17 November Press Release:
The 14th edition of the St. Barth Cata-Cup got underway on Thursday, November 17. This first day of competition saw the 57 competing duos set out on an invigorating race between the islet of Toc Vers and Roche de Bœuf, before setting sail again in the afternoon between St Jean Bay and Pain de Sucre in slightly less difficult conditions, but with different zones of transition, which continually reshuffled the cards in the heart of the fleet.
No real surprises at the end of the day, although the favorites made themselves known. In the provisional classification, Tim Mourniac and Pierre-Yves Durand (Segeco), sailed perfectly with two race victories, putting them in first place and winning the “Design Affairs-001” Prize. They are ahead of Gurvan Bontemps and Benjamin Amiot (Pixail) as well as Patrick Demesmaeker and Olivier Gagliani (Les Perles de Saint-Barth–Bativrd), big favorites at this regatta. The title holders, Argentineans Cruz Gonzalez Smith and Mariano Heuser (SBDE), also proved they were in good form, but already played their joker in the first round due to an accident with their jib sheet.