A welcome ceremony hosted by the Saint Lucia Tourist Board to mark the start of Karibik Trophy Regatta was held on Monday evening at the Pigeon Island National Landmark.
The Regatta consists of 20 boats with 120 participants including members of famous sailing clubs, individual sailors and Press. They were treated to an evening of Saint Lucian fun and entertainment, which included mouth-watering local cuisine, steel pan music and electrifying performances by the Silver Shadows Dancers.
With the Karibik Trophy into its 27th year, this is however the first time that the German sailing event was being hosted in Saint Lucia. It was a welcome addition in the fast growing yachting sector, which already includes the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers, the ARC plus and the World ARC Regattas.
Tourism officials, stakeholders and partners, as well as participants in the regatta who were present at Monday nightās ceremony, all expressed excitement about what they agree is that start of a mutually fulfilling relationship.
Tourism Minister Dominic Fedee welcomed the contingent and thanked the Managing Director of the German Regatta for choosing to include Saint Lucia in their itinerary.
Minister Fedee said: āWeāve just had a very successful Flotilla on Sunday coinciding with the commencement of the ARC race from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. With the significant increases in yacht arrivals this year, the yachting sector is flourishingā.
He noted that the Karibik Regatta ācomplements what we know as the ARC very wellā.