A NEW INTER-ISLAND SAILING EVENT

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A new sailing event has taken place in Rodney Bay: The BMW J’24 Invitational Championship, hosted by St. Lucia Yacht Club and sponsored by Ultimate Automobiles. With representatives from Trinidad, Martinique, Barbados, Dominica and St. Lucia and skippers whose ages ranged from 18 to 77 seven teams took to the water on Saturday morning and raced in J’24s around the Bay.

The idea for this inter-island championship was conceived by our sailors after racing in Carriacou and other islands. St. Lucia is a logical venue for an event like this as it has more J’24 boats than other islands, so that competitors do not have to transport their own boats, and it is conveniently situated geographically. Having devised the plan our sailors approached Ultimate Automobiles who agreed to sponsor and, thus, made the whole thing possible.

Sailing conditions were perfect: two sunny days with plenty of breeze, making for exciting racing.

On Saturday the teams raced in two groups, swapping boats for each race so that all raced in each boat. The change over of boats in the middle of the Bay was made possible by the donation by Mike Green of Cats Inc. Ltd. of an Endless Summer catamaran, which doubled as a spectator boat. Mike also served as Race Officer. Between races the sailors were able to sample food and drink served by the Endless Summer crew, including some very tasty sausages supplied by Chef Frank of Grew Sausages – a new recipe and quite something, the event organisers thank Frank.

There was some very close racing. Towards the end of the day the teams were divided into Gold and Silver Fleets, the winner and second place of each of the groups going into Gold and the remainder into Silver.

On Saturday evening there was a barbeque for participants at the St. Lucia Yacht Club.

On Sunday the competition for the winner of each Fleet took place. The Gold Fleet was hotly contested between our St. Lucia Junior Team, skippered by 18 year old Frederic Sweeney with his teenage crew and another St. Lucian team skippered by the Yacht Club sailing captain, Nick Forsberg. The overall and very popular winner, by one point, was the St. Lucia Junior Team. The training they received with the Yacht Club Kids’ Sailing Programme and the international experience of Frederic and crew member Luis Meixner paid dividends. In third place was the team from Martinique and fourth the team from Trinidad.

The Silver Fleet result could not have been closer. The winner was the boat skippered by the Yacht Club Commodore, Charles Devaux, who won only because he won the last race which, by a quirk of yacht racing rules, made him the winner over the crew skippered by Jerry Bethell and crewed by Dominicans despite the fact that Jerry and Charles finished with the same number of points. In third place was the team with the oldest skipper, Barbados.

The competition was not without its downside, the Dominicans had sailed down to St. Lucia a week in advance and were looking forward to taking part. On the morning the event was due to start their skipper had a sudden problem with his eyes and had to return home immediately, he was said to be very disappointed. Jerry Bethell skippered the Dominican crew.

A barbeque and prize giving took place at the Yacht Club after racing on Sunday. Mrs. Nanette Reyes presented trophies provided by Ultimate Automobiles. The sailors also received bottles of champagne provided by Bryden & Partners, to whom thanks are due, for that and for the hamburgers on Endless Summer.

At prize giving Charles Devaux paid tribute to all those who had worked to make this event possible, especially, of course, Ultimate Automobiles. Charles, when talking to the writer after prize giving, mentioned that Mr. and Mrs. Reyes had been a joy to work with and that he had the distinct impression that, for them, this sponsorship was not just about commercial return but also came from a genuine interest in helping the development of sailing in St. Lucia. Ultimate Automobiles Inc., representing BMW here in St. Lucia, have agreed to the next three years of sponsorhip and, if the success of this year is any yardstick, the competition should grow and could well, in the words of Mike Green, become the largest event of its kind in the Caribbean.

All teams said they enjoyed themselves immensely. It was good to have visiting teams here on these shores and racing in our waters. What delightful people they all were both on and off the water. The Yacht Club thanks them for taking part.

Adult Sailing

St.Lucia Yacht Club Dinghy Sailing Programme's
End-of-season
FUN REGATTA

The SLYC's Dinghy sailing Programme ended its season on Saturday July 7th with fun!! It was a beautiful day full of wind (perhaps too much for the events planned), and sun on the beach. 25 of our young sailors were ready at 9am to rig boats in preparation for their first event, team sailing. In the blustering winds beginners crewed with advanced on lasers and optimists, some capsizing, all having fun. Ben planned the day’s events and with the help of Jennifer Spiegelberg and other parents and usual helpers the day was successful. From the balcony of the club was the best place to watch the final event of the day, the “Assault Course”. A challenging obstacle course created by Ben, which combined swimming, sail rigging, tire rolling and other things for the young and flexible.

The day ended with a great barbeque with tasty sausages compliments of Franck Chevrier and then upstairs the awards presentations and slide show offered a time for rest from the sun and activities as well as due recognition for our young sailors.

