DAY 1 : The event started with a skipper’s meeting held in the morning for all competitors : Junior, Women, Masters, Pro. Most of the speeches were in French so we had to find someone to translate in English. With light breeze in the morning the first races was on hold till the wind got strong enough to start the races. The start will be a rabbit start, same as they do at the Defi wind event, with a speed boat passing thru the start line, pretty scary but still fun.

My Equipment for the whole event was:
Sail size: Mauisails TR8 7.6
Board: 2012 Starboard Isonic 117 wide "same board I used last year from Vincent"
Fin: Z fin 42 S

As I had no choice to bring my own board from Bonaire due to the flight from Bonaire to Curacao being on a small plane and it's impossible to bring such amount of gears, so I took just what I could. And had ask my friend from St Barth If I could borrow his 117 wide Starboard again. The plane from Curacao to St Maartin was a bigger plane so that was no problem for the gears.

Race 1
Light wind but still just enough to convince the race director put the 5 minuut red flag up, and after that the green flag was up for the first race to be started.

Bjorn Dunkerbeck, Antoine Questel, Piere Mortefon, were all on 9.2 and their big board, and I could see them get going easily, bummer for me, but i didn't care so much because I  know that my TR sails are good enough and powerful enough to compete with these bigger sails. I started 10 second after the speed boat passed, and this gave AQ, BD, PM,and two other competitor from Martinque and Guadalupe a good lead ahead of me. As we were reaching to the first mark and jibe I was in position number 3. Heading to the 2nd mark ahead of me was Bjorn, Mortefon, and Antoine but not that far ahead. With the 2nd mark being so much downwind I felt a bit less powered up but I just let loose the outhaul to get the sail fuller and it was just this little adjustment that gain me more speed. I arrived close to the top 3 guys at the 2nd Mark. Jibing the 2nd mark AQ got good clean wind and he was gone with no problem and this got me, Mortefon and BD fighting for the 2nd and 3rd place. I did a quick small  jibe and as Bjorn and Mortefon went wide this gave me the better wind and with two three pumps i got planing earlier and I was ahead in 2nd place to the 3rd mark and also finish 2nd behind AQ.

Race 2
Green flag race #2, wind just got a bit better but still very gusty and shifty, still feeling not having enough power in my sail but still I felt that I can keep up. As we jibe Mark number one I was at position 4th with AQ in the lead follow by Bjorn, Mortefon, then me and the two good fast sailors from Martinque and Guadalupe. These guys are fast but need a little more high level racing experience. I did a wide jibe at mark number one so that I have more wind power in my sail to get the down wind leg to the 2nd mark. It felt good that I did the wide jibe because this gained me more meters to catch up with AQ, Bjorn, and Mortefon. We all arrived at mark 2 closely behind each other but with Questel knowing his playground he got away easy as he had a swell that pushed him to keep up with his speed while he was jibing. I jibed just in between Bjorn and Mortefon. It was not a good choice, because I could have kept an eye on them. But with Mortefon upwind of me he had the clean air and got ahead of me. But Bjorn couldn't get ahead of me. I had enough speed and knowledge and finished in 3rd place with Mortefon in 2nd and Fast Questel in 1st and Bjorn in 4th.

Day one was finished as the wind dropped below competing level.

The confidence of race 1 and 2 was in my head and with my gear from 2012 still competitive with all the guys with their 2013 equipment, I felt more great. This means my gear are still doing just good. Such a great feeling :).

Questel Is really fast and he's always the first to cross the start line, and once he's first he's hard to catch. If I only could have had my 8.4 TR8, I would have done better.

DAY 2
The wind was better and more consistent. The first race was light wind but still better then the first day. 3 races were held on on day three, with back to back starts. Race number 3 I finished in position 4. I had a great start but had seaweed stuck in my fin as I was jibing the 1st mark. This is a bummer but even like that I was closely behind. and as I was reaching for the 2nd mark, with sea weed stuck in my fin Mortefon slowly got ahead of me... :( what a bummer but there's not much you can do to avoid sea weed. In race #4 i placed 2nd just close behind AQ. I was feeling each race I was faster and more relaxed and as the wind got stronger I was powered up with my TR8 7.6 and feel that the handling even in open sea and powered was at ease. I don't remember caring about Bjorn Dunkerbeck. My mind was mostly thinking of beating Questel. He was flying in each race, maybe because he was always having good start. Race 5 The wind got stronger and with the swells getting bigger it was my type of conditions... "nasty".

Bjorn and I had a perfect start ahead of everyone with him being in front at mark #1, myself in 2nd position. I played it cool and safe as the swells were big as we where racing down to the 2nd mark. JIbing the 2nd mark I got closer to Bjorn and felt that I need to push myself to go faster and each meter of the reach I was getting closer and closer. I looked back I saw Questel and Mortefon pretty far behind. Then I realized that AQ will not win this race and that he won the previous races due to having always started ahead of the pack.

Getting to the last mark Bjorn was still 5 meters ahead of me. JIbing the last mark Bjorn did a short jibe and went upwind and I went wide and pushed my speed downwind to  the finish line. As both Bjorn and I were racing to the finish line, with him being upwind and I downwind with clean air, I really put the peddle down to the get to the  finish line first . I was catching up to him, but then he pushed downwind and we got to the finish line like maybe 1 or 2 sec. ahead and behind each other.

It was a great battle and I feel good to be on the podium and being ahead of Bjorn is a honor :).

Gotta love the MauiSails TR-8. These sails really suit my style and I recomend these sails for everyone, specially light to medium sailors, because you can always sail 1 meter smaller then any other brand and still you can be competitive.

DAY 3
No wind showed and the organizers had an SUP competition. It was a fun day, and with Bjorn Dunkerbeck and I on the same team was great. We made sure to have a great team as he pushed me with the SUP to be in front of the other guys. Overall we finishend 2nd :).

Well the year started off good with a podium finish in St Barth in slalom. Let’s see what the year will bring in the PWA and I can't wait to finally get the TR-9.

Salute
Taty Frans NB-9