Grenada is being promoted at two of the world’s most prestigious regattas in a very unique way. On Friday April 13th, Danny Donelan, Assistant Manager at Camper & Nicholsons Port Louis Marina, left Grenada aboard the sailing yacht Savvy for the Antigua Classic Regatta and the St. Barth’s West Indies Regatta. Savvy, a classic Carriacou Sloop, built in Petite Martinique, left Grenada laden with Grenada’s best manufactured products and a range of Grenadian company brochures Donelan says the idea is to create a Grenada experience at both regattas with the Sailing Boat Savvy, as the backdrop and main staging area.
In Antigua, this Grenada experience will take place before and after the races. Donelan and his team already have a good network of contacts in Antigua and will use this network to help to promote Grenada. In St. Barth’s there will be a special market day. “We will get to showcase the fantastic things that Grenada has to offer during the West Indies market day in St. Barth’s. This is being sponsored under UNESCO’s umbrella and the intention is to try to foster more inter-Caribbean trade like the old days. It is really easy to get products from the USA but really hard to get products between the islands as boats no longer travel these routes,” said Donelan.
Camper & Nicholsons Port Louis Marina, Mount Cinnamon Resort and Beach Club and Savvys Restaurant are the main sponsors of the trip. Speaking on behalf of Camper & Nicholsons Marina, Manager Glynn Thomas expressed strong support for this initiative. He said that Camper & Nicholsons always has a presence at these shows and was delighted to be part of this new and exciting initiative. “We are happy to have the Camper & Nicholsons brand and Grenada positioned in this way. We believe this will be a really effective campaign, and will definitely draw interest in Grenada”.
Similarly, Peter de Savary Chairman of Savvy Grenada which owns Port Louis Real Estate, Mount Cinnamon Beach Resort and Savvys Restaurant, was in an equally positive mood about this venture. “Firstly we want to commend Danny and his team for their initiative and the personal commitment they are making for Grenada. We believe that the Grenada/Savvy experience will create a tremendous buzz at the two Regattas.”
The Grenada team will be distributing over 300 T shirts made locally and branded with the Port Louis logo; Grenada Chocolate from the Grenada Chocolate Factory; art and craft from Fidel Productions; locally made jams, pepper sauce and other food products from de La grenade Industry; and rum from the Westerhall Distillery. In addition the display will include flyers, brochures and giveaways from Mount Cinnamon Beach Resort; Savvys Restaurant; Camper & Nicholsons Port Louis Marina; Budget Marine; Grenada Board of Tourism; Island Water World; Insurance Consultants; and MAYAG. They are all sponsors of the initiative.
Danny and his all Grenadian crew will be competing in the regattas aboard Savvy. “I will be taking part in the Carriacou Sloop section which sees at least 12 sloops built in Carriacou and Petite Martinique competing for the prize. I expect the competition to be keen but I have a great crew so we expect to put on a good show,” Donelan remarked. After the Antigua Classic we will be sailing over to St. Barth’s for the West Indies Regatta which is made up of only Carriacou Sloops.”
