ANTIGUANICE YACHTING INSIDER NEWSLETTER

Antigua born, Optimist Sailor - Maria Eldridge, has returned from St. Thomas, where she represented Antigua and Barbuda and the Antigua Yacht Club at the 25th St. Thomas International Regatta (I.O.R.) which took place on Thursday, June 15th - Sunday, June 18th, 2017.

The event is the largest in the Caribbean for the class and this year attracted 119 top sailors from 5 countries, including the USA 2017 World Team. On Thursday, Maria joined 3 random sailors at the event, for team racing as the Captain for the team and finished 6th out of 19 teams. Friday was the first day of championship racing and by Sunday, 10 races where completed and the results were posted.

When asked if she was happy with her result, Maria responded “The first day of championship racing, my starts were really bad. I believe I was intimidated by the number of boats on the start line, 90. In Antigua I train with 5 sailors and even the events I have participated in overseas, there was never more than 50 boats on the start line. However, by the second day I manage to have good starts and climbed up from 67th to 44th out of 90 championship sailors. I guess am happy for now…”

Maria is leaving for Canada on Saturday, June 24th, to represent Antigua & Barbuda and the AYC at the 2017 North America Championship, set over June 25th to July 2nd.

Wish our youth sailor good starts and fair winds!