GREAT BAY:---- On St. Maarten’s Day, at 1pm in the Great Bay harbor, there will be a traditional boat race with the “B Class” boats. These boats, which measure twenty-three feet in size and carry a crew of 8, are from both St. Maarten and Anguilla.
Boats will depart at 1 pm from Great Bay Harbor, sail towards a marker in the Simpson Bay Beach area and return to Great Bay Harbor.
Some of the boats participating from St. Martin are: Perfect Timing, Sandfly, Damage and Trouble.
Anguilla will be sending several boats over to compete against the St. Maarten, especially the boat called Perfect Timing, who won the Anguillian competition “Champ of Champs.”
The significance of the boat racing is that it started out when fisherman began setting their fish traps, would race to see who would be the first to get back into shore to sell the fish. On weekends they would also have races amongst each other as well.
In the past, the major sport was boat racing and was always organized with each festivity.
Somewhere in the 20th century, possible, early 1900, there were races in Marigot, Simpsonbay, Philipsburg, and currently Grand Case.
There will be cash prizes and trophies.
The sponsor of this event is The Windward Islands Bank, Ltd.
