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NEW ARRIVALS
Words by Lia Ditton
Lia Ditton skippers the
Gunboat 62, Safari at
the St. Martin Heineken
Regatta
Out of the lagoon, passed the tourists who had stopped to wave from the bridge
barriers, we motored into the tropical turquoise waters.
Safari Hard upwind conditions – note the Gunboats have not reefed!
impson Bay is flanked by soft peachy sandy beaches on both sides, Anticipation floated over the lagoon on
S
but we were only looking ahead, as the island to the north west the morning of race day one and this was
glistened in the sun invitingly. ‘Screw the regatta, how far’s Saba?’ not entirely to do with the sailing. A low
We joked. ‘Why don’t we go to St. Barth’s for lunch?’ The temptation pressure system was forecast to roll in by
to go cruising instead was high, but there was work to be done! Safari was the mid morning and turn up the breeze from 10
defending champion of the Gunboat class in the St. Martin Heineken Regatta to 15-20 knots. ‘Perfect!’ We had thought,
and so it was time to hone our skills as a team. observing an ominous band of dark cloud
already creeping across the sky. The bridge
After a few tacks upwind, the who’s-doing-what was sorted out and it was into was due to open at 7.30 am, but even at
Philipsburg bay for the next phase of the day: extreme zip-lining, which has nothing to 6.30 a good breeze was piping up, with
do with sail making and a lot to do with hanging off a wire and dangling over a gorge! gusts sweeping the high teens. Before the
The owner of Safari was contemplating laying a wire between two trees in his garden bridge, some 50 boats shuffled back and
in Devon and so while the afternoon’s zip-lining could be considered ‘research’ or even forth, waiting.
‘team-building,’ it was mostly just a lot of fun!
28  MULTIHULL REVIEW : MAY 2009
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