Gold Medal Winner - Rupert Garnett
Sunday, October 14th was the Corozal Bay Sailing club’s regatta debut on the Bay. There was a steady wind blowing north of north-west, and the seasoned sailors took this as a good sign for a midday southeasterly sea breeze which would make the bay perfect for the event. The list of clubs anticipating Sunday’s event were; Liberty Sailing Club, Placencia Sailing Club, Sea Scouts, Belize City, San Pedro Sailing Club, and of course the Corozal Bay Sailing Club.
It was a standard International Optimist Trapezoid course modified slightly due to the anticipated wind shift. The one design classes that were registered for the day were; Optimist, Laser/Pico Single, Laser/Pico Double, and Multi-hull.
Unfortunately the wind did not cooperate as anticipated, and instead the wind fixed a few points off the expected direction and dark clouds were forming to the northwest. So the program was slightly modified to the 20 best of two races advancing to the finals rather than three races per sailor. Then after the Optimist sailors started racing the wind died. The program was modified again, this time shortening the course of the second race.
All-in-all the event went on despite the adjustments and the results were as follows;
- Optimist Finals:
- Gold: Rupert Garnett from Liberty Sailing Club
- Silver: Carlos Villatoro from Placencia Sailing Club
- Bronze: Davin Puc from San Pedro Sailing Club
The awards ceremony took place on the main stage of the Festival de la Hispanidad y el Mestizaje in Corozal Town in front of a large crowd of sailing supporters.