Last weekend, six sailors from the BVI Sailing Team travelled to St. Maarten for the Sol Optimist Championship.
Rayne Duff, Nathan Haycraft, James Rajic-Knight and Kyle Roose competed in the Blue Fleet, which is the championship fleet for older and more experienced sailors.
Nicolas Haycraft and Ryan Lettsome both competed in the Orange Fleet, which is for younger competitors.
The two-day event was hosted by the St. Maarten Yacht Club in Simpson Bay.
The first day of racing was held inside in the lagoon, the second day farther out in Simpson Bay.
Saturday started off with gusts of 20 to 25 knots of wind, but that didn’t stop the races from being held.
Team BVI started off strongly with the competitors quickly getting familiar with the currents and wind shifts in the lagoon, which they used to their advantage.
The wind died down on Sunday and made sailing a lot easier for the Orange Fleet. The sailing course was located farther out in Simpson Bay, where the waves were much bigger.
Starts as well as upwind/downwind tactics proved to be the key factor in the impressive results from the Virgin Isalnds sailors.
Rayne finished the event in first with a large lead of 13 points between him and second place. Nathan finished in fourth place just two points off second place and one point from third place. James placed ninth and Kyle came in 14th.
Ryan Lettsome and Nicolas Haycraft finished 10th and 11th, respectively, in the Orange Fleet.
“The event was a great experience for all the sailors involved,” according a Royal BVI Yacht Club press release.
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