Corozal Bay Regatta
by Roberto Pott 20 Jul 2017 23:09 PDT
15-16 July 2017
Participants in Level 1 Technical Training for Coaches with Instructor and National Olympic Committee Representative © BzSA / Sharon Hardwick
Teck dominates in the Opti fleet and Hardwick takes top spot in the Laser fleet
The pleasant breeze within the protected bay of Corozal Town was ideal for youth sailing as the Corozal Bay Regatta got underway on last Saturday. The regatta featured 2 classes of boats, the Optimist and Laser Class of boats and was hosted by the Corozal Bay Sailing Club(CBSC) and sanctioned by the Belize Sailing Association (BzSA) as a ranking regatta
At the end of four races in the Laser Class, Trent Hardwick of the Belize Sea Scouts maintained a steady lead taking 1st in all 4 races; Joaquin Alcoser of Corozal Bay Sailing Club (CBSC) held on to the 2nd spot and Wilson Rivera of Placencia Sailing Club (PSC) took 3rd place. Rivera sailed in a Pico Laser and a handicap system was applied so that the Pico lasers to race with the Olympic class Laser design.
In the Optimist Class, the girl power showed its force and Adyaneries Teck of PSC recovered after a surprising first race that left her with a 5th place finish. However, Teck confidently took back control of the series and at the end of 4 races, she showed she is a force to be reckoned with and secured 1st place. Devaughn Morrison of CBSC settled for 2nd place and Peter Joo of PSC rounded out the top winners in 3rd place.
Inclement weather, however, brought thunder and lightning on Sunday forcing regatta officials to call off the second day of racing in the interest of safety of the sailors. Lightning can be a serious threat to sailors. Officials made their call with the minimum number of 4 of 6 races needed for a regatta and the regatta was concluded based on standings from Saturday races.
In other news, 20 participants completed a week long Level 1,Technical Training of Coaches July 10-14. Sharon Hardwick commented that the "Belize Sailing Association saw this as need and it is important for coaches to have the knowledge and technique to train new sailors." The training was conducted by Regional Coordinator of World Sailing, Eduardo Sylvestre, and done with support of Belize Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association. The training skills was applied in the weekend regatta with winds averaging about 6 knots with gusts as high as 10 knots.