St. Maarten Yacht Club wrapped up the 2024 Caribbean Dinghy Championship with 15 races in late October. Antigua was victorious and again took the Nation’s Cup Trophy back home for the fifth consecutive time. On the final race day, challenging winds averaged 10-12 knots, but scattered “soft spots” across the course made navigation tricky.
St. Maarten’s Oskar Jarrett Versteegden and Chris Meekhof took first place overall in the RS Zest fleet. St. Martin’s Oceane Chilou and Neo Barbet were second, and Mikhaela Browne and Sion Gachette from Trinidad & Tobago were third.
The overall victory of the RS Quest class went to Team St. Maarten’s Joris and Axel Vanden Eynde, and Antigua’s Patrick Greensmith and Alistair Knoblauch took second place. Merlin Guier and Pascal Belle from St. Martin were third.
St. Maarten’s Nathan Sheppard took first place overall in the Optimist Fleet. Antigua’s Tyden Jones was second, while Aymeric Arminjon, representing St. Martin, took third.
Antigua’s Carrack Jones won first place overall in the ILCA 4 fleet. St. Martin’s Clement Le Normand was second, and Barbados’s Savannah Grace Stuart finished third.
Antigua’s Shanoy Malone took 13 bullets out of 15 races to finish first overall in the ILCA 6 class. St. Maarten’s Rio Stomp was second, and Trinidad & Tobago’s Josiah Alexis came in third.
In the ILCA 7 class, Antigua’s Ozani Lafond narrowly edged out Trinidad & Tobago’s Stefan Stuven for first place in the final race, also taking first place overall. Benoit Meesemaecker from St. Barts was second overall, and Stuven finishd third.
The Nation’s Cup is awarded as part of the Caribbean Dinghy Championship, scored via the CHIP 3 High Point Scoring System. Antigua took first place with 4432 points, followed by St. Maarten with 4260 points, and St. Martin in third place with 3942 points.
