Grenada Yacht Club and Grenada Sailing Association
Thanks to a donation by Four Seasons of a brand new chase boat, young sailors will have a better learning environment when they take part in the Youth Sailing Program run by the club and supported by the association. Association Treasurer Jacqui Pascall explained: “This donation is very important to the on-going Youth Sailing Program. Safety is our first priority with our young sailors, whatever amount of experience they may have. This new boat will enable our instructors Kevin Banfield, Michael McQueen and Vaughn Bruno to stay close to the dinghies out on the water, and give much better technical & tactical instruction.”
James Vlasto, Sales Director, and Richard Hesford, Project Manager, Cinnamon88, representing the Four Seasons Group, visited the Grenada Yacht Club and met the young sailors and their instructors. The boat was presented to James Benoit of the Grenada Yacht Club, who is also Vice Chairman of the Grenada Sailing Association.
“I would like to thank the management of Four Seasons for this important support for the continued development of sailing in Grenada,” Benoit said. “Captains of big boats and Mega yachts start from here—by learning to sail dinghies and learning to sail well and safely. With the help of Four Seasons I believe we are seeing the start of a very positive way forward for many of our young sailors here today.”
Pascall added, “We are keen to see more Grenadian would-be sailors joining us and finding out not only what fun sailing can be, but also how rewarding. We already have young sailors from this Program who have now represented Grenada in Regattas in the region and our long-term goal is to have Grenada represented in the future in more International events and even the Olympics in London in 2012.”
Club Nautico de San Juan, Puerto Rico
Club Nautico has posted a Notice of Race for their 8th International Regatta, February 12 – 15, 2009. Classes are Optimist, Laser and Snipe. Charter boats are available for a fee, and racing will take place in San Juan Bay. This event will serve as the third of a Qualifying Series for the teams representing Puerto Rico for 2009 at the South American IODA championship, for the 2009 North American Championship, and for the 2009 Optimist Worlds. Parents with safety boats willing to help are asked to contact José Gilberto Berríos. For information: call (787) 722-0177, email [email protected], or www.nauticodesanjuan.com
St. Croix Yacht Club
Rum and sea baths will cure all your ailments, from a broken heart to a broken leg, according the organizers of St. Croix’s regatta, and the more rum, the better it works. But, then again, the island is home to the world-famous Cruzan Rum Distillery. The 16th St. Croix International Regatta, 20 – 22 February, 2009 will see a second weigh-in on the club’s giant scale for the skipper’s weight in Cruzan Gold rum.
“At the 2009 regatta, there will be two overall skipper’s weight in rum prizes awarded: one to the best of CSA racing spinnaker fleet and one to the most competitive boat in the most competitive non-CSA spinnaker racing fleet,” reports Regatta Director Julie San Martin. Who are these “other” fleets? “Over the past several years they have been: Performance Cruiser, Racer Cruiser, Jib and Main, Beachcats, Large Multihulls and the highly competitive IC-24s.”
“In 2008, local boys, the Stanton brothers, on Devil 3 won the Spinnaker Racing Fleet. Meanwhile, the Racer Cruiser fleet, led by Guy Eldrige’s Luxury Girl was truly impressive, with less than four points separating first and third places. These guys deserve recognition – or at least more rum!” says San Martin.
“Since this regatta was established in 1992, the make up of our local racing fleets has changed,” said San Martin. “In 1992, there were no IC24s, this fleet was established a decade later. Also in 1992, there were six large multihulls on the line – those were the days! One visiting boat has competed in all the St. Croix Internationals – Pipe Dream, Peter Haycraft’s Serena 38 from Tortola, winning her class numerous times. Regatta organizers in the Caribbean never know what assortment of boats will enter; this is particularly true of the smaller regattas.” www.stcroixyc.com
