St. George’s, Grenada: The Grenada Yacht Club decided to hold its Sixth Annual Summer Regatta despite Hurricane Ivan and it proved to be one of the best events ever! The regatta was held on July 7th through the 10th. The Grenada Yacht Club made the decision to hold this year’s Summer Regatta in late February. “We had made repairs to our docks and still had some refurbishing to do for the club after Hurricane Ivan,” said Club Manager Marilyn Steel-McKenzie, “but it was decided that we would still hold the regatta.” From that point the GYC pulled out the stops and this year’s Summer Regatta had something for everyone. Even the weather offered variety; from racing conditions that ranged from “calm enough to do some fishing” to five to seven foot high seas that resulted in a broken mast for one boat! The three days of racing were exciting and offered different challenges for the various racing classes; Race, Cruiser and Fun. “The conditions tested all aspects of sailing abilities,” reported race officer James Benoit, “Saturday had high winds and seas with low visibility at the start of the race. But overall we had no complaints everyone seemed to really enjoy the racing.” In the racing class there were three J24s up against the modified Hobie 33 owned by Richard Szyjan of Turbulence Sails. Szyjan’s boat, renamed after Hurricane Ivan to “Category Five”, is a very fast boat. The J24 skippers, knowing they were out ranked by the “Category Five” competed amongst themselves, as the faster boat won the daily races and took the overall for the race class. Winner of the “Leave Your Boat and Bring Your Mate” Raffle, the visiting Antigua team skippered by Tom Patterson ñ won the overall points award in Cruiser class. They sailed Horizon Yacht Charter’s Beneteau 40.7 “Elandra”. Geoffrey Pidduck, international race jurist and member on the Antigua team, said that they had a great time of sailing and socializing, concluding with “we will be back!” Also in the Cruising Class was “Aquarela” dubbed the international boat; owners from Scotland, built in America, skippered by a Venezuelan and home-ported in Trinidad. “Aquarela” placed fourth the first and second races, but on day two in the fourth race of the regatta during the period of high seas and strong winds, “Aquarela” suffered a broken mast and had to drop out of the competitions. “Copihue II” placed first in the Total Points award for the Fun Class after competing boat “Seaduction” was unable to finish one race due to lack of wind. “Seaduction owners, Val and Andre Havenga won a special “booby” prize for being the race crew that were able to catch some fish during a race event! “We had some really first rate sponsors this year,” said Wanda Brown Marketing and Promotions person for the regatta, “even though many were themselves hit hard by Ivan they really rallied offering goods and services as prize items and provided us with great support.” Race day sponsors included Zublin Grenada Limited, Westerhall Estate Limited and Grenada Breweries Carib Beer. “Plus we had top level sponsors providing funding or services that allowed us to really do this event right,” Ms. Brown went on, “Cablevision donated coverage of the event, Modern Photo provided professional photography, and we had Glenelg Spring Waters, St. Augustine’s Medical Services, Netherlands Insurance, Cable and Wireless, Coconet Ltd, and Horizon Yacht Charters, all coming in at top level. However, the over forty medium and contributing level sponsors are the ones who provided the really amazing prizes.” One participant, from Carriacou commented that in twenty-five years of racing in regattas, “these were some of the best prizes I’ve ever seen at one of these events and the skipper’s packet was just the best!” One of the newest sponsors for this year was Virgin Atlantic Airlines who came in to not only help with sponsorship of the regatta but to offer up a Beach Bash to all of Grenada. “When I first contacted Virgin Atlantic in late April they had just returned from doing a successful beach bash in Antigua. They said, we will support the Summer Regatta, but what we really want to do is throw a party for Grenadians,” explained Ms. Brown. And it was one terrific party they threw with giveaways and games on the beach, live music from Barbados, water ski shows from Florida, and a bathtub derby with lots of inventive entrants! Despite late crowds, which held back after morning rains dampened things a bit, by mid-afternoon they turned out in force. A breathtaking show of fireworks wrapped things up at dark and the overall feeling was that the Virgin Atlantic Beach Bash was a huge success! Commodore Darryl Brathwaite said, “I am particularly happy that this year we introduced some successful “firsts”; a quantum leap in the marketing to upgrade the regatta to an international event, initiating the partnership with Virgin to include the public and create a national spectacle, and introducing the boat raffle that enables “boatless” sailors to participate. The Commodore went on to say, “There has to be a balance in a sport-focused Yacht Club between the sailing and the socializing.” This year the GYC offered a fine blend of both. In addition to the great racing there was an art show held at the club on Saturday featuring the work of such artists as: Maria McClafferty, Chris Mast, Victor and Frances Francis, and Maureen St. Clair. New club member and artist Rene’ Froechlich dedicated a beautiful sailboat sculpture to the club. The concrete, wood and plastic seven foot tall piece will be on permanent display at the club. Live local bands were featured throughout the event. “On the three race days we had two bands a day, the kitchen was serving and the club was open to the public,” stated Marilyn Steel-McKenzie. Everyone on the GYC Sixth Summer Regatta planning committee wish to extend a hearty thank you to the sponsors, volunteers and government offices who helped to make this a successful event for Grenada! If you would like more information on race results, photos and sponsors, you can visit the website at: www.grenadayachtclub.com. The planning committee will begin working toward the 2006 Seventh Summer Regatta next month. Contact: Wanda Brown 435 3842/407 6597 Marilyn Steele-McKenzie 440 6826 Photos: Hafeez Peters of Modern Photo Studio