bequia - J24_and_L8_001
A contingent of five J24's and two cruising yachts from Saint Lucia attended the
Easter Regatta at Bequia this year, to compete in what has become a historical
Southern Caribbean Regatta to attend.
This year, despite the previous week's bad weather and the continued spate of
exceptionally heavy swells leading up to the weekend of sailing, a mixture of 43
boats of all classes from Trinidad in the south to Martinique in the north were
attracted.
Bequia traditionally has no resident racing fleet of yachts, and depend on the
visitors to make their regatta viable.
Its popularity is reflected in the ever-growing numbers of yachts that make the
pilgrimage every year to this lovely spot in the south. The attraction is not only
the racing and the friendly nature of the people but the wealth of traditional boat
building, and fishing, which is their heritage and abounds all over the island.
Freddy accepting the price from the Bequia Eester Regatta
Whilst they do not have a resident fleet of yachts, they have their colorful fishing
fleet which race equally and as seriously as the yachts.
One would dare say more fiercely, as a local sport and lively hood! In this year’s
regatta there were at least 25 - 30 of them making up their own races in several
different classes depending on size and rig!
This year’s Regatta hosted the largest numbers of J24 race boats that has been
seen in any southern regatta! There were eleven in number and Saint Lucia
contributed five of them.
The weather kindly relaxed a little from the forecasted heavy swells, and the
race committee wisely decided the game was on!
The first race was on Friday and followed through Saturday with a Lay day on
Sunday and the finals on Easter Monday. The competition was keenly contested
in all classes and specifically in the "One" design class of J24's.
Two previous Bequia champions were again out to repeat their winnings and this
made for very hot competition. However, the “new boys on the block” challenged
their skills and perseverance.
From port to starboard Eric,Freddy,Ben,Anthony & Charlie
The young team from the Saint Lucia Yacht Club sailing in the Commodore's J24
"Attitude" demonstrated their consistency, and finally in the last and final race
kept their cool, and produced their first win to give them an overall points’ lead
to claim the coveted prize of J24 champs 2008.
The young J24 team in "Attitude" are all students from the Saint Lucia Sailing
School, and they did the project and Saint Lucia
proud by showing their new found skills when pitted against the best known J24
crews in the area!
These are the boys to watch in the future and it is so gratifying to see the
results from the tuition given by the youth sailing programme.
The team was Fredrick Sweeney (19), Charles Daher (17), Eric Simmons (17),
Anthony Clavier (21), Benjamin Todd (25), (coach)
In the offshore cruising yacht races Saint Lucia again came home with the goods.
"Hot Chocolate" owned and driven by Richard Washington came first in his two
races in the Cruising class making him the overall winner.
The only yacht from Marigot Bay "Dubloon" also did well in the cruising class to
pick up a creditable third and fourth place
to add to Saint Lucia's pot of gold from Bequia.
