Pineapple Cup entries pouring in

Some of the world's top international yachtsmen will gather on the shores of south Florida and Montego Bay on February 6 for the 29th staging of the Montego Bay International Yacht Race.

The event, which has been in existence since 1961, is one of island's oldest and premier yacht championship and will see navigators, tacticians and crews battle the coastline waters of Fort Lauderdale's Port Everglades, eastern Bahamas, Cuba and Montego Bay for the Pineapple Cup.

The event, which promises to assemble the largest fleet in decades and has attracted entries from the United States, Belgium, Swit-zerland, Ireland and the Cayman Islands, will cover a distance of 11 nautical miles.

The current race record is held by Titan 12, set in 2005 with an impressive elapsed time of two days, 10 hours, 24 minutes and 42 seconds.

Strong entries

According to the organisers, with three weeks left before the start of the event, 23 entries have been received, which is an "indication of the potential strength of the 2009 fleet". These entries include the hot contender Rosebud, a STP 65, which won the IRC Class in the legendary Sydney-Hobart Race in 2008.

"It is a race that has been established since 1961 with a great many notable people sailing in it over the past 48 years," noted the race managers, Southern Ocean Conference, in a press release.

Typical 20-plus-knot aft trade winds and rolling, following seas push the racers downhill into the sunset toward the finish, where they're greeted at the finish line with the traditional case of Jamaica's finest Red Stripe beer.

The race is sponsored by the Montego Bay Yacht Club (Montego Bay, Jamaica), the Storm Trysail Club (Larchmont, New York ), the Lauderdale Yacht Club (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) and the Jamaican Yachting Association (Kingston, Jamaica), and managed by the Southern Ocean Conference with the collective group.

- Jermaine Lannaman