2010 Course de L’Alliance: Wet Sailing and cool nights A fantastic weekend ended on Sunday at the Vie en Rose Restaurant in Marigot with prizegiving for the 7th edition of the Course de L’Alliance. Participants picked up their prizes after great weekend of competitive racing and fun on shore camaraderie. The regatta had three classes of Multihull, Racer and Racer-Cruiser and took participants on a 3 day journey. The first place prize in the Racer class went to Team Budget Marine/Gill; Lost Horizon of Antigua took first in Racer-Cruiser while Altair placed first and received the Jean Allaire trophy for the Mulithull class. This three day event took the sailors from Simpson Bay St.Maarten to neighboring island St. Barths on Friday where participants dealt with increased swells and rough seas on the way over. During the evening the participants sat down to an elegant meal at Eddy’s in St. Barths and dined on fabulous French cuisine after a hard days sail. Saturday gave the competitors a bit less wind and lighter seas allowing for a great sail from St. Barths to Anguilla and a finish in Sandy Ground. Dinner on the beach with 100 competitors lent to the family atmosphere of this regatta and a beach breakfast and late start set the tone for the final day of sailing back to home port of St.Martin. In the Mulithull class, 2nd place went to Blanca, a incredibly fast trimaran whose speed put pressure on the finish boat who had to leave each start location an hour ahead of the starts in order to lay the finish line before Blanca made her appearance. Having learned their lesson from previous years where they barely made it before she crossed the line, organizers were ready for Blanca this year and were treated to a magnificent show of skills as she crossed the line. Third place went to Guimamalou who sailed a nice steady race all weekend. Racing-Cruiser class was the largest with eight participants and after a fierce battle all weekend, 2nd place was awarded to Nix, an X 612 who had a rough time of it with only three crew members all weekend. 3rd place went to L’Esperance who slowly increased their crew numbers as the weekend progressed. Racing class, with a total of four competitors placed Team Coors Light in 2nd place and Panick Attack in the 3rd spot. This fun filled event had competitors ranging from ages 8 thru 60+ and was a fun time for all. Organizers were pleased with the results and look forward to an 8th edition next year. Event sponsor and owner Marina Fort Louis created the event to promote the alliance between the three islands and have done a tremendous job of maintaining a steady flow of entrants and atmosphere. For more information and results visit www.coursedelalliance.com

Course d'Alliance - hosted by Marina Fort Louis Challenging courses take you to three different islands over the course of three days. Organizers keep in mind that all boats entered want to enjoy their weekend, as well as race to win and offer courses designed to offer both a challenge and fun. Registration for the race will take place on 25th of November at the Sint Maarten Yacht Club in Simpson Bay from 3pm to 6pm. The skipper briefing location and time will be announced shortly. On Friday the 26th of November the first leg will take us from Simpson Bay in Dutch Sint Maarten to lovely Gustavia in St. Barths. Saturday the 27th of November the second leg will take us from St. Barths to the quaint island of Anguilla. On Sunday 28th of November, the final day the race will start in Road Bay and finish in Marigot. This is where the Prize Giving ceremony will take place, which is set for 16.00.