Caribbean Compass Yachting Magazine 2015

REGATTA NEWS
Cuba Racing on the Rise
As reported in our July issue, on May 16th, the Hemingway International Yacht Club of
Cuba welcomed participants of the Havana Challenge Race comprising 13 motorboats,
two keelboats and five Hobie Cats from Key West, Florida. More than 100 US citizens
participated in this race. On May 19th, the waters surrounding the Malecon in
Havana were the stage for a Hobie Cat 16 Race, with the participation of four US
teams and five Cuban teams. Cuban Víctor de la Guardia won the first Havana
Challenge back in 2001, followed by George Bellenger of the US. This year Nino de la
Guardia, son of Victor de la Guardia, ranked first, followed again by George Bellenger.
On May 21st, the participants in the Havana Challenge Race returned to the
United States and that same day, the participants in the Bone Island Regatta arrived
in Hemingway Marina, with four US-flagged boats from the Sarasota Yacht Club and
the Cortez Yacht Club.
The 65th Ernest Hemingway International Billfish Tournament took place from May
25th through 30th. A dozen US vessels participated in this tournament.
Commodore José Miguel Díaz Escrich of the Hemingway International Yacht Club
reports: “The most important element in these three events is that the participating
vessels received licenses from the US Commerce Department to go to Cuba, which
had not happened since 1978. The United States government established, by
Proclamation 7757 signed in 2004 by then President Bush, that US vessels needed an
export license issued by this Department in order to go to Cuba.
“On August 1st, the US racing powerboat Apache Star set a new Key West-to-
Havana speed record: one hour and 30 minutes over a distance of 110 nautical miles.
“Now the Hemingway International Yacht Club of Cuba is working with the
Pensacola Yacht Club in organizing the Pensacola-Havana Regatta to be held on
October 28th, and with the Key West Yacht Club in the Havana Thunder Challenge
on November 17th. We are also organizing with the Association of Kayakers of San
Francisco Bay, the crossing of ten US kayakers from Havana to Key West, between
September 5th and 15th.
“Currently, the Hemingway International Yacht Club of Cuba has received proposals
from US boating institutions for organizing numerous other events of this kind in
the coming year.”
For more information contact Commodore Escrich at yachtclub@cnih.mh.tur.cu.
Antiguan Aims for Youth World Sailing Championship
Antigua’s Jules Mitchell
participated in the ISAF
Youth Worlds Emerging
Nations Training Program
hosted by Antigua’s
National Sailing
Academy from July 14th
through 21st. Both sailors
and their coaches participated
in the training
sessions and in the sailing
section of the program,
Jules finished in
fourth place in a fleet of
20 sailors. That qualified
Jules to participate in
the 2015 ISAF Youth
World Sailing
Championship to be
held in Malaysia from
December 27th, 2015 to
January 3rd, 2016.
Fundraising for Jules’
participation in various
sailing championships
has been ongoing but
additional funds are
required to ensure Jules
will be able to take
advantage of this tremendous
opportunity.
Several individuals have
made generous donations
to date and Jules
has also been generously
sponsored by
Antigua Yacht Club, all
of which have assisted
him in getting closer to
his goals.
If you would like to make a financial contribution towards Jules’ campaign, visit
www.indiegogo.com/projects/antiguan-jules-mitchell-to-youth-laser-worlds#/updates.
SEPTEMBER 2015 CARIBBEAN COMPASS PAGE 11
50th Carriacou Regatta Festival
The 50th running of the Carriacou Regatta was held July 27th through August 3rd.
Twenty-four yachts entered in three classes: CSA-Rated, Fun and Multihull. In
Multihull Class, last year’s champion, Jig Saw, was again victorious. In Fun Class, At
Last was the winner, with last year’s winner, the Carriacou-based Spencer 44 Yellow
Bird, in second place, followed by the Jeanneau 40, Banyan. Richard Szyjan’s modified
Hobie 33 from Grenada, Category 5, dominated the CSA Cruising Class, winning
every race. In Cruising Class’s second place was the perennial contender
Bloody Mary, a Carriacou-based Hughes 38, and the Beneteau 38.5 Tulaichean II
out of Grenada took third.
The Decked Sloops and Open Boats races featured some 30 boats, with doubleenders
from Bequia making a good showing. The winners in each class were:
Small Open Boats A, Wet; Small Open Boats B, Bad Feelings (Mayreau); Small
Open Boats C, Endeavour; Small Open Boats D, Camille (Bequia); Long Open
Boats A, tie between Black Berry (Bequia) and Skyler (Petite Martinique); Long
Open Boats B, Eclipse (Bequia); Small Stern Boat B, Alive; Large Deck Sloops A.
Glacier; Small Deck Sloops, Marie Stella. Black Berry was also victorious in the
Open Race, as was Glacier in the Decked Sloops Round the Island Race. Races
for Optimists and Lasers were also held.
—Continued on next page