Sailing Events & Calendar
| August 21, 2010 |
SLYC Round St Lucia Non-Stop Race 21st August 2010
ANNUAL SLYC EMANCIPATION DAY TROPHY RACE 31st July 2010
Rodney Bay to Marigot and Return Race
Despite an unsettled weather forecast, 9 boats turned out for the second annual Emancipation Day Race organised by the St Lucia Yacht Club. The smallest Boat was a 16’ Fireball and the largest Breeze Away, a 50’sloop with a scattering of J24’s, the popular 24’ race boat. Two of the J24’s were crewed by youth teams.
The race conditions were near perfect with a 12-14 knot breeze blowing from the north east. The race started at 10 am. just off the St Lucia Yacht club start line at Reduit Beach.
Claudia Vogel, a J24 took the lead early on but the main fleet were very closely grouped as they headed towards a rounding mark at Pigeon Point. The fleet then headed south to Marigot Bay on a run with the wind almost behind them and then the wind moving more on the beam. The J24’s put up spinnakers which gave them an advantage as they took the lead followed closely by the larger keel boats which prefer higher wind strength.
Just outside of Rodney Bay, near Barrel O’ Beef Rock, the 16’ Fireball with two crew capsized with the crew ending up in the water. The IGY safety rib was close by for assistance and towed the boat back to the club.
The fleet headed for the Hess mark and then the finish line outside Marigot Bay. Claudia Vogel was first to finish followed by Attitude and Jabal. The boats headed into Marigot Bay for a lunch stop and then returned to the start line at 2 pm. The start line was between the red buoy and the Marigot Marina Patrol boat.
The larger boats Breeze Away, Kaiso and Out of Sight got off to a flying start in the race going north with the wind almost on the nose. Out of Sight took a course close inshore and gained extra speed approaching Barrel O’ Beef rock. There were close duels between the boats as they approached the mark on diverging courses, making for some exciting racing. The fleet rounded the Pigeon point mark to starboard and then headed for the finish line with Out of Sight first over the line off Reduit beach.
The finish places on elapsed time for the race from Marigot to Rodney Bay were First, Attitude, second, Claudia Vogel and third Jabal.
Overall first three places on elapsed time based on a handicap system went to to the J24’s:
- Claudia Vogel
- Attitude and
- Jabal
CONGRATULATIONS to the Claudio Vogel crew as they are our youth sailors (Luis Meixner, Marcus Sweeney, Stephanie Lovell, Jasia King, Scott Anthony) WELL DONE !!!
Thanks go to prize sponsors Heineken (free Heineken cans for all participants), Digicel (mobile phone & miscellaneous items) , Rain Forest Skyrides (voucher), St Lucia Rums (Bounty Rum) Café Ole (voucher), as well as Edwin Chavez from IGY Marina for assistance with Race support, Ted Bull & Adam Slayed (Rodney Bay start & finish line) and Bob Hathaway from Marigot Bay Marina for support at the Marigot finish line.
Special thanks to the organizers Sean Fuller (Stand-in Sailing Captain), and Danielle (pictures) (Social Secretary) http://picasaweb.google.com/SaintLuciaYachtClub
Submitted by SF & DDR
Sailing Calendar 2010
* JULY 2010:-
* July 9, 10 & 11 - IC24 PREMIER’S CUP, TORTOLA (Junior Sailors)
* Sunday, July 11 - Summer Series continues for J24’s & Yachts.
* Sunday, July 25 - Summer Series FINAL for J24’s & Yachts.
* 25 July – 2 August Carriacou Regatta Festival
* AUGUST 2010:-
* Saturday 31st July - EMANCIPATION DAY REGATTA - To Marigot Bay & Return – (2 races).
*Saturday, 21st August 2010 – Round St Lucia Non-Stop Race
click on picture for pictures
Saturday 12th, Sunday 13th & Monday 14th December 2009
Hosted by St. Lucia Yacht Club in cooperation with the Yacht Club de la Martinique
Diamond Dash sponsored by Diamonds International
On Saturday 12th December at 09.00 a reduced entry of seven boats turned up in squally conditions for the start of the St Lucia to Martinique race series known as the Sir John Compton Memorial Race. The annual event is held in honour of the late Prime Minister of St Lucia, a keen yachtsman who served the island for over 30 years. The start was off the St Lucia Yacht Club in Rodney Bay and within the fleet included two ARC entries Akanara and Boundless and also two Martiniquan boats. The smallest entry was a J24 skippered by Edgar Roe.
