Paul-Andre Walker, Staff Reporter
The JAZZ and her crew get some good wind during the Super Clubs' Super Yacht Race in the Kingston Harbour yesterday. The JAZZ crossed the line first but had to settle for second place in the competition behind GERONIMO. - JUNIOR DOWIE/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
STEVEN COOKE is now the holder of a historic four titles in a row after winning the ninth annual SuperClubs Super Yacht Race at the Royal Jamaica Yacht Club (RJYC) yesterday.
Captaining the J22 nicknamed Geronimo, Cooke crossed the line at Morgan's Harbour third, but received a favourable corrected time because of a low handicap.
For that, the team of Cooke, Malcolm Frederick, Sean Pierre, and Alvin Murray received the SuperClubs Trophy along with gift baskets from Tastee.
Second across the line and just ahead of Geronimo was the Harry Hersh, for which they received gift prizes from Tastee.
Jazz got across the line first, but the size of the ship meant it had a small handicap, taking away any chance of winning the title when the corrected time was entered.
GIFT PRIZES
However, the crew did walk away with a gift prize for its efforts in getting line honours and was also lauded for doing well without a spinnaker.
A spinnaker is a sail that is shaped like a parachute that goes at the front of the yacht to provide speed. For that effort the crew also received a gift basket.
In the race to win the corrected time event, Jazz found themselves second behind Geronimo for which they received the Ocean Spray Trophy.
In third place, copping the Tastee Trophy, was Aurora, captained by Roger Moore-Croft.
After the race and the festivities that followed, a pleased Cooke explained that this victory meant even more to his crew than the three previous ones.
HAPPY MAN
After winning the Spring Regatta and having a good year that could even get better if they go on to win the 100th anniversary of the Doctor's Cove Regatta, Cooke was a happy man.
"It's not easy. Today was the hardest. The breeze was incredibly difficult to deal with, the waves were bigger than we had hoped for but we have trained very hard. So to us this is history, nobody has ever done this before so we are very happy about it," said Cooke.
What made the victory even more sweet for the victors was the fact that halfway through the race they lost their vang.
The vang is a piece of equipment that helps to keep the boom of the ship, where sails are masted in place at the right angles to the wind for optimum control, in place.
Losing control of the yacht at that time was costly as they were almost overrun by two container ships, one inbound and one outbound, before getting back on course.
