ST mAARTEN RACE REPORT
Island is a quite a bit more arid than Guadelope and it reminded me a lot of Molokai Island except for all the timeshare hotels dotting the Dutch side of the island. the coastline is rugged with many reefs and points; the small circumference of the island makes it impossible to ignore the urge to paddle around it and explore. Over the time I spent here thats exactly what I did.

Accommodation in Oyster Pond Marina was on Sunsail (a large charter company) Yachts. It was very hot in there for the first couple of nights, hot enough for the aussies to go and get rooms in the Captain Oliver hotel which is part of the Marina. I found that the body adapts pretty quickly and by the 3rd night i was hardly aware of it.

We did 2 races on the island. on the Wednesday we did a coastal race from called the Orient Bay Express from Orient Bay to Plum Bay and on the sunday we did the Souliga Challenge from St Barts to St Maarten.

The Orient Bay express was a really good race which gave good runs. I can only imagine how good it can get with big wind and swell. It was however very difficult as we raced into the setting sun which has hot and bright. It took some resolve to race into it. I won this one too and was especially fond of the finish around a classic little point break at Plum bay.

We awoke Sunday for the Souliga challenge with a strong wind out of the wrong direction. Uh-oh... Everyone boarded the big Catamaran which we loaded with our skis the night before at 7. On the way across it was quite clear that we were in for a hard day.

We arrived in St Bart and got ready to go. The race start was very civil except for K2 World Marathon Champion Alvaro Fernades going like the clappers to secure the Hotspot after 3km. I'm always keen for Hotspot action but didn't want to push too hard as I was using other paddles. I broke my paddles the day before while doing a lesson with some junior paddlers from the island. They thought it hilarious of course.... Anyway, after the 3km hotspot we turned the last pojnt of St Barts and were faced with 20knot side/headwinds. It was brutal paddling 20kms across the channel and just watching these beautiful runs pass in front of you. This was easily one of the hardest paddles I've done. I got 50m on Dave Kissane and couldn't get anymore; he's a fighter old Dave. The best moment in the race came 300m from the finish as I caught a wave across the reef at the Marina entrance. Relief.

So that was the Carribean mini tour. It was great hanging out with the lads from different parts of the world. As the field was small we all kind of bonded quite nicely and all had a great time exploring the islands together. The Carribean is certainly going to be visited again.