Season’s Greetings from the Caribbean

by Michele Korteweg, Caribbean Sailing Association President
While the world is still not done battling the pandemic, we continue to see an increased interest in sailing worldwide. A beautiful development, most likely caused due to it being an outdoor sport that can be done as an individual or places a team in its own bubble.

Sailing associations and regattas in the Caribbean have acted on this trend and further developed programs to accommodate the local sailors, with an ongoing focus on youth and women. New programs and events were launched as well, as teams had to look at what was possible within the restrictions set by each individual island Government.

We have seen watersport activities being combined with sailing, digitalizing of race management that made offshore racing possible from a number of Southern Islands, and of course, the focus was on how to organize sailing events safely, reducing contact.

Organizers never stopped thinking about sailing, we even kept our local sailors quite busy sailing and those visitors that managed to come to the Caribbean still got to enjoy a number of smaller regattas. Now, with 2022 around the corner, we are ready to host our big international sailing events, focused on world class racing and looking at the entry lists, some real hot competition!

It seems you are as ready to come to the Caribbean to cruise and race as we are ready to welcome you back! The ARC Rally saw record numbers, the RORC Transatlantic Race is showing 30+ entries and entries are already looking impressive at all events.

Although we are still facing insecurities, protocols are clearly communicated when adjusted and we are ready to assist where needed. The Caribbean is ready to sail, and we are incredibly grateful to welcome you back to our island shores!