Luis Cintron was beaming with happiness and pride as he swam ashore to the beach from his boat Velocity after winning the Class A category in the St. Croix Festival boat races Sunday.

“It was a victory long overdue,” he explained to a reporter on reaching the rocky shore.

He explained that he thought he could have won last year except for a “mishap at the start.” He added that he was confident that he could also win the final match-off of all the winners of the various categories in the final race of the day – an offshore drag race straight down the line from off Sandy Point to a point off the beach in Frederiksted.

He did.

Going fast on Velocity is not something new to Cintron. He said, “I do it every day.” However, he added that taking the curves was a bit challenging and new to him. The races in the individual classes consisted of two laps around buoys placed several hundred yards into the ocean

He had at least one fan on the beach. Pam Nelson said, “Boy, that boat was fast.”

Nelson, who was a friend of the family of the winners, said the wait for the race to begin was “definitely worth it.”

The races, which were scheduled to start at noon, did not start until after 2 p.m.

The hundreds of spectators lining the beach from Frederiksted, passed the fishing pier where the race was organized, and about a mile northward seemed to agree with Nelson, as a party atmosphere prevailed until the races started and when they started spectators got what they came for. Boats at times seemed almost completely airborne as they skipped upon the sun-kissed waters..

“Its a beautiful day for the races,” said Jerome Weeks, a chief organizer of the event.

Weeks added that the reason for the delay of the start of the races was that organizers were waiting for boats to come in from various parts of the islands. Not every boat could be put in at the Fishermen’s Pier because of the small size of the pier.

This year one boat from St. Thomas participated. Weeks said the event, which has been going on for six years, usually attracts more St. Thomas boaters. He expected 15 boats to participate in the even but a couple had engine trouble early and could not take part.

The first place winner in Class B was Carlos Figueroa and second place was Sharis Saab. Winning in Class C was Alvin Peophilus.