A CRUISER'S VIEW OF BEQUIA - Caribbean Compass

NOVEMBER 2008 CARIBBEAN COMPASS PAGE 14
REGATTA
NEWS
Safety First for Young Grenadian Sailors
Thanks to a donation by the Four Seasons Group of
a brand-new chase boat, young sailors in Grenada
will have a better learning environment when they
take part in the Youth Sailing Program run by the
Grenada Yacht Club (GYC) and supported by the
Grenada Sailing Association (GSA).
GSA Treasurer Jacqui Pascall explains: “This donation
is very important to the ongoing 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 and tactical instruction.”
The boat was presented to James Benoit of the
GYC, who is also Vice Chairman of the GSA. In thanking
Four Seasons, he said: “On behalf of the Grenada
From right: Jacqui Pascall, Michael McQueen, James
Benoit, Kevin Banfield and, second from left, James
Vlasto, Sales Director of Four Seasons/Cinnamon88,
with members of the Grenada Youth Sailing Program
and the new chase boat
Yacht Club and 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. Captains of big boats and
mega-yachts start from here — by learning to sail dinghies
and learning to sail well and safely. With the
www.caribbeancompass.com
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.”
Jacqui 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.”
For more information contact Jacqui Pascall at tel
(473) 415-2022.
Caribbean 1500 Adds New Class, New Start
This year’s Caribbean 1500 rally from the US to the
Caribbean will add a competitive class for performance
cruisers, thus expanding the racing portion of
the event.
“Responding to a request from some of our veteran
rally participants,” explained Founder and President
Steve Black, “we are adding a level of more intense
competition for low-handicap performance cruisers.
This year, we will have our Rally and Cruising (noncompetitive)
Classes, as always, but will add a
Performance Class. Qualifying boats that have
already signed up for this year’s Caribbean 1500
include a Swan 56, a Hallberg Rassy 62, a Macgregor
65, a Farr 50, and a Santa Cruz 52 — all veterans of
our previous rallies.” Between 50 and 60 boats are
expected this year.
The Caribbean 1500 this year will
schedule simultaneous starts on
November 2nd from both Hampton,
Virginia, and Charleston, South
Carolina. “Over the years, we have
discovered that boats from the
southern US are hesitant to sail north
around Cape Hatteras to join us for
the start in Hampton,” said Steve
Black. “In addition, some boats
under 40 feet may have a less
stressful passage if they join the
Charleston start. The Hampton and
Charleston fleets will converge
simultaneously on our destination in
the Caribbean and join in postevent
activities together.” The rally
ends at Village Cay Marina in
Roadtown, Tortola, British
Virgin Islands.
Over 10,000 website visitors each
day will monitor the progress of the
boats in the rally. With wireless transponders
on each yacht, positions will be updated via
satellite every four hours. Each boat’s track will be displayed
on the Caribbean 1500 website using software
customized to incorporate features from Google
Earth. The transponder program is sponsored by
Davenport & Company, LLC.
For more information visit www.carib1500.com.
Opti Racing for Grown-Ups in St. Lucia
Ted Bull reports: The “Oldy Goldy” sailing members
of the St. Lucia Yacht Club (SLYC) decided to take up
the slack in the quiet weeks prior to the beginning of
the new junior training season. What started out as a
joke came to fruition on September 14th when seven
of the grown folks rigged and sailed the club’s Optis
on a race off Reduit Beach in front of the clubhouse.
A Le Mans start commenced with the intrepid sailors
having first to climb in, fall in, or somehow get into
their floating boats and head for the first mark, which
was a reach of some 400 yards. With legs protruding
over the sides and some heads visible, the fleet got
away. At the mark, which they had to leave to port,
things got serious with endless screams for “water!”
and banging into the buoy.
A quick run down to the next buoy just a few yards
away, then harden up to the beat back to the
beach. The officer of the day, Peter Gibbs, stood up
to his waist in the water to take the results as the
crews disembarked as elegantly as they could —
“man overboard” style, mainly!
Tired, knees mashed up, wet and exhausted, the
sailors came ashore for a lunch break and some bragging!
Fed and watered, the O/D turned them around
for a second bash. Now with “experienced” Opti sailors,
the fleet took on a more serious aspect.
The post-racing “wash-up” and debate went on until
late, amply assisted by Mr. Heineken and Mr. Piton,
and the St. Lucia Yacht Club hosted more Opti
Saturdays for grown-ups. The proceeds of the entrance
fees go to the SLYC Junior Sailing Programme.
For more information
visit www.stluciayachtclub.com.
—Continued on next page
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