BVI Team wins Caribbean Dinghy Championships

The Caribbean Sailing Association’s 2015 Caribbean Dinghy Championships were held October 16-18 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Entries from the four islands of St Thomas, Puerto Rico, St Maarten & British Virgin Islands were hosted by the Sailing School of Club Nautico de San Juan.

Nine windward/leewardraces where held in the calm waters of San Juan Bay over two days with a very interesting scoring format. Each island fielded a team of five boat types: 4-crew IC24s, 2-crew 420s and singlehanded Laser Standard, Laser Radial, and Optimist. The total points for each team was the sum of the scores of each of their sailors.

The overall winner with victories in three of the five classes was the BVI team coached by Taylor Penwell. This is a repeat victory for this promising sailing club, having won the Caribbean Dinghy Championships in 2013.

CSA Representative Jaime Torres was impressed with the quality of the racing and commented: “Club Nautico proved to be a qualified and capable host. The racers had a great time and the team scoring format offered an interesting twist to the Championship. The CSA has made a solid commitment to Youth Sailing Development and this event helped move us in the right direction.”

Rayne Duff, Jason Putley, Pedro Luis Fernández, Sam Morrell, Daniel Petrovic, Frits Bus, Ian Hope Ross, Ryan Hope Ross, Chuck Pessler all took 1st place in their respective classes.

OPTIMIST CLASS
1st | Rayne Duff – BVI
2nd | Mia Nicolosi – St. Thomas
3rd | José Arturo Díaz – Puerto Rico

LASER STANDARD
1st | Jason Putley – BVI
2nd | Agustín Lázaro – Puerto Rico
3rd | Mark Van den Driessche – St. Thomas

LASER RADIAL
1st | Pedro Luis Fernández – Puerto Rico
2nd | Thad Lettsome – BVI
3rd | Kai Holmberg – St. Thomas

420
1st | Sam Morrell, Daniel Petrovic – BVI
2nd | Teddy Nicolosi, Margaret Bartlett – St. Thomas
3rd | Alec Scasabelli, Johanna Loser – St. Maarten

IC-24
1st | Frits Bus, Ian Hope Ross, Ryan Hope Ross, Chuck Pessler – St. Maarten
2nd | Chris Sharpless, Jr., John Holmberg, JP Montegue, Ryan Hunter – St. Thomas
3rd | Andrew Waters, Ted Reshetiloff, Mike Hirst, Kevin Wrigley – BVI