As the yachts headed off round Pigeon Point, they were soon into the teeth of a strong north easterly blowing at between 25 and 30 knots. Akarana, a Swan 46 which had only recently finished the ARC Atlantic race, took the lead as the boats headed off to Fort de France , a distance of some 25 miles. The fleet soon encountered big rollers accompanied by some heavy rain squalls with gusts up to 35 knots. Some boats had two reefs in their mainsails as they headed on a close fetch.
This was the first occurrence of the race for two years. Last year’s race was cancelled due to the general strike in Martinique. The race was being hosted by the Yacht Club de la Martinique for the first time as previous races ran to Le Marin on the south west coat. The first boat to cross was Akarana followed by Vaguely Noble, a Martiniquan boat which won on handicap. The winds were gusty and testing right to the finish off Fort de France. Some boats encountered damage along the way. Kaiso suffered a torn genoa leech more than 10 feet long but the crew managed to stitch a repair overnight.
The boats berthed at the docks provided courtesy of the Yacht Club de Martinique. Later in the evening, the Club hosted a dinner for all the participants which was attended by the St Lucian Consul General Keats Compton. There was entertainment in the form of a traditional costume and dance troupe which was enhanced further by an impromptu performance by one of the male crew from Kaiso dressed in drag.
The following day entailed a leisurely sail down to Grand Anse D’Arlet, a bay on the south east side of Martinique. All participants met up for a classic gallic lunch with plenty of wine. As there was no public holiday in France on Monday, it was left for the fleet to arrange an ad hoc start. The time and the start using a rusty boat as ODM and a mark on one side was arranged by Edgar Roe on Loose Cannon living up to the name by firing the starting gun. Needless to say he wasn’t over the line.
The return leg from Anse d’Arlet includes a provision to round Diamond Rock to starboard. All boats record their time when they reach Diamond Rock on a bearing of 270 degrees. The weather for the start of the return leg started off squally with winds up to 22 knots. Akarana was first to Diamond Rock after putting in two tacks. They were followed by Loose Cannon. The weather cleared by mid morning to leave clear skies as the boats again head on a close fetch back to Rodney Bay on account of the strong west flowing current. Akarana, the Swan 46 was the first to cross the line after approximately 4 hours sailing. Kaiso , A Sovereign 400 manage to squeeze in front of Loose Cannon and came in a few minutes ahead. Loose Cannon was followed by HyTime which was limping along slowly after suffering sail damage during a tack.
Later in the afternoon, prize giving was held at the St Lucia Yacht Club with prizes awarded by Lady Janice Compton. Akarana won first overall and Diamonds International awarded first prize to Loose Cannon for ‘The Diamond Dash’, sponsored by Diamonds International, being the fastest time between Grande Anse D’Arlet and Diamond Rock. Prizes were also awarded with the Skipper and crews each averaging several bottles of Bounty Rum and Chilean wine to take home thanks to St Lucia Distillers & Peter & Co. Heineken beer was provided courtesy of Windward and Leeward Brewery.
Lady Janice Compton donated a picture to the Yacht Club featuring Sir John Compton at the helm.
All in all a great event was enjoyed by participants and thanks go to the sponsors: Heineken, Diamonds International, Peter & Co, St Lucia Rum Distilleries, Delirious, Spinnakers , Rain Forrest Sky Rides and to the St Lucia Yacht Club and Yacht Club de Martinique for organizing the race!
Submitted by Skipper Sean (Kaiso)
SLYC “EMANCIPATION DAY RACE 1st August 2009”
Appropriately on this day the two sailing areas of St Lucia, Rodney Bay and Marigot Bay celebrated the occasion with a friendly sailing event joining the two sailing resort bays in competition on the water. 2 races were held starting in Rodney Bay at 10am and finishing around one and a half hours later. This race was an unusual start sequence where yachts started at pre determined times according to their own handicaps as determined by their measurement ratings, thereby giving the slower boats an earlier start with the intention of getting the boats to the finish at Marigot Bay as a more collective group.
14 yachts turned out to compete on the almost perfect sailing day conditions, 15 knots of wind from the ENE, sunshine and a gorgeous blue Caribbean sea—MAGIC!
