The largest dinghy championship event was hosted by the Royal BVI Yacht Club last weekend in the Sir Francis Drake Channel, according to organisers.
Fifty-eight junior sailors from around the region competed in the two-day event, which was staged at Nanny Cay on Tortola. The annual regatta is traditionally held during the last weekend of April, but this year it was bumped to the first weekend in May. The junior sailors compete in various classes.
“This is the largest event we have had in many, many years,” said RBVIYC Sailing Development Director Brian Duff.
He credited RBVIYC sailing coach Omari Scott’s “enthusiasm” for the large turnout.
“He got on the phone and called Trinidad, St. Lucia, Antigua, Curacao, Puerto Rico — everybody. He encouraged them all to come,” Mr. Duff said. “It is really encouraging to see this many kids racing dinghies.”
Organisers were hoping for 12- to 17-knots of wind, but sailors had to compete in almost no wind.
“The expectations from the sailors were for a windy, rough water regatta,” Mr. Duff said. “But it is a calm, not so windy event. But we have enough wind to get sails off.”
On Saturday morning, the sailors completed two races before lunch. Most classes got 11 races in over the two-day regatta. Some of the experienced sailors used a technique called “kiting” to get the most out of the light breeze. The sailors would turn their dinghy on its side reducing the amount of surface area in contact with the water, while the sail is elevated higher in the air.
Initially the organisers planned for the sailors to have lunch on the water, but opted to come to shore to have lunch and take a swim while they “waited for some wind,” according to Mr. Duff.
Despite the light sailing conditions, Mr. Duff said having youth sailors from around the region attend the regatta is an important step in “elevating” the junior sailors to the next level.
“Getting them all here in the BVI gives them a chance to compete against each other to raise all of our skill level collectively,” Mr. Duff said. “That is the real reason why we want to try to get them here.”
Tortola is not the only Caribbean nation that hosts dinghy regattas. St. Martin, Puerto Rico, Antigua and St. Thomas are also venues for junior regattas. The VI has plans to participate in most of them.
“We try to get these same kids to these different events,” Mr. Duff said. “In order to repeatedly compete against each other and get their skills up to be competitive when they go to World level events.”
Last weekend’s regatta was a good sign of growth in junior sailing in the territory, according to Mr. Duff. He said on average about 40 junior sailors practise each week.
Of the 21 boats racing in the Opti Advanced fleet they scored collectively and additionally in age division fleets.
The White Fleet was the youngest fleet with sailors 10 years old and under. VI sailor Rayne Duff won the division, followed by Thad Lettsome, also of the VI, while Nathan Smith from St. Martin took third.
The Blue Fleet, for sailors 11- to 12-years-old, was won by Teddy Nicolosi from St. Thomas, followed by Rocco Falcone from Antigua and Chris Sharpless of St. Thomas.
The Red Fleet for sailors 13- to 15-years-old was won by the VI’s Sam Morrell, while Paige Clark of St. John took second. Jason Putley of the VI took third.
Sam Childs won the Sportsmanship Award this year for showing good spirit, and helping his competitors to ensure they knew the course and starts.
This regatta served as a qualifier for Optimist Worlds and the top five VI sailors earned spots. They are Sam Morrell, Jason Putley, Rayne Duff, Thad Lettsome and Sam Childs.
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