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This past weekend (Oct. 6-7), the San Pedro Junior Sailing Team underwent rigorous final preparation for next Sunday's Corozal Bay Regatta. They studied and practiced crucial starting-line technique on Saturday and raced on Sunday. Two groups raced 2 one-lap races each. The top finishers then competed in the 2-race final. Stephanie Keating sailing Ambergris Lake Villas whose scores had tied for first in her two preliminary heats, went on to win the day by taking 1st and 2nd in the final races. The next best combined score gave Kevin Velasquez in Caribbean Villas and Jorge Oliveres in Palo Alto a 2nd place tie. The scores of Jerdon Anderson, sailing Catamaran Bar gave him 4rd place.

Next, a set of 2 races gave practice to skippers who had arrived late. Davin Puc in Caribbean Villas took two 1st places for the convincing win. Mitchell Sersland in Playa Blanca and Stephanie Keating in Ambergris Lake Villas tied for 2nd. Followed closely by Faith Noel's 4th place finish in San Pedro Weather.com.

The officers of the San Pedro Sailing Club have worked it out so that transportation, lodging, and meals, for the 15 young skippers can be purchased for a total individual cost of BZD $50.00. That is difficult for some of them to come up with. Anyone willing to sponsor one or more of our junior sailors, please contact me, Forrest Jones, at 610-4550.

Photo courtesy of Stephanie Keating

Generous Supporters Sent Junior Sailors to Corozal Bay for the Last Regatta Before Next Month's Nationals.

As the mom of one of our sailors declared to San Pedro on Facebook, "We did it! We did it! But we couldn't have done it without you! We live in one amazing community!" What the "we" she refers to did was ferry 15 junior sailors and 3 Optimist sailing dinghies to Corozal on Saturday where they trained, spent the night, and raced in a tense and exhausting regatta on Sunday. After that, the tired skippers took a nighttime boat ride home.

Feeling that there was "not enough time," regatta officials turned away attempts to lodge protests concerning both the last preliminary race and the final, itself. They have subsequently reviewed the charges of infractions in the Final and have determined that there were none. In the opinion of some, had protests involving the last preliminary been heard and found valid, a sailor who was advanced to the Final would have been replaced by a sailor who was left out. For this reason the Final itself still remains controversial in the eyes of some. In any event, the race committee awarded San Pedranos Davin Puc, winner of the September St. George's Caye Regatta, 3rd place, Faith Noel 4th place, and Zulema Alaya, 5th. The controversy is unfortunate because it may well affect who gets invited to the Nationals, next month, and who doesn't.

Setting counterproductive vagaries aside, the sailors still believe that the regatta was both exciting and worthwhile. A number of intrepid San Pedranos even chose to enter the Pico class races. Picos are sloops, larger than Optimists and have 2 sails (a main and a jib). Our little Optimist dinghies have only one sail. The young San Pedrano teams who entered the Pico races had never or hardly ever sailed a Pico, let alone race one!

With competency that wowed everyone, the team of Faith Noel and Lily Hayden tacked smartly into the winning position in the first Pico race, with the team of Davin Puc and Mitchell Sersland following in second. Both junior teams beat an experienced grown-up, race official Andy Aspinall, and his crew member. Asked later if he 'let them win,' Andy said "heck no! The little monsters caught the wind when it came up and knew what to do with it. They beat me fair and square. I'm proud of 'em." The kids' duel with Andy Aspinall in the Picos was but one of the wonderful highlights of the regatta. Let it also be recorded that the San Pedrano team of Jorge Oliveres and Jerdon Anderson, and the San Pedrano team of Kevin Velasquez and Christian Trejo took 1st and 2nd, respectively, in the other Pico race.

Donations from a broad spectrum of the San Pedro community made it all possible, so the sailors, their families, and the San Pedro Sailing Club wish to thank all of the following friends and neighbors:

First, the boat sponsors - Ambergris Lake Villas, Catamaran Beach Bar, Caribbean Villas, Palapa Bar, Palo Alto, Playa Blanca, and San Pedro Weather.com.

Next a multitude of donors:

        
ACES
Milo's
Belize Dive Connection
Pedro's Inn          
Blue Water Grill
The Phoenix
Caliente
Porto Fino 
Captain Morgan's
Mary Pugh
Captain Sharks
Red Ginger 
Casa Azul
Remax
Chocolate Thunder
Road Kill Bar
Captain Armando Gonzales
Searious Adventures
crewman Hilly Boo
Sunbreeze Suites
    
Stacey Chesnick
Tattoos by Ken
Coco Beach
Tropic Air 
Conch Creative
Victoria House 
Deseo Advertising
Wahoo Lounge 
Fido's
Wild Mango's
Grand Caribe
Charles Worthington
Robbie Gonzalez
Yoga with Tara

In Corozal, thanks also to Rosita's La Maya Hotel and to Henry Menzies of VIP Transfers

The races were too far offshore to get good photos of but here are two, courtesy of Tina Heyden.



Corozal Bay Regatta, Corozal - DestinationBelize.tv from DestinationBelize.tv on Vimeo.

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