Sport
Great EasterRegatta Planned
The Cayman Islands Sailing Club will hold its annual Easter Regattathis Weekend 14-15 April.
Each island in the Caribbean has its annualIsland-wide regatta, and Cayman is no different! Each year theCayman Islands Sailing Club organises a race around the Islandfrom North Sound, past East End and then finishing at Seven-MileBeach. This race has been running for some 25 years and has nowbeen elevated to the single biggest sailing event of the yearin Cayman. Nearly every boat that is capable of going around theIsland, the long way, does. This year, we are expecting one ofthe biggest fleets ever to grace the waters around the island.
Regatta is broken down into 2 days withthe main race starting in North Sound from 6 a.m. on the Saturdayand finishing off a 7-Mile Beach between 3 p.m. and, well, whenever! On Sunday, we have the Banks and Back race starting at 11a.m. from 7-Mile Beach, down to Sunset House, out to the 12-milebanks, North West Point and then finishing back off at Sunsethouse, an excellent venue for watching the finale.
The J22's have their own race back to NorthSound via North West point, which also starts around 11 a.m. Thisis a new race, which was started last year by Deutsche Bank, whichhas aptly been named the 'Easter Egg Race'. The reason being isthat the trophy is a solid marble Easter egg, which is so heavyit would probably sink any J22 it was carried on!
The race is broken down into 4 classes;cruisers with spinnakers, cruisers without spinnakers, Tornadosand J22's. This format was used last year and had proven to bevery successful, with any boat with a PHRF handicap allowed toenter. Last year, we saw the local boys, 'Jacana' owned and drivenby John Stafford, win the spinnaker class in the light, shiftyairs that dogged the race. It took so long that some of the boatsgot home at around 11:30 p.m.; we even had some boats towed homebecause they were hungry! No one quits the Round the Island Race!
This is a great regatta for all involvedand certainly one for spectators. For further details please contactthe Cayman Islands Sailing Club on 947-7913 or at sailing@candw.ky