ANTIGUA YACHT CLUB

Team Antigua Wins Caribbean Dinghy Championships.  Photo courtesy of Antigua Yacht Club.

Seven nations originally entered the Caribbean Dinghy Championships held in Antigua over the weekend of the 19th to 21st of August but due to bad weather (now Hurricane Irene) and other factors, only five nations actually competed.  These included Antigua, Barbados, British Virgin Islands, St. Maarten and Trinidad & Tobago, each with six sailors per team.

Due to the weather forecast, racing was rescheduled to Friday and Saturday only and the organisers at the Antigua Yacht Club, led by Karl James,  worked extra hard to accommodate the changes.

There were five sailing classes:  Optimist for 11 years and under; Zoom 8 for 12 to 16 years; and open classes for Laser Radials, Laser Standard and Sport 16 (a two-man team).  On a low points scoring system, Antigua came first with 84 points, Trinidad & Tobago (the previous title holders) came second with 93 points and St. Maarten came third with 120 points.

There was a very friendly atmosphere amongst the teams off the water and they all got to know each other better when they were taken to the Antigua Rainforest on Friday for zip-lining – a first time experience for most of them.

Congratulations to the Antigua team seen here with their trophy:  Shawn Malone (Captain), Omari Scott, Aldrick Meade, Tyvone Richardson, Hosea Williams (age 14), and Rocco Falcone (age 9).