Found at: http://www.anguillaguide.com/article/articleprint/3983/-1/127/
|
Anguilla Youth Sailing Club Attends First Race In St. Maarten
|
The Anguilla Youth Sailing Club (AYSC) attended the second annual Sint Maarten Yacht Club Optimist Open Championship Regatta on Saturday October 14th in the Simpson Bay Lagoon. This was the first competition for the Club which was formed in May 2006 by the Anguilla Sailing Association (ASA). Four Anguillian Racers were chosen to compete against sailors from Sint Maarten/St. Martin, St. Barths and other islands as well as one sailor from Switzerland. The sailors who represented Anguilla were Romero “Butchie” Gumbs, Noah Gumbs, Kendal Richardson and Daniel Andrews. They were led by Head Instructor and Racing Coach, Ian Brunswick. The four were chosen after attending the AYSC’s Summer Sailing Programme and continuing on to the After School Programme and the newly formed Racing Class.
|
|
AYSC Racing team with Coach Ian Brunswick
|
The trip to Sint Maarten was funded by the Anguilla Sailing Association which held a fund-raising social on Sunday October 8th at the ASA Building in Sandy Ground. Items for the fund raiser were donated by Merchant’s Market, Lake’s Marketplace, Tropical Distributors and Red Lion Distributors. Other private donations were made by Island Properties Consulting & Management and First Anguilla Trust Company. Johnno’s Beach Stop in Sandy Ground donated a boat, fuel and a captain to take the team, coaches, chaperones, spectators and equipment to St. Maarten for the day.
Four races were held in the morning and three took place after lunch. Wind conditions were light to moderate for the AYSC sailors who are used to the bigger winds and rougher seas found in their training ground of Road Bay. With fifteen boats split into two fleets, the Gold Fleet and the Silver Fleet, the four Anguillian racers were all placed into the Silver Fleet and the Anguilla team did quite well considering that this was their first time competing. Noah Gumbs finished seventh in the Silver Fleet while Butchie Gumbs and Kendal Richardson finished sixth and fifth respectively.
The biggest surprise and proudest moment for the AYSC Team came when Daniel Andrews took first place in the Silver Fleet and received a trophy as well as the Gentleman’s Award for being the most considerate sailor as well as the fastest in the fleet.
|
|
The team in action
|
The Anguilla Sailing Association was formed in 2001 to promote sailing and sailing activities in Anguilla. The ASA, along with the Anguilla Tourist Board, are the organizers of the annual Anguilla Regatta held in May of each year. The Fifth Annual Anguilla Regatta will be held on May 11th, 12th and 13th, 2007.
The Anguilla Youth Sailing Club offers sailing instruction to children ages seven through fifteen and new classes begin each month. For more information about the ASA and the AYSC, people are encouraged to stop by the AYSC in Sandy Ground, visit www.sailanguilla.com or call Ian at 584-SAIL (7245).