The first ever Chris Renwick Laser Championship trophy, based on results from the Spring Series was awarded to Dominic Lovell, with Luis Meixner in second place and Fredrick Sweeney in third.

The Home Services Optimist Championship trophy, again based on results from the Spring Series, was awarded to Raina Bergasse with Stephanie Lovell in second place and Marcus Sweeney in third.

Special achievement awards were given to the following sailors:
Sophia Spiegelberg - most determined
Mateo Heinemann - most enthusiastic
Dario Daniel - most improved
And Merit Certificates for standing out in some special way were given to:
Dylan Charles
Andre Felix
Marion Bardies
Luc Chevrier
Mark Spurway

Unfortunately we have said our farewells to Coach Ben Todd who has been with us since January. Ben has been a great coach and raised our sailors up a notch in racing skills and experience both in optimists and lasers. He will be accompanying Luis Meixner to the Volvo World Youth Championships in Kingston, Ontario, Canada this week. We wish Luis well at this regatta “up north”.

And so ends another season of youth dinghy sailing. We have lost a few sailors but gained a few as well. The original core group of sailors are still with us and I’ve had enquiries about next terms classes for beginners. Things are going well for us and only really because we have had so much support from the Yacht Club, the Olympic House and so many wonderful people who have voluntarily helped out in different ways. Thank you all.

 I would like to give special thanks to Sue Milner who put in a lot of time and effort to organize things and teach the beginners classes when she could and finally a special thanks to Ted Bull is “always for sailing”.

One last note of business… we are seeking a new coach for next season which we would like to start beginning of October. We are putting some ads out and hoping for reports back from Ben when he returns to his sailing centre in Wales but… if you know where we might get some interest please send us word. Lily, raina_thalia@yahoo.com or Ulrich, destsll@candw.lc

I'm off to my Canada soon too so will be in touch with you all in late August. Have a nice summer holiday. I look forward to seeing all the sailors back again!

Lily Bergasse

SLYC FUN DAY 16TH DECEMBER 2007

As time marches on and we are now well into the New Year it has fallen to me to report on the recent Fun Day.

On the 16th December we organised the first Fun Day. Inviting our own sailors and ARC participants to race in Laser and Optimist Dinghies. The response was overwhelming with 45 Laser sailors wanting to race. Our guests were welcomed and registered by Angela and Danielle and all sailors received a free fun day T-shirt.

Sadly we were only able to race 30 Laser sailors and had to shorten the course twice to allow this. We also had 12 Optimist sailors rearing to go but we had to recall the second race due to deteriorating weather conditions. It was occasionally gusty and very challenging for our younger sailors.

Despite the long wait to sail in some cases, all sailors enjoyed the day and many have been seen since proudly wearing their fun day T-shirts.

Later in the day we had the grand prize giving where the following people received prizes: Mark Spurway, Dario Daniel, Marcus Sweeney, Edgar Roe, Andreas Melia, Nick Casey, Benn Atkinson, Christopher Uppheim, Sid Payne and Leo Sogden.

We would like to say a very big thank you to our sponsors who were:

FERRANDS DAIRY
MARINTEK
JOHNSONS HARDWARE
PETER & CO
SPINAKKERS
CATS
ISLAND WATER WORLD
CHRIS DOYLE’S PUBLICATIONS
And more.

You will find plenty of pictures of the day in the Picture Gallery on this site. Have a look you may see yourself there.

The Fun Day was such a success and enjoyed by so many people we now plan to run this as an annual event.

Danielle did a fantastic job of organising this event and would like to thank all the helpers including Gary and Faye for providing the committee boat Hullabaloo. Angela for helping with the registration process. Ted, Peter on the start and finish line, all the other yacht club volunteers including Uli, Lily, Teresa, Fred, myself and of course, all of you for your support of this event.

Happy New Year
Barbara Groome

PRESS RELEASE (By Cheryl Renwick)

The St Lucia Squash Association organizers of the 2007 Subaru St Lucia
Squash Open Wednesday evening recognized its valued sponsors at a function at the St Lucia Yacht Club. The tournament in its fourteenth year has always promoted sports tourism at its annual tournament that attracts top regional and international competitors. The tournament always attracts repeat and newcomers and next week there will be four newcomers from the UK including Carrie Hastings seeded #89 in the world.

