Antigua
July’s CSA Dinghy Championship (July 16-17) is almost upon
us, with the deadline for entries falling on June 15th. This
prestigious tournament invites competition from a maximum of six Caribbean
countries, with racing in Laser, Zoom 8, Optimist and Sport 16 classes.
On the social
side, the First Annual Hawaiian Beach Barbecue was held March 13. 200 people
and some 20 boats piled into Carlisle Bay Resort to slip into a grass skirt and
enjoy pig roast, huli huli chicken and Polynesian Painkiller cocktails.
For information on
social or sailing events at the AYC, contact [email protected]
Grenada
The Grenada Yacht
Club (GYC) will hold its 6th Annual Regatta on July 7, 8, 9 and 10. Sailors
will leave from Grand Anse beach with the after-race partying at the Grenada
Yacht Clubhouse.
Along with Racing, Cruising, Charter and
Multihull classes, live aboard cruisers are actively encouraged to enter in the
Fun class category. If you intend to race in the Racing or Cruising classes, a
CSA Certificate will be required at final registration. The Grenada Yacht Club
is looking forward to participants from throughout the region coming to this
event. Grenada Yacht Club is also affiliated with the Caribbean Sailing
Association, The Marine and Yachting Association of Grenada, The Grenada
Sailing Association and the Caribbean Racing Association.
For more information about the event and
for pre-registration information please visit our website at www.grenadayachtclub.com or call
473-440-6826.
Jolly Harbour Yacht Club
The second Mount Gay Fun Regatta was held on April 9th,
in Five Islands Harbour, Antigua.
Winds were mainly
light and very variable with occasional strong gusts. The Cruising class set
off first and raced from Five Islands to the entrance of St. John’s shipping
channel. This start was made exciting by a cruiser taking away the start mark,
anchor and all. It wasn’t until the skipper of the offending boat tried to tack
that he realized something was amiss!
The mark was
replaced and the first of three races for the Racer/Cruisers got underway.
These courses were all windward/leeward courses. Regular competitor Tony Sayer
on Augustine would probably
have won the last race but claims his tactician had forgotten how many laps he
had done. Shot by the finishing line under spinnaker but on the wrong side of
the committee boat, he was determined to do another lap! In the spirit of the
Mount Gay fun regatta, he was called back by the committee boat before doing
a complete extra lap.
In the
Racer/Cruiser class Trouble, skippered by Geoffrey Pidduck, was the easy winner of every race
on corrected time and took the Mount Gay Rum Cask as the main prize in the
Dogwatch Tavern. Pedlar, the winner of his class of
the 2004 Antigua Classic Regatta, took the honours in the Cruising class.
As we have now
come to expect, a lot of Extra Old Mount Gay Rum was handed out in prizes
together with T-shirts and Mount Gay Hat Party Invitations for the famous
Galleon Beach event on Friday April 22. Every competing boat also received a
case of Legends beer. We thank our sponsors Mount Gay Rum, their Distributor
Best Cellars Wines & Spirits and Dogwatch Tavern who prepared a delicious
suckling pig for this event.
St Maarten
St Maarten held a special Roelof
Segers Regatta April 17th to mark the departure of the SMYC board
member and Heineken manager of the same name. The cream of local sailing talent
turned out to race each other in 8 one-design Jeanneau Sunfast 20s around the
west end of Simpson Bay Lagoon. After four races during the day, Dutch Peter Grannetia snatched victory from Petro Jonker, with Rien Korteknie in third.
Frits Bus placed fourth and Janneke Brouwer (with Koos Ritchie and Gerard Loos
on board) fifth.
SMYC Commodore Dave Shuttleworth and ex-Commodore Jerry Blakeslee both
paid tribute to Segers’ efforts with the club and the regatta over the last
three years.
The 4th annual North Sails
Regatta, aka the Caribbean Keelboat Championships, will be taking place June
18-20. This event draws the best in regional sailing to St Maarten for
competition that goes right down to the wire. Last year, Mike Green, Robbie
Hirst, John Holmberg, Chris Rosenberg, Karl James, Fraito Lugo and more took on
top local crews with four boats in contention for the overall title going into
the final race. Antigua’s Karl James is the current champion.
For more information, call Cary
Byerley on 522 0068
St Barth
The St Barth Laser Challenge
kicks off on June 11, concluding the 12th. Racing will be in Laser
Standard and Radial classes with a $100 entry fee. Final registration is on
Friday June 10th at the Restaurant La Plage in St Jean, which will
also be the venue for the awards ceremony. For more information, contact the St
Barth Yacht Club on (590) 590 27 70 41, (590) 690 72 21 19 or email them at [email protected]
Trinidad and Tobago Sailing Association
The final teams have been
announced for the 2005 Optimist North American Sailing Championships, held this
month from June 24 to July 3 at Pigeon Point, Tobago.
185 sailors from 18 countries including T&T, Dominican Republic,
Martinique/Guadeloupe, Netherlands Antilles, Puerto Rico, Barbados, USVI and
Bequia/St Vincent, are expected for the 10-day event. This is the first time
the event is being held in the Caribbean.
