A sailor from the British Virgin Islands topped the fleet at the St. Croix Caribbean Invitational Match Race over the weekend at the St. Croix Yacht club.
Beating a fleet of the Caribbean’s best sailors was Robbie Hirst of the BVI. Second was Michael Green of St. Lucia and St. Croix’s Chris Schreiber in third. The regatta, sailed in matched Rhodes 19’s, started on Saturday with a round robin, in which each skipper sailed every other skipper once.
The match racing format pits one skipper against another in a one-on-one duel. The weather was perfect for racing, ranging from 5 to 15 knots of wind from the east throughout the day. When the day ended, St. Lucia’s Green had posted a perfect score of 7 wins and no losses. Following Green was Hirst, (6 wins, 1 loss), Frits Bus, (5-2), Schreiber, (4-3), John Foster, (3-4), Robbie Ferron, (2-5), Bernie Wong, (1-6), and Ralph Johnson, (0-7).
On Sunday, the racers sailed semi final and final rounds, each match being a best of three series. In the top four, the semi finals pitted Green against Bus and Hirst against Schreiber. Green and Hirst won their matches, and Hirst then sailed to a 2-1 victory over Green for the championship.
Schreiber won the match against Bus 2-0 to place third in the regatta. In the bottom four, Ferron placed fifth, Johnson sixth, and Foster and Wong tied for seventh.
