Saturday's start

This year’s Easter Regatta – the 39th such event organised by the Cayman Islands Sailing Club – proved to be another success and provided an excellent weekend of racing for all participants, ranging from 14’ singlehanded dinghies to the largest boat in the fleet – Safir, a 90’ trimaran. The weather co-operated and although winds were light on Good Friday for the Round the Island Race, participants enjoyed some wonderful sailing conditions and most were able to reach the finish line on Seven Mile Beach before nightfall.

John Stafford’s Jacana proved to be the top boat of the weekend, winning the Cruiser Cup for the best placed boat overall performance. Jacana with a crew made up from the Cayman Islands Sailing Club Youth Team members including Sarah Cuff, Kramer Bell and James Macfee secured first place in Good Friday’s Round the Island Race (from North Sound Main Channel to Beach Club) and second place in Saturday’s Back to the Sound (Governor’s Beach to Cayman Islands Yacht Club) race in spinnaker class. John Bodden’s Hawktook second in Round the Island and third place went to Bruce Johnson and the crew of Blue Runner.

The J22 Round the Island event was a close battle between Mark Clarke and the crew of Natural Mystic who finally managed to beat the David Thursfield & Peter Cunningham Sunshine team over the finish line. The Sunshine team got their revenge on Saturday by winning the Back to the Sound Deutsche Bank Easter Egg Trophy Race. The Non Spinnaker Round the Island Race was won by Mike James and his Cheerscrew with Serenity in second place and Seagrape, despite being the last boat to finish and winner of the Cook’s Prize, in third place.
The weekend multihull events were dominated by CISC Commodore, Clive Bodden’s Yahoo. Yahoo managed to beat all competition in both Round the Island and Back to the Sound Races. Dragonfly placed second in Good Friday’s race with Safir managing a second place finish in Saturday’s race Back to the Sound. The multihull Tornado fleet held their own race with three crews completing the weekend’s races. Fu Liem and his best dressed crew of Java Knightwon the spinnaker class Back to the Sound Race with Jacana in second place and Blue Runner once again in third.

Spinnaker reaching with Jacana

The sailing community took a well earned rest on Easter Sunday and were back on the water for the Easter Monday open race which saw Sarah Cuff, one of the Club’s top junior sailors defeat the mixed dinghy fleet and take first place sailing her Byte. Gary White finished second with Tim Godber in third.

The sailing was, of course, the regatta highlight, but the social scene was well supported with a Happy Hour and BBQ at Beach Club, the Cayman Islands Yacht Club party with music provided by Multiple Spider Bites and catering by Chef John’s and Barnes Bartenders. The festivities ended with a prizegiving party at Cayman Islands Sailing Club which included a Caribbean buffet by Champion House and live music by Madam Speaker. Trophies and awards were presented by CISC Commodore Clive Bodden and Executive Committee Member Jane Moon. Commodore Bodden took the opportunity to thank everyone involved in the organisation of the Regatta, in particular Sandy Strang and the crew of Bahari who were Race Committee for the weekend, HE The Governor for being official starter of the Back to the Sound Race, John Michael Stafford, Polly Skibinski, Jane Moon , Tim Godber and everyone involved in the Regatta organisation, all the competitors and the Regatta sponsors, Cayman Islands Yacht Club, Cayman Distributors and Becks Light, Beach Club and Deutsche Bank. Participants who were unable to be at the Prizegiving should call the club to arrange for collection of their prizes.

The Cayman Islands Sailing Club is now preparing for the Seafarers Regatta to be held on 10th May 2003. Anyone interested in participating in this and other sailing club events should contact the Club at 947 7913, sailing@candw.ky or check for more information at www.sailing.ky

Easter Regatta Results & Awards
18th – 21st April 2003

Round the Island Race – PHRF Spinnaker Class
1st Jacana
2nd Hawk
3rd Blue Runner
4th Serious Trouble
5th Bomber
6th Frenzy
7th Java Knight
8th Honey
9th Furory

Round the Island Race – PHRF Non Spinnaker Class
1st Cheers
2nd Serenity
3rd Seagrape
DNF Cayenne
DNF Tangerine

Round the Island Race – J22 Class
1st Natural Mystic
2nd Sunshine

Round the Island Race – Multihull Class John Matthew Trophy
1st Yahoo Yahoo
2nd Dragonfly
DNF Safir
DNF Macanudu

Round the Island Race – Tornado Class
1st CAY 003 (Jay Easterbrook & Nancy Romanica)
2nd CAY 00 (Roy Cairns & Robin)
3rd CAN 350 (Pete O’Neill & Julia Plumley)

Last Boat to Cross the Line – Seagrape

Youngest Crew Member – Kramer Bell, Jacana

Best Dressed Crew – Java Knight

Most dramatic incident – Hawk

Rubber Ring – Robin, Tornado crew

Back to the Sound Race – PHRF Spinnaker Class
1st Java Knight
2nd Jacana
3rd Blue Runner
4th Serious Trouble
5th Furory
RTD Frenzy
RTD Hawk


Back to the Sound Race – PHRF Non Spinnaker Class
DNS Seagrape
Back to the Sound Race – J22 Deutsche Bank Easter Egg Trophy
1st Sunshine

Back to the Sound Race – Multihull Class
1st Yahoo Yahoo
2nd Safir
RTD Macanudu

Cruiser Cup – Best overall results for the weekend - Jacana

Open Dinghy Race
1st Sarah Cuff
2nd Gary White
3rd Tim Godber
4th Tomeaka McTaggart/Matt Diaz
5th Uli Holland
6th Philippa White
7th Peta Adams

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