At the sponsors evening on Wednesday the MC for the evening David Piper, Tournament Director of the Association introduced the speakers which started with the President of the Squash Association - Cheryl Renwick who thanked the sponsors for their contribution again this year. Ms Renwick highlighted the fact that the business community is approached by so many associations and she thanked them for choosing to support the squash open. She emphasized the support the Association has received from the title sponsor, Subaru this year. Title sponsorship is not an easy achievement and Mr. and Mrs Reyes of Prestige Auto Imports were acknowledged for the commitment to the sport. The audience then heard an address by the Managing Director of Prestige Auto Imports who distributes Subaru in St Lucia, Mr. Mario Reyes. A player as well as a sponsor, Mr. Reyes endorsed his support for the sport that he has been involved with for over fourteen years. Mr. Reyes can be seen competing in the tournament next week. The Hon Mr. Leonard Montoute, Minister of Sports and Acting Prime Minister took time out of his busy schedule to address the gathering which was his first official Squash event as Minister having previously attended the Open in the capacity of Sports Officer in the Ministry of Sports several years ago. Mr. Montoute pledged his and his Ministry's support to assist theAssociation develop the sport islandwide in the coming months.

Each sponsor, both present and absent from the function were individually recognized for their contribution while those sponsors in attendance at the function were given the opportunity to present their sponsorship cheque for the tournament commencing next week Monday. Receiving the cheques for the Association were the junior players all selected to play in the Junior Caribbean squash Championships being held in Tortola in July. These players were Melissa Rivers, Megan Piper, John Henri Sweeney and Daniel Piper. The junior players also had the opportunity to meet with and take a photo with the Minister of Sports.

The evening ended with a vote of thanks by the Association Treasurer,
Jessica Peterkin who formally thanked not just the sponsors but the media
who have ensured that St Lucia is kept up to date on what’s happening in the St Lucian circle of squash.

Sponsors for the tournament are:-

TITLE SPONSOR

Subaru - distributed in St Lucia by Prestige Auto Imports

SILVER SPONSORS

Bank of Nova Scotia
Bay Gardens Inn
Gatorade - distributed by Peter & Co Ltd
Heineken Beer
J E Bergasse - The Document Centre
The Body Holiday by Le Sport
Sunpac juice - distributed by Renwick & Co Ltd
The Village Inn & Spa
Windjammer Hotel

BRONZE SPONSORS

Consolidated Foods Ltd
Courts St Lucia Ltd
Dominos Pizza
Endless Summer
Harmony Marina Suites
Paradise Water
Sandals Halcyon
Ultra Mart Supermarket
Trophy Centre
Tuxedo villas

PRESS RELEASE (By Cheryl Renwick)

The 2007 Subaru St Lucia Squash Open came to a close Saturday evening with a range of mixed feelings. Celebration came from quarters not expected at the beginning of the tournament while seeded players who had been displaced throughout the tournament ended the weeklong tour disappointed in the end result.

In the ladies division it was a clash of Barbados and UK in both the ladies final and ladies third place. Throughout the week all matches went according to expectation however it all changed in the ladies final. The #1 seed Carrie Hastings of the UK who had not met the defending champion, Karen Meakins of Barbados before was confident that the gold would be hers at the finals. What a surprise when Meakins not only won but won in three games to make her the Ladies champ for the fifth year. Meakins took the first two games easily 9/2 9/0 before Hastings picked up momentum and was up 7/0 before Meakins regained her focus and won the third and final game 9/7.

In the ladies third place Barbardian Sonia Perkins was no match for Jenny Tamblyn. Tamblyn of the UK and also playing in her first St Lucia tournament defeated Perkins 9/5 9/5 9/1

In the mens plate third place young Kevin Bailey of St Vincent defeated David Piper of St Lucia 92 9/5 9/1

In the finals of the mens plate - a match up between St Lucian’s, Jason Noon defeated Oliver Gobat in four. Noon took the first two games 9/3 9/4 lost the third 2/9 and won the fourth game 9/3

In the mens seventh place, Nigel Griffith of Barbados lost to Justin Gomez of Trinidad 8/10 9/2 6/9 8/10

Fifth place play off was between Shane Slater of St Vincent and Alex Crouch of the UK which Alex won 3/0

The mens third place between St Lucia's #1 & the OECS #1 Charlie Sonson and Mike Bull of the UK was uneventful with Sonson winning the match 9/6 9/4 9/3

The mens final between Jamaican Steve Smith, the #3 seed of the tournament and unseeded Josh Pinard of Trinidad who has blazed a trail of wins throughout the tournament was keenly contested and the crowd could be seen as divided between the north caribbean and the south caribbean. Smith took the first game 9/4 but was unable to keep up the pace of the young Trinidadian with Pinard taking the next three games 9/2 9/7 9/5

The prize giving ceremony was held at the St Lucia Yacht Club Saturday
evening and speakers for the evening included Reds Perreira - the Sports
Consultant in the St Lucia Tourist Board, Margaret Deterville of the Department of Youth and Sport who was representing the Minister of Sports, Mario Reyes - the title sponsor and the President of the Squash Association, Cheryl Renwick.

The Players left the island Sunday with several going on to Barbados to
continue the last leg of the Caribbean squash tour. The Playfair Barbados
Squash Open commences Monday evening and continues throughout the week.