Over the weekend Coach Karl James traveled with an 12 strong Antiguan team to St Maarten for the 13th Annual Sol Optimist Championship. Antigua dominated the event taking the top three slots in the blue fleet. Theodore Spencer, from Antigua, was first with five first place finishes in the 11 race competition. Shanoy Malone and Sue Agusti Correa both from Antigua placed second and third respectively out of the 12 member strong fleet. Maurice Belgrave took 5th, and Alistair Knoblaugh, Ozani Lafond, and Brice Batrick competed well with personal bests.
In the Orange fleet, for those with a little less experience, Antigua grabbed the top four slots. Patrick Greensmith was first with five first place finishes in ten races. and followed by Diego Ewinger, Brianna Batrick and Tyden Jones with Carrick Jones in sixth spot . Twenty-two sailors competed in the Orange Fleet.
The team from Antigua showed excellent sailing skills and most of our Antiguan sailors took home prizes. St. Barts, St Maarten and St Kitts did offer good competition and several sailors from those teams raced their way into the top 10.
About the weekend Karl James shared these comments: “It was really great that for the first time in our program there were 12 Optimist Sailors from AYC on the team and they all gave a strong showing having lots of fun as well. This is a tribute to how our Junior sailing is really growing and not only do we have strong sailors at the top, but we have a lot of good younger sailors coming up. Big thanks to the parents who also came with the team and gave their support. This is really important in our sport at this level”
