm: Paco counted down, flags went up, Mac held up the board announcing which category was pending and captain Cor Vlieland  kept the mood light and relaxed with a bit of music and jokes. At the first start a timing error was made, due to a faulty watch, but the starting multi hulls took this in good stride; they restarted after all the yachts. Two morning starts and one afternoon start are keeping all participants busy, a new format that makes everyone very happy.

Among the participants of this year’s regatta is a surprising number of Aruban sailors: they are participating in the catamaran- and sunfish classes . Their presence on Bonaire has been made possible by the enthusiastic support of the Freewinds, which graciously provided transportation. A select group of microboat captains from Aruba was spotted on the `Kaya’ getting their precious cargo ready for their first start, which was held at 2 pm on Tuesday.

A total of 76 microboat captains registered their boats on Monday evening. The category is divided into boats of various sizes. A remote control microboat will be demonstrating its skills as well, just as an oversize (45 inch) model, which is literally ‘hors categorie’. Unfortunately only two traditional fishing boats have come forward to race during this year’s major sailing event on Bonaire; hopefully their number will be growing explosively in the near future, as their presence is a valuable addition, which winks at the early beginning of the Regatta. The disappointing number of windsurf participants is partly to blame on the fact that Bonaire’s top surfers have just returned from Germany, where they performed admirably in a tough, international field.

The festival part of the regatta is getting off to a great start, attracting many islanders and visitors to downtown Kralendijk. Wonderful performances, lots of stands with merchandise, food and drink are part of the fun. Byron Tromp announced that on Saturday afternoon, starting at 6 pm, a Ship to Shore party will be held at Kas di Regatta, complete with live music, stand-up paddling, boat pulling and many more games.

In the Optimist B-class a truly heroic fight is taking place between Yorick van Blerk from Curacao and Bruno Brouwers from Bonaire. On Monday, Yorick won his first race, but Bruno caught up with him by winning the second; the two young sailors finished their races way ahead of the pack. 

Monday, October 8th, 2012

The 45th edition of the Bonaire Regatta has started Monday October 8th. After a windless weekend the first sailing day started with good sailing weather. The regatta started just after  9 AM with the yachts. In the morning there were 2 short back-to-back races for the 4 fastest classes, in the afternoon a longer race of approximately 22 miles. The 18 yachts which participate are from Bonaire (7), Curacao (8), Aruba (1) and The Netherlands (2).
This year the races are closer to Kralendijk and less on the oceanside of Klein Bonaire. From the waterfront of Kralendijk and from the Kas di Regatta there’s more action to be seen. The ambiance on the boulevard is very laid back. Many participants are preparing for their races or have just finished one. This regatta we have many participants in the Optimist and in the Sunfish Classes. Those are boats with just 1 sailor. This year there are also more participants in the Beachcat Category, these catamarans have 2 sailors and the Freewinds has sponsored the transportations of these boats from Aruba.
The Bonaire Regatta 2012 has 71 participants. Last year there were a few more yachts, but in this regatta there are more single participants. Thanks to many sponsors, but also with the help of Stinapa, Police and Fire Department the races went well.
The results of this first Regatta day are published on the results page. For more information see www.bonaireregatta.org. More races are scheduled for tomorrow, tuesday October 9.

Jolanda Bakema and Evert Bongers