Perfect for some but as is the fate of others, a dismasting of the yacht Doubloon from Discovery at Marigot Bay put paid to their racing for the day. Luckily there were no injuries and the mast was recovered by the experienced crew without any assistance from the race committee and returned safely back into Rodney Bay marina.
After a short break in Marigot for lunch where all the yachts rafted up, the game was on for the return battle! This, albeit a beautiful sailing breeze which had whipped the fleet down to Marigot earlier now turned into a beat into the wind or at least a fine fetch to the Pigeon Island turning mark into Rodney Bay and then to the SLYC finishing line in front of the beach. Horn blowing to greet the finishers and to record their times kept the scene of fun and sport going on for the visitors and guests and for the anxious parents awaiting the return of their sailing youngsters.
Prize giving followed their trip ashore, wet and tired but ready for the club BBQ and refreshments kindly donated by Heineken.
Click on picture to go to web album
Our Sponsors, Heineken, Diamonds International, Rodney Bay Marina, Marigot Bay Marina, Discovery Marigot, Rain Forest Sky Rides and Digicel made this, now to be the annual Emancipation day event, possible. Representatives present were duly thanked by the committee for their participation.
The new Trophy, which was kindly donated for the event by Frank Capers Senior, was duly won by his son Frank Capers junior in the club J24 Grayling and the oldest participant in the event! 71 !
The two races were individually scored but amalgamated to give the final positions as follows:
Racing class:
1st. J24 “Grayling” Frank Capers and the winner of the Overall Trophy
2nd J24 “Loose Cannon” Edgar Roe
3rd J24 “Banana Wind” Marcus Sweeney
Cruising class:
1st “Beneteau 50 ” Spirit of the Wind” Christian Richings
1st “Elvira D 49” Sun Odyssey Ulrich Meixner
3rd “Sovereign 40 “Kaiso” Sean.Fuller
Bosun Ted Bull
Photography and filming by our professionals Danielle and Ian from the SLYC.
St. Lucia BMW J24 Invitational Championship 6th-7th-8th November 2009
Click on picture to go to web album
St Lucia Yacht Club hosted the Third St Lucia BMW J 24 Invitational Championship over the weekend in Rodney Bay. With teams from Barbados, Grenada, Trinidad and St Lucia, six teams sailed eighteen races over the weekend to decide the winner.
Hosted in the “The Landings” private Marina with teams staying in five star luxury apartments and two beautiful BMW’s on show this regatta was very much a five star event. Friday nights briefing and cocktail party was held on “The Landings” marina with the six J’s tied alongside made for a wonderful sight.
Racing started Saturday morning right outside the marina just off the beach with great viewing for those lazing on the beach or aboard the Endless Summers large cat giving great viewing on the water. Courses were short windward leeward’s with twenty minutes races giving close exciting racing. After the mornings six races it was very tight at the top with the two St Lucian teams Trinidad and Grenada split by just a few points. Short lunch break and off again for a final six afternoon races with clear blue skies ten knots of breeze you could not ask for better racing conditions. Again the sailing was extremely tight with many different teams up the front and positions changing minute to minute. After a long days racing the six teams headed back to the Marina and a few well earned beers and to check how they ended up for the day. Again it was extremely close amongst the top five with only three points separating Trinidad, Barbados, the two St Lucian teams and Grenada.
Sunday dawned with more blue skies and perfect sailing breeze and a few headaches after a night in Rodney Bay! The Trinidad team came out fast with four bullets to basically seal the regatta while some of the other crews suffering from the night before took a little time to wake up and made some bad errors with over the line problems for Edgar in St Lucia one, plus a mixture of penalties for other teams let the Trini’s slip away to an unassailable lead but second to fourth was a close fought battle right to the last race with again just a few points separating them all. The top three were Edgar Roe, St Lucia 1 in third, Robbie Yearwood from Grenada in second and Stephen Bushe with Andrew, Wesley and John from Trinidad taking the trophy.
Again many thanks go to BMW “Prestige Motors” as the main sponsor along with the “Landings”, “St Lucia Distillers” and “Peter and company” for prizes and the committee boat II Restless. All monies raised holding this event goes towards the youth sailing program held by the Yacht Club.
Michael Green (SLYC Vice Commodore)
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