Puerto Rico's Dragon Captures the 31st Foxy's Wooden Boat Regatta

The 31st Foxy's Wooden Boat Regatta held on Jost Van Dyke saw nineteen entries at the three-race, three-day event held over the U.S.'s Memorial Day Weekend. Winds were out of the southeast at 10 - 15 knots, with higher gusts and, for the first time in 31 years, the boats were handicapped. The difficulty with handicapping wooden racers is that they are each custom built but Martin Van Houten took on the task. Normally, each entry is put into a class according to size and sails. However, this year Martin tried the impossible and the results showed that this was an improvement over former years - at least according to the skippers.

The Puerto Rican Island Sloops proved to be real sleepers when it comes to speed. These boats have been lovingly built by hand on the beaches of Fajardo and Culebra and when it comes to speed, the crews know how to find the wind.

This regatta always begins with the Single Handed Race which was led by Dragon from Puerto Rico from the start. Almost the entire crew was on board to hoist the large mainsail and to get some speed up for the start. Swift crew transfers were then made to a following chase boat and Edwin Cruz, builder, owner and helmsman of the sloop, raced the course with real competition from St. John's Julian Davies on Tiger Maru who finished in second place. Dragon, built in 1990 in Fajardo, is a full keeled 22-foot Island Sloop with an 8-foot beam and a modern Marconi Rig. She not only won the Single Handed Race but also the Best in Class, and the "Fastest Boat Award." In true Puerto Rican style, their crew brought over a spacious mothership and chase boat with lots of friends and allies to cheer on their team.

There were two races on Sunday with eight classes and two separate courses. Robin Pinfold, of West end Yacht Club served as Race Captain on Elliott Hooper's 110 foot schooner, Silver Cloud. Built in 1899, it is the oldest working schooner in the Caribbean and has served as the committee oat for most of the past decade. Elliott hails from St. John, USVI, where many of the entries are also based.

In Class AA1 - Dragon again brought off the honours with a corrected time of 1:17:11. Bobby Danet, from French Town, St. Thomas, USVI, also built his gorgeous Island Sloop, Seanonda Rose, and has attended each Foxy's since the launching in '97. With his sons as crew he easily brought in 1st in the Class A Island Sloop Division in one hour, 38 minutes and 20 seconds. Class B2 (Traditional Rig) saw Taurus, formally Sea Shanty, taking honours with Dave Firebrand helming in Andy Hardstey's absence. His corrected time was 1:37:47. Dave had a great crew from Coral Bay, most of who have raced at Foxy's for more years than they would like to remember. Class B3, also Traditional Rig, saw an old favorite, Windolee, owned by Rob Kunkel of St. John come in first in class with 1:43:57.

In the Modern Rig Classes Parker Hall, of St. Thomas, finished in 1:27:16 in Class C1 on Peace Pipe (under 40 feet) with Tory Lane on Jezephyr finishing first in 1:54:31 in Class C2. Neil Newhard raced his best (1:72:04) on the classic Hirondelle in Class C3 - Modern Rig over 50 feet. Neil had just sold the boat and had the new owner on board. This was a lovely touch to the regatta as he has raced at Foxy's for at least the last 15 years. Class D saw Julian Davies, from Coral Bay, St. John, bring his fin keeled custom Tiger Maru in with a time of 1:71:03.

Foxy and KI entertained each early afternoon with St. Thomas' Gary Key playing in the late afternoons. Shango and X-Treme Bands entertained in the evenings. There was much dancing and revelry which is the custom at Foxy's Wooden Boat Regatta - the only all wooden boat regatta in the Caribbean.

Special awards were given at the awards ceremony to the following skippers and crews -

Nature's Basket Plane Award - Island Sloops - SEANONDA ROSE

Most Determined Skipper Award - Neil Newhard

Bougainvillea Cup Award - (30'-40' Modern) - JEZEPHYR

Caribbean Boating Model Award -(40' - 50' Modern) - HIRONDELLE

BVI Shipwrights Whale Award - Modern Single - handed - DRAGON

Elm Beach Suites Award � Modern Island Sloops - DRAGON

SV Robben Porthole Award (30'- 40' Traditional) - PENELOPE

Richardson's Rigging Block - (40' - 50' Traditional) - WINDOLEE

Foxy's Belaying Pin - Fastest Monohull - DRAGON