“The Donald” and the DR
Donald Trump, who already has his name on the golf course and casino at the raffles resort on Canouan in the Grenadines, strikes again in the Caribbean with a new $2 billion, 30,000 acre project, the Trump at Cap Cana in the Dominican Republic. A marina with 1,000 slips for yachts up to 150 feet long is planned, with phase one set to open this year. www.capcana.com.
YSATT’S new management committee
At Yacht Services Association of Trinidad & Tobago’s Annual General Meeting held April 18, members voted in the Management Committee for the year 2007 – 2008. President is Tommy Johnson, CISL Marine; Vice-President, Mark Farfan – Dynamite Marine Ltd., and Treasurer, Donald Stollmeyer – Power Boats Mutual Facilities Ltd.
Scotiabank Caribbean International Opti Regatta set for June 21-24
Scotiabank, hosted by St. Thomas Yacht Club, is set to sail for its 15th time from June 21 to 24, 2007. A starting line with 80-plus skippers from 8 to 15 years of age is expected, and participants will hail from the USVI, BVI, Puerto Rico, Trinidad, Martinique, St. Lucia, and other islands including Bermuda. “We’re also expecting up to four teams of sailors from the U.S. mainland, Florida and New York,” says Karen Rice, co-director with Cindy Hackstaff. For the NOR, see www.styc.net.
Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship July 12 to 21
More than 200 of the world’s top young sailors from 50 nations are heading to Kingston, Canada for the 2007 Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship. St Lucia and Paraguay will both compete at the Youth Worlds for the first time in the biggest-ever Championships held in North America. In ISAF’s Centenary year, Portsmouth Olympic Harbour will host the event. Barbados makes only their second ever appearance, and the British Virgin Islands and Colombia, only their third ever.
More Transatlantic rowers headed our way
The executive director of the Ocean Rowing Society International, Kenneth Crutchlow, contacted All at Sea in April after reading coverage of rower Ralph Tujin to let us know that two members were on the way to Antigua. Closest was Graham Walters (Great Britain) in 40-year old, historic Puffin, hoping to arrive during sailing week. Another, Bhavik Gandi (India) is attempting to be the first Asian to row solo across the Atlantic from the Canary Islands to Antigua in the boat Miss Olive.
Moorings offering a little slice of heaven
The Moorings yacht charter company is selling a fully-crewed, luxury motor yacht in the British Virgin Islands for a only $430,000, instead of the normal $4.3 million price tag. How can they do this? Through a new fractional ownership program that divides the yacht into 10 units of 10% and offers owners the opportunity to purchase one or multiple units, each giving the owner four weeks per year. The first yacht in the program, the Squadron 74 by Fairline, has four double guest cabins and crew quarters aft and was delivered to Tortola in December. www.mooringsfractional.com, email
Island Water World’s new St. Thomas store opens.
The new Island Water World location at Yacht Haven Grande opened its doors to the public in April with more than 3,000 square feet of show room space. They plan to stock many new items such as Quick windlasses, Sterling Battery Chargers, Kyocera Solar Panels, Sinergex Invertors, and Waeco Refrigeration. Telephone 340-714-0404. www.islandwaterworld.com
New marina for St. Lucia
The Westin Le Paradis St Lucia Beach & Golf Resort on the former site of a banana plantation has announced plans for a 100-slip marina and marina village with a five-star boutique hotel, a yacht club, gourmet restaurants, upscale boutique shopping and conference facilities—once all phases of construction are completed.
Island Global Yachting buys Montauk Yacht Club
The recent $34 million sale of the Montauk Yacht Club Resort & Marina to Island Global Yachting made news as the company’s first North American outpost. Fort Lauderdale-based Island Global plans to redevelop it to accommodate what a spokesman called “mega- and giga-yachts.” The company is developing or already operating more than a dozen marinas in the Caribbean, Mexico and the Middle East. Island Global is a project of real estate magnate and boating enthusiast Andrew Farkas, who serves as chief executive and runs its parent company, the real estate investment bank Island Capital Management Llc.
Grenadian Harbour Master for Port Louis Marina
Port Louis Grenada has appointed Junior Cuffie as Harbour Master responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Marina docks. Cuffie has worked in the yachting industry for five years and is an avid sailor. “We have to maintain the highest standards here if we are to get the world’s best yachts.” Says Cuffie. I intend to work with the Port Louis team to ensure that we become one of the best marinas in the world.”
New LED Lights from MAST Products.
Navigation and anchor lights drain batteries and standard bulbs have a limited life and fragility. Mast Products says their Bay15D 50 LED’s Replacement Bulb will replace conventional 25 Watt glowing bulbs, instantly converting your navigation lights into LED navigation lights consuming just 3.5 Watts instead of the normal 25 Watts, saving battery life and lasting for over 50.000 hours. The bulbs are available at Budget Marine.
New web address for Caribbean Safety and Security Net
www.safetyandsecuritynet.com is the new location for this web site, according to information received from Melodye & John Pompa. “We will have more flexibility to add new pages when necessary, for both short-term and long-term issues. Those with high frequency radios can still find us on SSB 8104.0 every day at 1215 UTC.”
Necker Island Added to Highland Spring HIHO 2007 Itinerary
A late addition to the Highland Spring HIHO 2007 itinerary is a lunch stop at Necker Island. Planned for Thursday, July 5th, the revised schedule will see an Open class race from Anegada to Sir Richard Branson’s exotic private island hideaway. The yachts will also compete for the annual HIHO Cup. The Highland Spring HIHO 2007 event will see 55 racers competing in the Techno II one design class. Another 15-20 racers are expected in the Open class. The event combines long distance inter-island racing with a yacht flotilla. All participants are accommodated aboard a fleet of captained Moorings catamarans. www.go-hiho.com.
How and when do women learn to be boaters?
Boat US Survey of Over 400 Women Revealed…
An online survey of over 400 women by BoatU.S. reveals that almost half of all women respondents (47%) said it was a parent who they first remember teaching them boating skills, and 47% also said they had first gone boating before age 10. Forty-two percent said that there aren’t enough opportunities for girls and women to learn how to operate a boat, and when asked what kind of learning opportunities are needed, 80% said more hands-on events for women.
