Only hours after 10-year-old Abigail Affoo received the trophy for best female dinghy skipper at the Trinidad & Tobago Sailing Association’s yearly prize giving on Saturday June 13 2009 she and her father Joseph Affoo were on their way to St. Thomas for the 17th Scotiabank International Optimist Regatta.
After an intensive 3-day clinic at the same venue at which the regatta was taking place Abigail Affoo and 73 other sailors competed in 3 different age groups to become this years Red, Blue and White fleet winners. The competing sailors ranged in age from 8 to 15 years and represented all three U.S. Virgin Islands, the British Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, St. Maarten, the Dominican Republic, Guadeloupe, the U.S. mainland, Bermuda, Canada, Venezuela en off-course Trinidad & Tobago.
10-year-old Abigail Affoo who competed with 15 other junior sailors in the White fleet managed to clean up her fleet by beating her other competitors in 8 out of the 12 races and thrashing second-place winner Wiley Rogers from the USA with a 92-point difference.
At the end of the regatta Abigail not only took home the first prize in the White fleet but was also able to place herself within the top 25 placing 24th overall and leaving many older sailors behind her.
On Tuesday June 30th 2009 Abigail Affoo will once again leave Trinidad & Tobago, together with fellow Trinidad & Tobago Optimist team members Derek Poon Tip and Kelly Arrindell and coach Mathew Schoener-Scott, to represent her country at the 2009 North American Optimist Championship in the Dominican Republic. The Trinidad & Tobago Sailing Association wishes the whole team all the best at this championship and would like to thank the Sports Company of Trinidad & Tobago Limited for their continued support.
