The Regatta Team

Some twenty years ago, Juul (Jules) was invited to serve on the Race Committee of the Heineken Regatta.
He fell in love with the Caribbean and has been comming back every year, bringing some 4.000 Sailors to experience the pleasures and excitement of Racing in one of the many Regatta's in the Region.

A top sailor in his younger days when he represented South Africa in the Fireball Class, He is now a resident of St. Maarten where he joined the Heineken Regatta some 20 years ago. This year he will be taking a break from the Golden Rock but will be actively supporting us with all the pre race preperations for the regatta..

After sailing in the first edition of the GRR, Jelle joined the team as Vice Chairman and Secretary of the GRR Foundation. He is respon-sible for organising the venues ashore in addition to canvassing potential sponsors. Through the St. Rose Beach Bar he is also one of our valued sponsors!

Daughter and Girl Friday to the Chairman, Jaqueline takes care of the mundane matters at the event, without which things would come to a grinding halt. In addition she serves as the event photographer and together with her husband keeps the website up to date!

We are please to announce that Alfred is back as Race Officer and Chief Judge. in addition Alfred is our measurer. Recently retired  from Budget Marine, he now spends most his time doing the fun things in life! He serves on a number of Race Committees in the region including the Heineken Regatta.

Siem is another participant from the first edition. He is a resident of Statia and our contact with the local authorities. He is responsible for arrangeing the shore facilities there and sinchronising the Regatta with the First Salute celebrations of which the Regatta is part.

Tieneke is an experienced committee worker from the Flevomare Yacht Club in the Netherlands. Tieneke joined our team two years ago and now serves as Assistant Race Officer and General Assistant.   

Berthold is our Support cat skipper who takes care of the technical requirements of the committee. He is an experienced regatta assistant having worked for some 15 years at the Adriatic Sailing Week.

Tobias is an enthusiastic addition to our Regatta Team and as General Assistant he can be seen doing the heavy work the old men have a problem with! Together with his father he also takes care of the dinghy service.

Without the support of Klaas and his crew, the Golden Rock Regatta would just be another idea that never got of the Ground! As main sponsor from the onset, he has been active in the wings and his encouragement has kept the regatta's development on the rails!

A new member to our team, Chris is responsible for promoting the GRR in the North-Eastern US. He spends his time canvassing sailors to come to the event and he is constantly on the lookout for  new sponsors.

Henk is a GRR competitor from the onset, who increased his involvement in the marketing and promoting of the event at each visit. Every year he brings a new group of clients/friends to the regatta and can thus claim responsibility for a large part of the regatta's growth!