Royal BVI Yacht Club Captain of Sailing Development Richard Wooldridge was busy on Saturday and Sunday helping junior sailors compete in the annual Back to School Regatta.
Aside from his usual duties like helping a sailor with his or her rigging, he also attended to a couple of seasick skippers.
“To those who went out on Saturday morning and found things a little too rough to carry on, don’t worry and don’t give up,” Mr. Wooldridge wrote in an e-mail. “It takes some time to build up confidence, especially after a long summer break.”
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More than 20 sailors from both the USVI and Tortola competed in the RBVIYC’s annual Back to School Regatta.
The event consists mainly of Optimist boats, except for a couple Lasers, which were on the course. The sailors were divided up into two divisions — green and white.
About nine sailors from the USVI attended the event.
“It was a very good turnout for this time of year,” Mr. Wooldridge said. “We have been very lucky with the weather. It has turned out to be a wonderful sailing day.”
The event was postponed the week before due to the threat of tropical storm Maria.
Mr. Wooldridge has been developing better relationships with the sailing community on neighbouring islands. Each week he sends out an e-mail to various yacht clubs and other “main players” about youth sailing in the VI.
“The interaction between the yacht clubs in the Virgin Islands has become very good,” Mr. Wooldridge said.
He added that the junior sailors form lasting “friendships” and “bonds” when yacht clubs participate in each other’s events. Mr. Wooldridge said the event also serves as a stepping stone for the younger sailors.
For the past year, the captain of sailing development has been working on enhancing junior sailing in the territory. One of the changes includes moving its youth sailing centre base to Nanny Cay from Road Reef. Compared to Road Harbour, the new location is a “perfect venue” for dinghy sailing because of the available amenities and is less congested with boat traffic.
Currently, the base includes two huts and a tent.
“That is our toe-hold into Nanny Cay,” Mr. Wooldridge said. “It is quite a contentious thing whether or not the yacht club itself will ever come to Nanny Cay.”
For such a move to happen, he believes a new “club house” will have to be found that is comparable to the current facility.
The sailors in last weekend’s regatta were aged 8 to 16 years old. Mr. Wooldridge said racing was competitive despite the challenging conditions.
“We had a few capsizes and a couple kids even got sea sick, because it is quite lumpy out there,” He said. “But after about an hour, the kids settled down and got used to the conditions. There was some very, very tight racing.”
Sam Morrell would edge out Jason Putley by one point in the White Fleet to win the event. Sam would finish first eight times out of 14 races.
In the Green Fleet, Jack Finlay finished first in the Green Fleet followed by Theodore Nicolosi.
“There wasn’t a single Optimist on the beach, that is a good sign,” Mr. Wooldridge said.
White Fleet
1. Sam Morrell(IVB); 2. Jason Putly(IVB); 3. Matthew Oliver(IVB); 4. Rayne Duff(IVB); 5. Chris Sharpless (ISV); 6. Julian van den Driessche (ISV)
Green Fleet
1. Jack Finley (ISV); 2. Teddy Nicolosi(ISV); 3. Maggie Finley (ISV); 4. Cloe Coffindaffer (ISV); 5. Sam Childs (IVB); 6. Thad Lettsome (IVB); 7. Jaques Liegeard(IVB); 8. William Richards(IVB); 9. Chuck Finely (ISV) 10. Mia Nicolosi (ISV)
The following Green Fleet sailors started, but did not finish enough races to be scored : Nina Forte, Emily McCleary, Leo Forte, Justine Bryson, Malia Bryson. All from the VI.