The Mango Bowl Regatta committee comprising of the Saint Lucia Sailing Association and the Saint Lucia Yacht Club can take a bow following the successful staging of the 9th edition of the 2021 Mango Bowl Regatta. The one day event which took place last Saturday kicked off the regional sailing season.
A total of nine boats divided into two groups, Racing Class and J24/Surprise Class made their way from the IGY Marina in Rodney Bay to the starting line located a nautical mile from the marina with only vaccinated sailors onboard.
The Racing Class had 4 vessels – three from Martinique and one from Saint Lucia, while the J24/Surprise had one from Martinique and four from Saint Lucia. A much smaller group compared to previous years.
Michael Green the first sailor to represent Saint Lucia (1996 Olympic Games, Atlanta, USA) was the Race Officer; he sounded the horn at 9.00 a.m. for the first race of the J24/Surprise class to start. The winds were light and intermittent swells rolled through the bay. The Martinique vessel GFA Caraibes (La Morrigane) was first across the finish line in 38 minutes 46 seconds, signaling to the rest of the pack that they were ready for competition.
At 9.45 a.m. after starting a second J24/Surprise race, the Racing class also began their sailing. By mid-day, the winds picked up and swells settled a little. The midday racing saw the majority of the boats finishing the assigned courses faster.
The Racing Class was won by Sang Neuf from Martinique, skippered by Jean-Francois Terrain. Gaya from Saint Lucia, skippered by Robin Toozs-Hobson came second.
The combined J24/Surprise class saw Jabal from Saint Lucia, skippered by Nick Forsberg, edging out GFA Caraibes (La Morrigane) from Martinique, skippered by Tristan Marmousez.
The Awards Ceremony was hosted on the beachfront of the Saint Lucia Yacht Club under strict Covid protocols approved by the Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Sharon Belmar-George.
Present were the sponsors, Nick Mobley from Dive Saint Lucia, Michael Green with Southern Breeze, Christopher Gustave and Rondel Charley from Saint Lucia Tourism Authority and their Caribcation brand, IGY Rodney Bay Marina, Saint Lucia Distillers, Windward and Leeward Brewery Limited and Saint Lucia Sailing Association.
Commodore Peter Lang of the Saint Lucia Yacht Club was very pleased with the participation and facilitation of the regatta.
“We at the Saint Lucia Yacht Club are proud of being able to have our signature sailing event. It has been a very difficult past 18 months for everyone and this was just the start of things getting back to normal,” Lang said.
According to Lang, “When an event scores you know that all the hard work has paid off. We would normally have 20 to 30 boats, this year we had nine and we are so proud that we were able to pull off the event. We look forward to 2022.”
Lang extended the very best to all the sailors and their families for the New Year and look forward to them returning at the Saint Lucia Yacht Club in 2022.
The Commodore and the rest of the Mango Bowl committee now look forward to making the 10th edition of the event even bigger come next year.
