Seafarers Regatta drew many types of sailing vessels.

The Seafarers Regatta was held as part of the recent Quincentennial Seafarers Festival on Saturday, 10th May 2003, with a start time of 12.00 just outside Hog Stye Bay. Close to 30 sailboats from the Cayman Islands Sailing Club racing and cruising fleets, ranging from the tiny Optimist dinghy to the larger racing yachts and multihulls participated in the regatta which with the addition of visiting Tall Ships provided a true spectacle of sail – old, new, historical and high tech - in the George Town harbour area. HRH Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex graciously agreed to officially start the race from the balcony of the CI Museum and lowered a Cayman Islands flag in synchronization with the Race Committee boat signals to send the boats on their way. Boats crossed the start line, hoisted their colorful spinnakers and raced up towards the Seven Mile Beach area rounding a turning mark for the next leg back towards the harbour and continuing down to Jackson Point and back to finish at the original start line after sailing twice around the race course.

Cat boats and a variety of smaller dinghies, crewed by Junior Sailing Club members and Sea Scouts battled it out in front of the spectators along the harbor. The efforts of the Race Committee were rewarded with a record-breaking number of competitors who enjoyed near perfect sailing conditions and some close and exciting competition. Overall coordinator for the sailing club’s activities during the Festival was Jane Moon with Race Director Peta Adams .

Cayman Islands Sailing Club staff John Michael Stafford and Emma Maggs put in a huge effort to get the smaller boats to their base at Cayman Maritime Heritage and acted as Race Officers and Safety Crew for the regatta. Sailing Club members supported the event to the fullest extent and took time off work to sail their boats round to the George Town area in preparation for the race start. A few diehard competitors even managed to race back to North Sound again on Sunday 11th May. In addition, several members took on the roles of Tall Ships liaison officers with David Carmichael as overall co-ordinator assisted by Lindsey MacFee (Serenity), Pam McDonough (Raindancer), Denise Couch (Wolf), Tomeaka McTaggart (Larinda), Judy Bullmore (Meka II) and Kathleen Bodden Harris (Nina). Specially commissioned Quincentennial Commemorative trophies were presented later in the afternoon to the race winners in the various classes of yacht by Quincentennial Chairman Ezzard Miller. Sailing club members hosted a reception on Saturday evening at the Red Bay Clubhouse for the visiting Tall Ships skippers and crews with food provided by Welly’s and beer from Stingray Brewery in conjunction with the Quincentennial Celebrations Office. Capt Finbar Gittelman of the Tall Ship Wolf made a presentation and initiated various Sailing Club members into the Conch Republic Navy in an entertaining ceremony. In return, CI Sailing Officers Jane Moon and Peta Adams presented club burgees to the Captains of each visiting Tall Ship.

Final results for the Seafarers Festival Regatta are as follows:-

1st Optimist Thomas Hansen
2nd Optimist NJ Miller

Europe – Tomeaka McTaggart - first dinghy overall

1st Byte - Nick Rogers
2nd Byte - Sarah Cuff
3rd Byte - Kramer Bell
4th Byte - Matthew Seales

1st PICO - Robyn and William

1st Cat Boat - Cable and Wireless
2nd Cat Boat - Cayman Airways
3rd Cat Boat - Skinvibelee
4th Cat Boat - Fosters Brac Cat

1st Tornado - Alan Davies / Richard Vernon
2nd Tornado - Roy Cairns / Robin

1st J22 Moonstruck – Andrew Moon
2nd J22 Natural Mystic – Mark Clarke
3rd J22 Yahoo – Bruce Johnson

Cruisers - all times below are corrected by PHRF handicap ratings

1st Java Knight (Fu Liem) - 1.22.46
2nd Frenzy (Donald McLean) - 1.24.50
3rd Bluemoon (Pam McDonough) - 1.26.03
4th Serious Trouble (Tim Godber)- 1.30.26
5th Hawk (John Bodden) - 1.30.35
6th Cheers (Mike James) 1.49.28
Serenity 1.64.00

Multi Hulls

1st Dragon Fly (D McDonald) 1.28.34
2nd Seawind (Simon Whicker) 1.56.34

© Copyright 2001/2002/2003/2004/2005 caribbeanracing.com